The Four German Cases

Part 1: Summary

Summary | Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive

Werfall | Wenfall | Wemfall | Wesfall

Nominativ | Akkusativ | Dativ | Genitiv

English also has cases, but they are only apparent with pronouns, not with nouns, as in German.

When "he" changes to "him" in English, that's exactly the same thing that happens when der changes

to den in German (and er changes to ihn). This allows German to have more flexibility in word order,

as in the examples below, in which the nominative (subject) case is red:

Der Hund beißt den Mann. The dog bites the man.

Den Mann beißt der Hund. The dog bites the man.

Beißt der Hund den Mann? Is the dog biting the man?

Beißt den Mann der Hund? Is the dog biting the man?Since English does not have the same case markers (der/den), it must depend on word order. If you say "Man bites dog" in English, rather than "Dog bites man," you change the meaning. In German the word order can be changed for emphasis (as above)—without altering the basic meaning.

The following charts show the four cases with the definite article (der, die, das), theindefinite

article and the third-person pronouns (er, sie, es). Changes from the nominative (subject) case are

indicated in red.

For more about each case, see the links below.

Definite Articles (the)

Fall

Case

Männlich

Masculine

Weiblich

Feminine

Sächlich

Neuter

Mehrzahl

Plural

Nom der die das die

Akk den die das die

Dat dem der dem den

Gen des der des der

Indefinite Articles (a/an)

Fall

Case

Männlich

Masculine

Weiblich

Feminine

Sächlich

Neuter

Mehrzahl

Plural

Nom ein eine ein keine*

Akk einen eine ein keine*

Dat einem einer einem keinen*

Gen eines einer eines keiner*

*Note: keine is the negative of eine, which has no plural form. But keine (no/none) can be used in the

plural: "Er hat keine Bücher." (He has no books.) - "In Venedig gibt es keineAutos." (In Venice there

are no cars.)

The Germanic word for each case reflects how that case functions in the use of forms of wer(who): der Werfall (nom.), der Wenfall (acc.), der Wemfall (dat.) and der Wesfall (gen.). For more details about each case and to read articles related to the cases, see the links below.

PRONOUNS

Summary | Nominative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive

Werfall | Wenfall | Wemfall | Wesfall

Nominativ | Akkusativ | Dativ | Genitiv

As we stated in the first part of this summary, English also has cases, but they are only apparent with

pronouns, not with nouns, as in German. This section of our summary is devoted to the German

pronouns, which also take on different forms (i.e., are "declined") in the various cases. Just as

nominative "I" changes to objective "me" in English, nominative ichchanges to accusative mich in

German. Oberve the following German-English examples in which the pronouns are red:

Er (der Hund) beißt den Mann.

He (the dog) bites the man.

Ihn (den Mann) hat der Hund gebissen.

The dog bit him (the man).

Wen hat er gebissen?

Whom did he bite?

Wer ist das?

Who is that?

Du hast mich doch gesehen?

You did see me (didn't you)?

Die hat keine Ahnung.

She/That one has no idea.Most of the German personal pronouns have different forms in each of the four cases, but it can be helpful to observe that some (similar to English "you") do not always change. An example is "she"/sie (also "they"/sie and "you"/Sie). This pronoun, regardless of its meaning, remains the same in the nominative and accusative cases. In the dative it changes toihnen/Ihnen, while the possessive form is ihr/Ihr. Two German pronouns use the same form in both the accusative and the dative (uns, euch). The third-person pronouns (he, she, it) follow the rule that only the masculine gender shows any change in the accusative case. Neither neuter es nor feminine sie changes. But in the dative case, all of the pronouns take on uniquely dative forms.

The following chart shows the personal pronouns in all four cases. Changes from the nominative

(subject) case are indicated in red.

For more about each case, see the links below.

Third-Person Pronouns (er, sie, es)

Fall

Case

Männlich

masc.

Weiblich

fem.

Sächlich

neut.

Mehrzahl

plural

Nom er

he

sie

she

es

it

sie

they

Akk ihn

him

sie

her

es

it

sie

them

Dat ihm

(to) him

ihr

(to) her

ihm

(to) it

ihnen

(to) them

Gen*

(Poss.)

sein

his

ihr

her

sein

its

ihre

their

*Note: The possessive third-person pronoun forms shown here do not indicate the various additional

case endings (genitive, dative, etc.) they might have in a typical sentence in various situations

(i.e., seiner, ihres, etc.).

Demonstrative Pronouns (der, die, denen)

Fall

Case

Männlich

masc.

Weiblich

fem.

Sächlich

neut.

Mehrzahl

plural

Nom der

that one

die

that one

das

that one

die

these

Akk den

that one

die

that one

das

that one

die

those

Dat dem

(to) that

der

(to) that

dem

(to) that

denen

(to) them

Gen dessen

of that

deren

of that

dessen

of that

deren

of them

Note: When the definite articles are used as demonstrative pronouns, only the dative plural and

genitive forms are different from the normal definite articles.

Other Pronouns

Fall

Case

1. Person

sing.

1. Person

plur.

2. Person

sing.

2. Person

plur.

Nom ich

I

wir

we

du

you

ihr

you

Akk mich

me

uns

us

dich

you

euch

you

Dat mir

(to) me

uns

(to) us

dir

(to) you

euch

(to) you

Gen*

(Poss.)

mein

my

unser

our

dein

your

euer

your

Interrogative "who" • Formal "you"

Fall

Case

Wer?

who?

