Declension
1. What are the German cases?
We can think of the four noun cases as categories that show the grammatical role that each noun plays in a sentence.
Don’t worry if this sounds complicated at first, you probably know more about cases than you realise — English has them too.
2. How to identify the German cases
2.1. What is the nominative case?
The nominative case is the basic form of the noun (the endings don’t change). We use the nominative for the subject of the sentence; i.e., the person or thing that ‘does’ the verb.
2.2. What is the accusative case?
The accusative case is for the direct object; i.e. the person or thing that ‘receives’ the action of the verb.
Ask what? (wen?/was?) to find the direct object.
2.3. What is the dative case?
The dative case is for the indirect object. We ask to whom/which? or for whom/which? (wem?) to find the indirect object.
2.4. What is the genitive case?
The genitive case indicates possession or belonging. The genitive case has a similar meaning to the English ’s or of. Ask whose? (wessen?) to find the genitive.
3. Order of accusative and dative objects
Although German word order is flexible, we have to pay attention to the order of accusative and dative objects.
- Generally, the dative comes before the accusative.
- Sometimes we place the accusative object first if it fits better with the previous sentence.
- However: if one of the objects is a personal pronoun, it must come first, regardless of the case.
- If both objects are personal pronouns, the accusative object comes first.