nominativo acusativo dativo, genitivo

8/2/2019 Nominativo Acusativo Dativo, Genitivo

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Germancases are four: the nominative case (subject of the sentence); the accusative

case (the direct object); the dative case (the indirect object), and the genitive case

(possessive). Cases are not something strange to English, pronouns for example use a

certain kind of cases, for example we say hespeaks, and give him and notgive

he, did you see how he became him in the second example, well the same thing

happens in German, the only difference is that in German its much more widely

used, not only in pronouns, even nouns/ adjectives/ articles use the same thing.

The German case indicates the role of an element in a sentence.

German Nominative

The nominative is the easiest case in German and also the one dictionaries use as the

standard form of nouns, adjectives, articlesand refers to the subject of the

sentence. The teacher went to school, The teacher is the subject of the sentence,

and therefore The teacher is nominative.

So it will take the nominative form in German, which is Der Lehrer.

Below is a table of some forms of Nominative, you will only know the difference

when you will go through the 3 other cases (accusative, Dative, Genitive).

German Nominative Case

Definite Articles Indefinite

Articles

Personal

Pronouns

Adjectives (masc., fem,

neuter, plural)

Der, die, das,

die

(they all means

the)

Ein, Eine, Ein

(they all mean a,

an)

Ich, du, er, sie,

wir, ihr, sie.

(I, you, he, she...)

Weier, weie, weies,

weie

(all these forms mean white)

These are just some examples to show the nominative form of some elements such

as articles, pronouns, adjectives. Note that the nominative case can be used in a

much wider scope such as in Nouns, interrogative pronounswhat comes next will

help you notice the difference between Nominative and what the other 3 German

cases.


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German Accusative

Now we will learn the second case in German which is the accusative, the good news

is that apart from the masculine, the other 2 genders + the plural (feminine, neuter

and plural) look just like the Nominative. Now lets learn what the accusative really is.The accusative case is considered the direct object. I see the teacher, the teacher is

the direct object of the sentence, and therefore would take the accusative form, and

since the teacher is masculine it will become in German denLehrer and not der

Lehrer as in the nominative case. I see the teacher = Ich sehe den Lehrer.

German Accusative Case

Definite Articles IndefiniteArticles

PersonalPronouns

Adjectives (masc., fem,neuter, plural)

Den, die, das,

die

(they all means

the)

Einen, Eine, Ein

(they all mean a,

an)

mich, dich, ihn,

sie,

uns, euch, sie.

(me, you, him,

her...)

Weien, weie, weies,

weie


Lets get adjectives involved as well. I see the young teacher = ich sehe den jungen

Lehrer. Young in German isjung, but since were using the accusative case, then the

adjective should copy the article it follows, which is den/ the = masculine, so den

jungen. If you look at the table above you willunderstand why we added en after

the adjective jung. Now lets get personal pronouns involved. I see him = ich sehe

ihn. Easy, isnt it!


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German Dative

Now things will get serious because the dative case is very important in German, and

it also changes in all the 3 genders + the plural (masculine, feminine, neuter and

plural). But first lets learn what the Dative means. The Dative in German is just likethe indirect object in English, or in other words, its like the receiver of the direct

object. So for example: I give the book to him, I is the subject of the sentence, the

book is the direct object, and him is the receiver, therefore also called the indirect

object, in which were interested when it comes to the dative case.

German Dative Case

Definite Articles IndefiniteArticles

PersonalPronouns

Adjectives (masc., fem,neuter)

Dem, der, dem,

den (they all

means tothe)

Einem, Einer,

Einem

(they all mean

toa, to an)

mir, dir, ihm, ihr,

uns, euch, ihnen.

(to me, to you, to

him, to her...)

Weien, weien, weien,

weien

(all these forms mean to

white)

Usually the equivalent of the dative case in English would include to, like our

example above, I give the book to him, I send it to him, I show it to him but in

German that to is usually included in the expression used, for example to him =

ihm to the = dem so its not that complicated after all.


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German Genitive

Finally we will learn the genitivein German. Its not used as often as the other cases,

but still has its own importance, because the genitive in German means possession,

or in other words it means the expression of or s. The book of my teacher =das Buch meines Lehrers.

German Genitive Case

Definite Articles Indefinite

Articles

Personal

Pronouns

Adjectives (masc., fem,

neuter)

Des, der, des,

der (they allmeans ofthe)

Eines, Einer,

Eines

(they all mean

ofa, of an)

mir, dir, ihm, ihr,

uns, euch, ihnen.

(to me, to you, to

him, to her...)

Weien, weien, weien,

weie


Note that nouns in the masculine and neuter take an s at the end, as in our

example: The book of my teacher = das Buch meines Lehrers.

Feminine and pluralnouns dont take any s at the end. More detailed information

would be in the German Nouns page. Also you can check out the adjectives and

articles page to see how they form in different cases with some examples.

http://german.speak7.com/german_cases.htm
http://german.speak7.com/german_cases.htmhttp://german.speak7.com/german_cases.htmhttp://german.speak7.com/german_cases.htm


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Handout: Nominative, Accusative, and Dative: When to Use Them

Nominative

for the subject of a sentence: who or what is doing this?

Der Student lernt Deutsch.

for predicate nouns: when the main verb is sein or werden, use the nominative for both subject

and predicate nouns.

Das ist ein Tisch.

Accusative

for the direct object of a sentence: who or what is being ?

Ich habe einen Tisch. What is being had? A table.

Note that the very common expression "es gibt"(there is/are) requires that the noun be in the

accusative case because it is grammatically a direct object.

