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German - Cases

The German case system is the absolute heart of German grammar. Once you understand this concept, everything else starts to make sense.

What Are Cases and Why Do They Exist?

The case system tells you the grammatical job or role of a noun in a sentence. It shows you who is doing what to whom.

In English, we understand these roles almost entirely through word order and prepositions (like "to," "for," "with").

  • "The dog (subject) bites the man (object)." - We know who bit whom because of the word order.
  • "I give the bone to the dog." - We know the dog is the receiver because of the preposition "to."

German can do this too, but it has a much more powerful system: it changes the words themselves—specifically the articles (der, ein), pronouns (er, ihn), and adjectives (guter, guten)—to show the noun's role. This is why German word order can be more flexible than English.

There are four cases in German.

1. The Nominative Case (The Subject)

This is the "who" or "what" is performing the action. It is the star of the sentence. If you ask the question "Who?" or "What?" (Wer? or Was?), the answer is the nominative noun.

This is the basic, dictionary form of a noun.

  • Der Mann liest das Buch. (The man is reading the book.)
  • Die Frau schläft. (The woman is sleeping.)
  • Das Kind spielt. (The child is playing.)

2. The Accusative Case (The Direct Object)

This is the person or thing that directly receives the action of the verb. It is the thing being acted upon. If you ask the question "Whom?" or "What?" (Wen? or Was?), the answer is the accusative noun.

This is the most common case after the nominative. The only masculine article changes.

  • Der Mann liest das Buch. (The man is reading the book.) - das doesn't change.
  • Die Frau sieht die Katze. (The woman sees the cat.) - die doesn't change.
  • Das Kind hat den Ball. (The child has the ball.) - der Ball becomes den Ball.

This change from der to den is a clear signal that the ball is the thing being "had," not the one doing the "having."

3. The Dative Case (The Indirect Object)

This is the person or thing that is the receiver or beneficiary of the action. It's often the person to whom something is given, said, or shown. It answers the question "To whom?" or "For whom?" (Wem?).

All articles change in the dative case.

  • Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch. (I give the book to the man.)
    • der Mann (Nominative) becomes dem Mann (Dative).
  • Der Mann gibt der Frau die Blumen. (The man gives the flowers to the woman.)
    • die Frau (Nominative) becomes der Frau (Dative).
  • Die Frau liest dem Kind eine Geschichte vor. (The woman reads a story to the child.)
    • das Kind (Nominative) becomes dem Kind (Dative).

4. The Genitive Case (Possession)

This case shows ownership or possession. It's the equivalent of "'s" or "of the" in English. It answers the question "Whose?" (Wessen?).

This case is more common in written and formal German.

  • Das ist das Auto des Mannes. (That is the car of the man / the man's car.)
    • der Mann becomes des Mannes. (Masculine nouns also add an -s or -es).
  • Das ist die Tasche der Frau. (That is the bag of the woman / the woman's bag.)
    • die Frau becomes der Frau.

Summary Table

Here is a simple chart showing how the masculine definite article (der) changes because it's the only one that has a unique form for every case.

Case Its Job The Question It Answers Example Article (masc.)
Nominative The Subject (doer) Who? or What? der
Accusative The Direct Object Whom? or What? den
Dative The Indirect Object (receiver) To whom? dem
Genitive Possession (owner) Whose? des

Why This Is So Important

The case system is the engine of German grammar. The case of a noun determines the correct ending for:

  • Articles (der, den, dem, des)
  • Pronouns (er, ihn, ihm)
  • Adjectives (ein guter Mann, einen guten Mann)
  • Prepositions (Certain prepositions automatically force a noun into a specific case. For example, the preposition mit (with) is always followed by the dative case.)