The four German Cases
The German cases can be very challenging and frustrating. Do not panic anymore, this article will help you to understand the cases in German fast and easy.
The German cases, German articles and prepositions are extremely important grammar topics that are connected with each other.
In the German language, there are four cases. In the beginning you will learn more about these four cases, then you can get more information about prepositions with dative and accusative and verbs which are used with dative and accusative.
A. The Nominative:
Who or what? The nominative is the subject in the sentence and is normally easy to figure out.
Der Junge geht in den Park. The boy goes to the park.
Who goes in the park? The boy goes in the park so the boy is the subject and nominative of this sentence.
B. The Genitive:
Of who? Whose? To whom does it belong?
Das Hausdes Mannes ist schön. The houseof the manis nice. The house of who is nice?
The genitive is used in the written German language and the formal German language. In the spoken language it is often seen as very formal and people often use instead the „dative“: Das Haus von dem Mann ist schön.
C. The Dative:
Wem oder was? Whom or what?
When you have a sentence, the 1st step is to figure out the nominative, the 2nd is to check if there is an interaction between the subject and the object:
An interaction means that the object receives something from the subject. If there is an interaction then it is a dative.
Example: Der Junge gibt dem Mädchen das Geschenk. The boy gives the present to the girl. The girl is dative because she is receiving something from the subject "der Junge" which means there is an interaction between them.
D. The Accusative:
Wen oder Was? Whom or what?
If there is no interaction between the subject and the object then it is an accusative.
Example: Der Junge gibt dem Mädchen das Geschenk. The boy gives the present to the girl. The present is given without any interaction between the boy and the present which means that it is an accusative.
Declination of the German Definite Articles
Declination of the German Indefinite Articles
You can see in these lists how the German articles are changing depending on the case and gender. You can see also that the nouns can also change as well when they have a masculine or neuter noun in genitive.
German Prepositions with Dative and Accusative
There are prepositions that are always used with dative and accusative and prepositions which can be formed in a dative and an accusative sentence as well (two way prepositions).
The Prepositions with Dative are the following:
"Das Geschenk" is an accusative because the present is just given and there is no interaction between the boy and the present.
mit = with
bei = at
zu = to
außer = except
gegenüber = opposite
seit = since
aus = out of
nach = to, after
Example:
Das Kind geht mit der Mutter in das Kino. = The child goes with the mother in the cinema. When you see one of the dative prepositions then you know that after this stands always a dative.
The Prepositions with Accusative are the following:
für = for
bis = until
ohne = without
gegen = against
durch = through
um = around
Example:
Das Kind kocht für die Mutter das Essen. = The child cooks the food for the mother. When you see one of the accusative prepositions then you know that after this stands always an accusative.
German Two-Way Prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen)
The following prepositions can be used with dative and accusative as well. To figure out if it is a dative or accusative you can apply these rules:
Where? = Dative
Example: Das Mädchen ist in der Schule. The girl is in school. Where is the girl? She is in school. When you can ask for "where" then the dative is needed.
Where to? = Accusative
Example: Das Mädchen geht in die Schule. The girl goes to school. Where does the girl go to? She goes to school. When you can ask for "where to" then the accusative is applied.
an = at, to
auf = on
vor = in front of
in = in
hinter = behind
neben = next to
unter = under
über = above
zwischen = between
German Verbs with Dative and Accusative
There are some verbs that are always used with a dative or accusative.
Example: Ich antworte dir. I answer you.
"Dir" is a dative and after the verb "antworten" stands always a dative.
The same applies for the accusative verbs.
Example: Du bestellst ein Bier. You order a beer.
"Ein Bier" is an accusative and after the verb "bestellen" comes always an accusative.
It makes it much easier for you to make fewer mistakes when you learn the prepositions and verbs which are used with dative and accusative.