When we start to learn German, one of the most important steps is to get our heads around cases of nouns and pronouns.
For that reason, it’s time for a crash course on cases in German!
The Coffee Break German Show is a podcast series of bite-sized, friendly conversations, in which we demystify tricky German language topics. In the latest episode, Mark and Olivera discuss the four German cases and how to identify and use them.
Continue reading to find out more and why not listen to the podcast as you go?
What do cases do?
Each case serves a different grammatical function and indicates the role a noun or pronoun plays in a sentence.
Let’s look at the four German cases, one by one.
Nominative case: ‘Nominativ’
The nominative is used for the subject of a sentence. It represents the “doer” or the one performing the action. For example:
Der Lehrer unterrichtet.
The teacher teaches.
It’s also used for predicate nouns (that means nouns that come directly after verbs, for example sein and werden), indicating a state of being. Here are some examples:
Sie ist Lehrerin.
She is a teacher.
Mario ist ein guter Schüler.
Mario is a good student.
Accusative case: ‘Akkusativ’
The accusative is used for the direct object of a sentence. It represents the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb. Let’s look at some examples. The noun or pronoun that is in the accusative in each German sentence is in italics.
Ich mag dich.
I like you.
Ich esse den leckeren Apfel.
I am eating the delicious apple.
It’s also used after certain prepositions indicating motion or direction:
Wir fliegen in den Urlaub.
We are flying away on holiday / vacation.
Wir gehen zu unserer Oma.
We are going to our grandma’s.
Wir fahren an den See.
We are going to the lake.
Dative case: ‘Dativ’
The dative case is used for the indirect object of a sentence. It represents the noun or pronoun that benefits from the action of the verb. Take a look at the following sentences, where the examples of the dative are in italics:
Ich helfe dir.
I am helping you.
Ich schenke meiner Schwester einen Apfel.
I give an apple to my sister. (Note that the direct object, “apple”, is in the accusative.)
It’s also used after certain prepositions indicating location, time or direction:
Das Essen ist im Kühlschrank.
The food is in the fridge.
Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch.
The book is lying on the table.
Wir sind im Theater.
We are in the theatre.
Die Kinder sind bei den Nachbarn.
The children are at the neighbours’ house.
Note that in the dative case we add an -n or -en to the end of plural nouns, as can be seen in Nachbarn.
Genitive case: ‘Genitiv’
The genitive case is used to indicate possession, origin or relationships between nouns. This will become clear with some more examples. Again, we’ve put the nouns that are in the genitive in the German sentences in italics:
das Foto des Mädchens
the girl’s photo
Das ist das Hemd meines Vaters.
That is my father’s shirt.
der schönste Ort der Welt
the most beautiful place in the world
Note that when using the genitive case an -es or -s is added to the end of masculine and neuter nouns, as seen in the examples above: des Mädchens, meines Vaters.
In conclusion
There is a lot more to discover about cases, but we hope that this article and episode have given you a brief overview to help you get started.
If you found this post interesting, make sure to listen to the full episode with Mark and Olivera on The Coffee Break German Show. This is the series in which we look at a range of topics for German learners, and we’ll certainly cover German cases in more detail in future episodes, so make sure to subscribe to our podcast feed or our channel on YouTube.
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