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The German Cases

A simple resource on cases and declensions

Date : 02/01/2017

Author Information

Maria

Uploaded by : Maria
Uploaded on : 02/01/2017
Subject : German

CASES
Case refers to the role that a noun or pronoun plays in a sentence. In German there are four cases, each associated with a different role.

Nominative case. The noun/pronoun is the subject of the sentence, i.e. it
carries out the action of the verb. It can be a person, thing or idea, in the
singular or plural. It s NOT always the beginning of a sentence:

The man eats a sandwich / He eats a sandwich.
Tomorrow he s going to Berlin - Morgen f hrt er nach Berlin.

You can easily identify the subject by asking who or what is doing the action. Who is eating? The man. Who is going to Berlin? He is going to Berlin.

Accusative case. The noun/pronoun is the direct object of the sentence, i.e. it is
directly affected by the verb. The object is the person or thing at the receiving
end of the action:

The man eats a sandwich / The man eats it.
The man drinks a coffee - Der Mann trinkt einen Kaffee.
The woman eats a pizza - Die Frau isst eine Pizza.

You can identify the direct object by asking at whom or at what the action is directed.
What does the man drink? A coffee.

Dative case. The noun/pronoun is the indirect object of the sentence, i.e. it is
affected, but indirectly. The indirect object is the person or thing to/for whom or
to which something is done:

She gives a sandwich to the man / She gives (to) him a sandwich.
He gives (to) the woman a newspaper - Er gibt der Frau eine Zeitung.
They tell (to) the children a story - Sie erz hlen den Kindern eine
Geschichte.

Peter buys (for) the child a mobile - Peter kauft dem Kind ein Handy.

You can identify the indirect object by asking to/for whom or what the action is being done. For whom does Peter buy the mobile? For the child.

Genitive case. The noun/pronoun relates to possession:

This is the man s sandwich / This is his sandwich.
This is Peter s car - Das ist Peters Auto.
Do you know Peter s wife? - Kennen Sie Peters Frau?

This resource was uploaded by: Maria