2. Person

formal (sing. & plur.)

Nom wer Sie

Akk wen

whom

Sie

you

Dat wem

(to) whom

Ihnen

(to) you

Gen*

(Poss.)

wessen

whose

Ihr

your

Note: Sie is the same in the singular and plural. It is always capitalized in all of its forms. Wer(who)

has no plural form in German or English.

Was?

The interrogative was (what) is the same in the nominative and accusative cases. It has no dative or

genitive forms and is related to das and es. Like wer, was has no plural form in German or English.

For more details about each case and to read articles related to the cases, see the links below.

Padeži

Nominativ je uvijek vršilac radnje, ili nosilac stanja. npr.. Die Sonne scheint.

Genitiv uvijek pokazuje čije je nešto. Npr. Das ist das Buch meines Vaters. (meines Vaters)

Dativ ti pokazuje mjesto, kome nešto daješ... odgovara na pitanja wo, woher... ali dativ ima određene prepozicije kao auf, unter, bei koje zahtijevaju dativ... iste te prepozicije mogu da se koriste sa akuzativom ukoliko se krećeš od tačke A do tačke B. Dativ- Ich bin in DER Stadt. Jer miruješ. Ovom rečenicom odgovaraš na pitanje (wo).

Akkusativ- Ich gehe in DIE Stadt... Jer se krećeš, nisi u stanju mirovanja...

Isto tako: Akuzativ: Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch. (Jer pri tom se krećeš, pomjeraš knjigu od tačke a do tačke b). Dativ: Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. (Knjiga je na stolu, ona je na tom mjestu u jednoj tački )…

Pitanja u osnovnom obliku za glagole su ista kao i u srpskom jeziku. N- Wer, was - ko, šta Das Kind läuft. Dete trči. G- Wessen - čiji (a,e) Das Ende des Krieges ist nah. Kraj rata je blizu. D- Wem - kome, čemu Das gehört dem Kind. To pripada detetu. A- Wen - koga, šta Ich sehe ein hübsches Mädchen. Vidim lepu devojku.

Ono što je opasno u nemačkom, zbog čega treba izbegavati "prenošenje" oblika iz srpskog, je da se deo glagola ne koristi (vezuje) sa istim padežom kao u srpskom: Der Hund folgte der Blutspur (D) im Schnee. Pas je pratio (sledio) krvavi trag (A) u snegu. folgen+D - pratiti(slediti)+A Na sreću su takvi glagoli u manjini, ali se u svakom slučaju izuzeci moraju naučiti.

Prepozicije moraju da se posmatraju kao poseban oblik, odvojeno od osnovne forme padeža, i svaka prepozicija se koristi sa određenim padežom/padežima zavisno od vrste i situacije u kojoj se koristi. Listu najčešćih imate ovde.Takođe, pogrešno je banalizovati i vezivati kretanje, odnosno, mirovanje samo za akuzativ, odnosno, dativ jer to zavisi prvenstveno od prepozicije (važi samo za prepozicije koje su i u ak i u dat). Er ist aus der Stadt (D) geflohen.- On je pobegao iz grada. I ovo, nažalost, može samo da se nauči. Verovatnoća da pogrešite, ukoliko prenosite bukvalno iz srpskog, je ovde daleko veća zbog većeg procenta "nepoklapanja".

German cases 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 “he speaks”, and “give him” and not “give 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 it’s 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, articles…and 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 CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter,

plural)Der, die, das, die(they all meansthe)

Ein, Eine, Ein(they all mean a, an)

Ich, du, er, sie,wir, ihr, sie.(I, you, he, she...)

Weißer, weiße, weißes, weiße(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 pronouns…what comes next will help you notice the difference between Nominative and what the other 3 German cases.

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 let’s 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 “den Lehrer” and not “der Lehrer” as in the nominative case. I see the teacher = Ich sehe den Lehrer.

German Accusative CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter,

plural)Den, die, das, die(they all meansthe)

Einen, Eine, Ein(they all mean a, an)

mich, dich, ihn, sie,uns, euch, sie.(me, you, him, her...)

Weißen, weiße, weißes, weiße(all these forms mean white)

Let’s get adjectives involved as well. I see the young teacher = ich sehe den jungen Lehrer. Young in German is jung, but since we’re 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 will understand why we added “en” after the adjective “jung”. Now let’s get personal pronouns involved. I see him = ich sehe ihn. Easy, isn’t it!

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 let’s learn what the Dative means. The Dative in German is just like the indirect object in English, or in other words, it’s 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 we’re interested when it comes to the dative case.

German Dative CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter)Dem, der, dem, den (they all meansto the)

Einem, Einer, Einem(they all mean to a, to an)

mir, dir, ihm, ihr,uns, euch, ihnen.(to me, to you, to him, to her...)

Weißen, weißen, weißen, weißen(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 it’s not that complicated after all.

German Genitive

Finally we will learn the genitive in German. It’s 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 CaseDefinite Articles Indefinite Articles Personal Pronouns Adjectives (masc., fem, neuter)Des, der, des, der(they all means ofthe)

Eines, Einer, Eines(they all mean of a, of an)

mir, dir, ihm, ihr,uns, euch, ihnen.(to me, to you, to him, to her...)

Weißen, weißen, weißen, weiße(all these forms mean white)

Note that nouns in the masculine and neuter take an “s” at the end, as in our example: The book of myteacher = das Buch meines Lehrers.Feminine and plural nouns don’t 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.

Good luck!