Standard Case Overview
| Main Case Overview Page | Basic Chart: Forms of der/das/die, ein-words and personal pronouns |
| Nominative | Accusative |
| Dative | Genitive |
Forms of der/das/die and personal pronouns
You should be very familiar with the forms of the personal pronouns and of the der- and ein- words in the various cases and genders. If you are not confident with these, investing a little time now to learn them will help you A LOT with your German immediately. The Basic Chart page shows you the forms of these words in a way that allows you to see patterns and save memory space, provides various mnemonic hints based on these patterns, and includes links to some mechanical exercises to help you practice these forms.
Nominative
This is the case for the subject, the person doing the action. The verb always agrees with the subject, as in English (“I am tall,” not “I is tall” etc.):
| Ich esse den SPAM. Heute geht der Hund mit mir in die Schule. Den Mann im Mond habe ich gestern mit meinem Teleskop gesehen. Beethoven schrieb die neunte Symphonie, als er taub war. |
Always use Nominative after sein:
| Wir sind die Welt. / Die Welt sind wir. [=We are the world.] |
| Ulla ist die Lehrerin. / Die Lehrerin ist Ulla. |
In these examples, all the nouns are in the nominative, but only “wir” and “Ulla” are the subjects of their sentences; “die Welt” and “die Lehrerin” are “predicate nominatives.” The difference is that the verb agrees with the subject, and need not agree with predicate nominatives. In the first example, “wir” is the subject, whereas “die Welt” just completes the meaning of the verb “sein”: “We are what?” ==> “We are the world.” This may sound abstract, but you generally do this right instinctively: the reason you don’t say “We is the world” (even though “the world” is third person singular) is that you know “we” is the subject of that sentence, and “the world” is just the predicate nominative and the verb need not agree with it.
Predicate nominatives are also used with a few other verbs, notably “werden” [=to become] and “bleiben” [=to stay]. Note how the verbs agree with the subjects in each case:
| Ich [subject] werde Lehrer [Pred. Nom.]. Er [subject] ist ein Professor [Pred. Nom.] geworden. Sie [subject] bleibt Studentin[Pred. Nom.]. Du [subject] bist mein Idol [Pred. Nom.] geblieben. |
Accusative
The Accusative is used for the direct object of the action: who it’s being done to (even if that action is not much of an activity, like “having”):
| Wir kochen Bambi. Bambi hat einen kleinen Kopf. Die Bambi-Suppe esse ich nicht gern. Ich kann Bambis Bauchnabel [=belly-button] sehen. |
Always use the Accusative after the Accusative prepositions (click here for more info on prepositions):
| durch, für, gegen, ohne, um [and also bis, but bis is rarely used in cases where you would notice a case ending] |
Two-way prepositions (in, auf, an, unter, über, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen) are followed by the Accusative if the verb is describing a change of location: where someone or something is going or being put, and by the Dative if the verb is describing where something is located or where an action is taking place (click here for more info on prepositions):
| This nonsense mnemonic might help you with this: “Accusative-Cruisative; Dative-Stative” |
| Ich gehe in das Zimmer [Acc.]. Ich bin in dem [im] Zimmer [Dat.]. Ich springe auf das Bett [Acc.: I jump onTO the bed: I am changing my location relative to the bed (I wasn’t on it before and now I am)]. Ich springe auf dem Bett [Dat.: I am jumping up and down ON the bed (it is the location where I am doing the jumping)]. Unter meinem Bett ist ein Monster [Dat.]. Das Monster ist gestern unter mein Bett gekrochen [=crawled] [Acc.]. |
Always use the Accusative with “es gibt” [=there is/are]:
| Es gibt morgen einen Sturm. In Ann Arbor gibt es gutes und schlechtes Wetter. |
Dative
The Dative is used for the indirect object, i.e. the recipient or beneficiary of the action. If you give/show/recommend (etc.) something to someone, then that person is in the Dative, and the thing you are giving/showing/recommending is the direct, Accusative object of the verb. If you do something for someone (e.g. tell them a story, water their plants for them, cut their hair), then that person is in the Dative, and the story, the plants, the hair (etc.) are the direct, Accusative object of the verb.
| Ich gebe meiner Mutter einen Kuss. Elvis gibt seiner Mutter einen rosa Cadillac. Meine Mutter zeigt [=show] mir ihre Tätowierung [=tattoo]. Sie empfiehlt [=recommends] uns ein gutes Tattoo & Piercing Studio. |
Always use the Dative with the Dative prepositions (click here for more info on prepositions):
| [sing to “Blue Danube”!] aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu |
A few verbs take only Dative objects; i.e. for no good reason, the thing that those verbs are done to, which should by rights be their direct, Accusative object, is in fact their Dative object. The most important examples of these “Dative verbs” are:
| helfen, glauben [for believing someone], gefallen, gehören, danken, schmecken [=to taste good/bad], wehtun [for who is being hurt] |
| Die Frau hilft dem Mann; Bitte glaub mir; Das Lied gefällt mir; Die Britney Spears CD gehört mir; Ihm tut der Kopf weh; Ich will dir nicht weh tun… |
Two-way prepositions (in, auf, an, unter, über, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen) are followed by the Accusative if the verb is describing a change of location: where someone or something is going or being put, and by the Dative if the verb is describing where something is located or where an action is taking place (click here for more info on prepositions):
| Ich gehe in das Zimmer [Acc.]. Ich bin in dem [im] Zimmer [Dat.]. Ich springe auf das Bett [Acc.: I jump onTO the bed: I am changing my location relative to the bed (I wasn’t on it before and now I am)]. Ich springe auf dem Bett [Dat.: I am jumping up and down ON the bed (it is the location where I am doing the jumping)]. Unter meinem Bett [Dat.] ist ein Monster. Das Monster ist gestern unter mein Bett [Acc.] gekrochen [=crawled]. |
Genitive
This is used to express possession. Note that the word order is not like English:
| Das ist der Hut des Mannes. Das ist der Porsche meiner Schwester. Dtv Lexikon [=dictionary] der deutschen Sprache. Hast du das Nummernschild [=licence plate] des Autos gesehen? Der Sponsor des zweiten “O”s im “Hollywood” Zeichen in Los Angeles ist Alice Cooper (zu Ehren von [=in honor of] Groucho Marx). |
Possessive articles are typically in the Nominative, Accusative or Dative, but can certainly also be in the Genitive:
| Das ist sein Hut. Das ist ihr Porsche. [No Genitive!–the possessive article (“his,” “her”) already indicates possession] |
| Die Farbe meines Hutes ist schwarz. Das sind die Schlüssel [=keys] ihres Autos. [possessive articles in the Genitive!–the color of his hat; the keys of her car] |
The Genitive is also used after the Genitive prepositions (click here for more info on prepositions):
| (an)statt, trotz, während, wegen, außer-/inner-/ober-/unterhalb, diesseits/jenseits/beiderseits |
Note that the Dative is increasingly being used instead of the Genitive, especially in spoken German, after the prepositions(an)statt, trotz, während, and wegen.