{"id":795,"date":"2010-03-29T20:05:17","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T19:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/?p=795"},"modified":"2019-04-24T10:00:21","modified_gmt":"2019-04-24T09:00:21","slug":"how-the-german-cases-work-nominative-accusative-dative-and-genitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/795\/how-the-german-cases-work-nominative-accusative-dative-and-genitive","title":{"rendered":"How the German Cases work – Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The German Cases<\/h3>\n

Right, let’s get stuck into the heart of the German language, the cases. There are four cases in the German language: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. The cases are an important part of German grammar as they are responsible for the endings of adjectives<\/a>, indefinite articles<\/a> and when to use which personal pronoun<\/a>. Let’s have a closer look below. Learn and enjoy the German language with Jabba<\/span><\/strong>lab<\/span><\/strong>! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Nominative Case<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nMasculine<\/th>\nFeminine<\/th>\nNeutral<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Definite Article<\/strong><\/td>\nder Mann<\/td>\ndie Frau<\/td>\ndas Haus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indefinite Article<\/strong><\/td>\nein Mann<\/td>\neine Frau<\/td>\nein Haus<\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The nominative case is used for a person, animal or thing which is doing the action. In this case, you will be able to ask: Who\/What<\/span><\/strong> did or is something? The nominative case is always used after the verbs sein<\/strong> and werden.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Der Mann schl\u00e4ft. \u21e8 Who<\/span><\/strong> sleeps?<\/p>\n

Die Frau kocht. \u21e8 Who<\/span><\/strong> cooks?<\/p>\n

Es ist ein sch\u00f6nes Haus. \u21e8 What<\/span><\/strong> is beautiful?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Accusative Case<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nMasculine<\/th>\nFeminine<\/th>\nNeutral<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Definite Article<\/strong><\/td>\nden Mann<\/td>\ndie Frau<\/td>\ndas Haus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indefinite Article<\/strong><\/td>\neinen Mann<\/td>\neine Frau<\/td>\nein Haus<\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The accusative case is used for a person, animal or thing which is directly<\/strong> affected by the action of the verb. The accusative is also used after certain prepositions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ich sehe den Mann. \u21e8 What do I see?<\/p>\n

Wir haben die Torte gegessen. \u21e8 What have we eaten?<\/p>\n

Er hat ein Foto gemacht. \u21e8 What has he made?<\/p>\n

You can see that the noun in the sentence here is always directly affected by the verb.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Dative Case<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nMasculine<\/th>\nFeminine<\/th>\nNeutral<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Definite Article<\/strong><\/td>\ndem Mann<\/td>\nder Frau<\/td>\ndem Haus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indefinite Article<\/strong><\/td>\neinem Mann<\/td>\neiner Frau<\/td>\neinem Haus<\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The dative case is used to show the indirect<\/strong> object of a verb. An indirect object is a person, animal or a thing the action is intended to benefit or harm. You are able to ask: Who to\/for<\/strong> or to\/<\/strong>for what?<\/strong> In most situations you can also ask whom<\/strong>. The dative case is also used after certain prepositions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ich gab der Frau einen Apfel. \u21e8 Who<\/span><\/strong> did I give an Apple to<\/span><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Er hilft dem Mann beim Putzen. \u21e8 Whom<\/span><\/strong> did he help to clean?<\/p>\n

Er gibt einem M\u00e4dchen einen Kuss. \u21e8 Who<\/span><\/strong> did he give a kiss to<\/span><\/strong>?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Genitive Case<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/th>\nMasculine<\/th>\nFeminine<\/th>\nNeutral<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
Definite Article<\/strong><\/td>\ndes Mannes<\/td>\nder Frau<\/td>\ndes Hauses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Indefinite Article<\/strong><\/td>\neines Mannes<\/td>\neiner Frau<\/td>\neines Hauses<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/strong><\/td>\ndes Lehrers<\/td>\n<\/td>\ndes M\u00e4dchens<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/strong><\/td>\neines Lehrers<\/td>\n<\/td>\neines M\u00e4dchens<\/td>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The genitive case is used to show, that something belongs to someone. You’re able to ask: Whose…?<\/span><\/strong> The genitive case is also used after certain prepositions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Note:<\/strong><\/p>\n

–s<\/strong> is added to masculine and neuter nouns ending in: en<\/strong>, el <\/strong>or er<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

e.g. der Lehrer \u2192 des Lehrers<\/strong><\/p>\n

e.g. der Geldbeutel \u2192 des Geldbeutels<\/strong><\/p>\n

e.g. das Eisen \u2192 des Eisens<\/strong> <\/p>\n

–es<\/strong> is added to most masculine and neuter nouns of one syllable ending in a consonant.<\/p>\n

e.g. der Mann \u2192 des Mannes<\/strong><\/p>\n

e.g. das Pferd \u2192 des Pferdes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Example sentences:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Das Haus der Frau ist blau. \u21e8 Whose<\/span><\/strong> house is blue?<\/p>\n

Das Auto des Mannes<\/strong> ist schwarz. \u21e8 Whose<\/span><\/strong> car is black?<\/p>\n

Das Hufeisen des Pferdes<\/strong> ist kaputt. \u21e8 Whose<\/span><\/strong> horseshoe is broken?<\/p>\n

Die Farbe des Geldbeutels<\/strong> ist braun. \u21e8 Whose<\/span><\/strong> colour is brown?<\/p>\n

Das Auto des Lehrers<\/strong> ist gr\u00fcn. \u21e8 Whose<\/span><\/strong> car is green?<\/p>\n

Die Tasche des M\u00e4dchens<\/strong> ist gelb. \u21e8 Whose<\/span><\/strong> bag is yellow?<\/p>\n

Das ist die Telefonnummer einer Freundin. \u21e8 Whose<\/span><\/strong> telephone number is that?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The German Cases Right, let’s get stuck into the heart of the German language, the cases. There are four cases in the German language: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. The cases are an important part of German grammar as they are responsible for the endings of adjectives, indefinite articles and when to use which personal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16146,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions\/16146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jabbalab.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}