Cases – LEARN TO SPEAK GERMAN

What are cases?

A case refers to the role a noun or a pronoun plays in a particular sentence or clause. There are four main functions and each one can be linked to a speciﬁc case in German:

Case	Function of noun/pronoun	Example
Nom.	The noun/pronoun is the subject of the sentence, i.e. the ‘agent’ of what is happening.	*Der Schüler* kauft einen Computer. ‘The pupil buys a computer’.
Acc.	It is the direct object of a sentence, i.e. the ‘receiver’ of the action.	*Die Lehrerin lobt den Schüler.* ‘The teacher praises the pupil ’.
Dat.	It is the *indirect object*, an additional object to whom/which the action is done.	*Er schenkt ihr* eine DVD*. ‘He gives her* a DVD’.
Gen.	It indicates *possession* or ownership between two nouns.	Das ist das Auto meines Bruders. ‘This is my brother’s car’.

The nominative case

Indicating the subject

As mentioned before, the most important role of the nominative case is to indicate the subject in a sentence. The subject directs the action and can be a person, thing or idea, either in the singular or in the plural:

Der Junge spielt heute allein.

The boy is playing alone today.

Die Zeiten sind hart.

These are hard times.

A good way of identifying the subject is to ask:
Who or what is doing the action?
– Who is playing alone?

® The boy.

The nominative after verbs

The nominative is also used after the verbs sein ‘to be’, werden ‘to become’ and scheinen ‘to seem’:

Heinz war immer ein guter Vater.

Heinz was always a good father.

Das Mädchen wird sicher eine berühmte Sängerin werden.

The girl will surely become a famous singer.

Er scheint ein fähiger Trainer zu sein.

He seems to be a capable coach.

Nominative case endings

Here is an overview of the most common determiners in the nominative:

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Deﬁnite article der Mann die Tochter das Kind die Leute

Demonstrative dieser Mann diese Tochter diesesKind diese Leute

Indeﬁnite article ein Mann eine Tochter ein Kind – Leute

Possessive mein Mann meineTochter mein Kind meineLeute

The accusative case

Marking the direct object

The accusative case in German marks the direct object in a sentence. The direct object is the person or thing on the receiving end of the action:

Sie füttert das Baby.

She feeds the baby.

Helga wäscht den Wagen.

Helga washes the car.

In order to identify the direct object, you could ask the question:
At who/m or what is the action directed?
® The baby.

Accusative case endings
The endings of the most common determiners in the accusative are iden- tical with those in the nominative, apart from the masculine forms, which end in -en:

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Deﬁnite article den Mann die Tochter das Kind die Leute

Demonstrative diesen Mann diese Tochter dieses Kind diese Leute

Indeﬁnite article einen Mann eine Tochter ein Kind – Leute

Possessive meinen Mann meine Tochter mein Kind meine Leute

The dative case

Indicating the indirect object

In addition to a direct object, many verbs in German can take a further object, the indirect object. The indirect object of a sentence is always in the dative case:

Wir kauften dem Kind einen großen Luftballon.

We bought the child a big balloon.

Er macht der Frau einen Vorschlag.

He puts a preposition to the woman.

An easy way to identify the indirect object of a sentence is to ask:

To who/m or what is the action being done?
® The child.
Note that the indirect object in English is often indicated by the prepo- sition ‘to’ as shown in the above example.

Dative case endings

Here is an overview of the most common determiners in the dative:Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Deﬁnite art. dem Mann der Tochter dem Kind den Kindern

Demonstr. diesem Mann dieser Tochter diesem Kind diesen Kindern

Indeﬁnite art. einem Mann einer Tochter einem Kind – Kindern

Possess. meinem Mann meiner Tochter meinem Kind meinen Kindern

Typical endings for determiners in the dative are:
–em with masculine and neuter nouns
–er with feminine nouns and
–en with nouns in the plural.

Don’t forget to add an extra -(e)n to the plural form of the noun itself whenever this is possible.

The genitive case

Indicating possession

The genitive case refers to the idea of possession or belonging, corres- ponding to the English apostrophe s (’s) ending or the preposition of :

Das Auto meines Vaters steht dort drüben.

My father’s car is over there.

Wir beginnen mit dem schwierigsten Teil der Übersetzung.

We begin with the most difﬁcult part of the translation.

A useful way of recognising the genitive in a sentence is to ask :
Whose . . . is it /are they?

® My Father’s

Genitive case endings

Here is an overview of the typical endings for common determiners and nouns in the genitive:
Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Deﬁnite art. des Mannes der Tochter des Kindes der Leute

Demonstr. dieses Mannes dieser Tochter dieses Kindes dieser Leute

Indeﬁnite art. eines Mannes einer Tochter eines Kindes – Leute

Possess. meines Mannes meiner Tochter meines Kindes meiner Leute

Note that in the genitive:
• masculine and neuter nouns of one syllable usually take the ending
-es: des Mannes, des Kindes;
• nouns with two or more syllables normally only add an -s: meines Bruders, des Mittagessens;
• feminine and plural nouns don’t take any endings.

Using the dative as an alternative

Although the genitive can still be found in modern German – especially in a more formal context – its use is decreasing. In spoken and sometimes also in written German, the genitive is often replaced with an alternative dative structure:

Das ist die Idee meines Bruders. ®

Das ist die Idee von meinem Bruder.

That is my brother’s idea.

That is the idea of my brother.

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