How the German Cases work – Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive

The German Cases

There are four cases in the German language. Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive. The cases are an important part of the German grammar as they are responsible for the endings of Adjectives, indefinite articles and when to use which personal pronoun. To say it short: The German cases are the heart of the language. Let’s have a closer look

The Nominative Case

The nominative case is used for a person/animal/ thing which is doing the action. In this case, you will be able to ask: Who or what did/is something? Nominative is always used after the verbs sein and werden.

Examples of Nominative:

Der Mann schläft. (who sleeps?)

Die Frau kocht. (who cooks?)

Es ist ein schönes Haus. (what is beautiful?)

The Accusative Case

The accusative case is used for a person/animal/thing which is directly affected by the action of the verb. The accusative is also used after certain prepositions.

Examples of Accusative:

Ich sehe den Mann. (what do I see?)

Wir haben die Torte gegessen. (what have we eaten?)

Er hat ein Foto gemacht. (what has he made?)

You can see that the noun in the sentence here is always directly affected by the verb.

The Dative Case

The dative case is used to show the indirect object of a verb. You are able to ask: Who to/for or to/for what? The dative case is also used after certain prepositions

Examples of Dative:

Ich gab der Frau einen Apfel. (Who did I give an Apple to?)

Er hilft dem Mann beim Putzen. (Who did he help to clean?)

Er gibt einem Mädchen einen Kuss. (Who did he give a kiss to?)

The Genitive Case

The genitive case is used to show, that something belongs to someone. You re able to ask: whose…? The genitive case is also used after certain prepositions.

Remember:

-s is added to masculine and neuter nouns ending in: en, el or er.

e.g. der Lehrer → des Lehrers

-es is added to the most masculine and neuter nouns of one syllable ending in a consonant.

e.g. der Mann → des Mannes

Examples of Genetive:

Das Haus der Frau ist blau. (whose house is blue?)

Das Auto des Mannes ist schwarz. (whose car is black?)

Das Auto des Lehrers ist grün. (whose car is green?)

Die Tasche des Mädchens ist gelb. (whose bag is yellow?)

Das ist die Telefonnummer einer Freundin. (whose telephone number is that?)