Cases in German

• Many German words change their form or add different endings according to their function in a sentence.

• It is important to recognise whether a word is the subject or object of a sentence as this will help to determine the case and how the word changes.

• There are four cases in German:

  • nominative
  • accusative
  • dative
  • genitive

The nominative case is used when a word is the subject of a sentence.

For example: der Mann, die Frau, das Haus.

The words below change in the same way as ein and kein:

• mein - my
• dein - your (informal, singular)
• sein - his
• ihr - her
• unser - our
• euer - your (informal, plural)
• Ihr - your (formal, plural)
• ihr - their

Pronouns also change depending on case.

The accusative case is used for the direct object of the sentence.

The direct object is the person or thing having the action done to it (by the subject).

• Die Katze hat einen Ball (The cat is the subject and it has a ball – so the ball is the direct object and in the accusative case.)

The words above change in the same way as ein/kein in the accusative case.

Identify the subject (nominative case) and direct object (accusative case) in the following sentences:

Use the dative case for the indirect object in a sentence.

The indirect object is the the person or thing to, or for whom, something is done. For example:

• The girl gave her friend a present.
  • The girl is the subject (nominative case)
  • The present is the direct object (accusative case)
  • Her friend is the indirect object (dative case)

The words above change in the same way as ein/kein in the accusative case.

Take this multiple-choice quiz to revise the nominative, accusative and dative cases.