Es gibt einen Stuhl da drben. There is a chair over there.

after the accusative prepositions and postpositions: durch, fr, gegen, ohne, um (memory aid:

dogfu), as well as the postpositions bis and entlang . If a noun follows these prepositions, it will

ALWAYS be in the accusative!

Er geht um den Tisch. Around what? The table.

Ist das Geschenk fr mich? For whom? For me.

time expressions in a sentence are usually in accusative:jeden Tag, letzten Sommer, den ganzen

Tag, diesen Abend, etc. We havent officially learned this yet, but its good to know.

Jeden Morgen esse ich Brot zum Frhstck. Every morning.

Dative

for the indirect object of a sentence. An indirect object is the beneficiary of whatever happens


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in a sentence. Its usually a person, although it doesnt have to be. If you ask yourself: TO whom or

FOR whom is this being done?, the answer will be the indirect object, and in German it will need

the dative case. Remember that not every sentence will have an indirect object -- only some verbs

allow an indirect object: to give (to), to bring (to), to tell (to), to buy (for), to send (to) are some

examples of verbs that will almost always have an indirect object. In English, we don't distinguish

the direct and indirect object in the forms of words; instead, we often use "to" or "for" to mark

these.

Ich gebe der Frau ein Buch. Im giving her a book = a book to her.

Er schenkt mir ein Buch. He's giving me a book.

Ich habe das dem Mann schon gesagt. I already told the man that.

after the dative prepositions: aus, auer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu (memory aid: Blue Danube

Waltz). A noun immediately following these prepositions is ALWAYS in the dative case. There aremany possible translations of these prepositions, depending on exactly what the context of the

sentence is. Please refer to your textbook, pp. 239-240, for more detailed explanation of the

meanings of each preposition.

Sie haben ein Geschenk von ihrem Vater bekommen. From their father.

Auer meiner Mutter spricht meine ganze Familie Deutsch. Except for my mother.

Ich fahre am Wochenende zu meiner Tante in Minnesota. To my aunt's.

after dative verbs: helfen, danken, gefallen, gehren, schmecken, passen. See your book formore details on each verb. There's no direct translation that explains why these verbs take a dative

object, it's just an idiosyncrasy of German -- it's best just to memorize these verbs as requiring the

dative, even though the following noun doesn't 'feel' like an indirect object.

Ich helfe dir mit deinen Hausaufgaben. I'm helping you = I'm giving help to you.

Wir danken Ihnen, Herr Stein. We're thanking you = we're giving thanks to you.

with some adjectives which describe a condition. You'll just need to know these as fixed

phrases.

Mir ist warm. To me (it) is warm / I'm warm.

Wie geht es dir? How's it going / How are you doing?

the preposition inoften uses the dative case. Later this week you will be learning more about

this preposition and how to use it correctly. For now, the most you need to know is that when inis

used with a stationary verb (e.g. Hes in the house), it takes the dative case.

Der Tisch steht in der Kche. Where is it? In the kitchen.

Mein Schreibtisch ist im Arbeitszimmer. Note thatim = in dem


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Die Kinder sind in ihren Zimmern. The children are in their rooms, plural.

Summary: When to use which case

So, when you're trying to decide which case to use, consider the following things:

1. Is it a fixed expression? (such as Mir ist kalt, or Es tut mir Leid)

2. Does the noun follow either an accusative or a dative preposition? If so, this should be

easy, since the preposition determines the case. Just make sure you know which

prepositions take the accusative (dogfu) and which take the dative (Blue Danube Waltz).

Once you have the accusative and dative prepositions memorized, these are your friends

when it comes to case -- they tell you exactly what to do. (Next semester you will learn

some other prepositions which aren't quite so easy.)

3. Is the verb a dative verb? If so, the object will be in the dative.4. If none of the other conditions apply, then you need to determine which noun in the

sentence is the subject, and put that in nominative. Then look for a direct object (put in

accusative) and indirect object (put in dative). Remember that not every sentence

necessarily has a direct object and an indirect object: some have only one or the other, or

none at all.

If you need reference to these, here's a table of the different endings and pronouns in the three

cases:

Nom Akk Dat (Poss)

1 sg ich mich mir (mein_)

2 sg du dich dir (dein_)

3 sg er ihn ihm (sein_)

3 sg sie sie ihr (ihr_)

3 sg es es ihm (sein_)

1 pl wir uns uns (unser_)

2 pl ihr euch euch (euer_)

3 pl sie sie ihnen (ihr_)

form Sie Sie Ihnen (Ihr_)

masc der den dem

fem die die der

neut das das dem

plur die die den (+ _n)

masc ein einen einem

fem eine eine einer


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neut ein ein einem

plur keine keine keinen (+ _n)

masc unser unseren unserem

fem unsere unsere unsererneut unser unser unserem

plur unsere unsere unseren (+ _n)

masc dieser diesen diesem

fem diese diese dieser

neut dieses dieses diesem

plur diese diese diesen (+ _n)

It may help you to remember these changes with the mnemonic device rese nese mr mn -- in

other words, der-die-das-die, den-die-das-die, dem-der-dem-den.

The question words wer - wen - wem

To ask who in German, you need to decided whether the who is the subject, the direct object,

or the indirect object. The forms ofwerare just like the masculine article: wer - wen - wem.

Wer ist das? Who is that?

Wer kommt morgen zur Party? Whos coming to the party tomorrow?Wen hast du eingeladen? Whom did you invite?

Wem hast du das Buch gegeben? To whom did you give the book?

nominativo acusativo dativo, genitivo

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