Case Flashcards
Dative Case
The indirect object in a sentence is called the dative object. The indirect object is the receiver of the direct (accusative) object. For example, “Frau” is the indirect (dative) object in “Das Mädchen gibt einer Frau den Apfel.” (A girl gives the apple to a woman).
The dative is also used for certain dative verbs such as “danken” (to thank) and “antworten” (to answer) and with dative prepositions such as “von” (by/of) and “mit” (with). For example, “Ich danke dem Koch” (I thank the cook) or “Wir spielen mit der Katze” (We play with the cat).
This case is known as the “Wem-Fall” (with whom-case), because to identify the word in the dative case, you have to ask “With/to whom …?”
Note that the dative changes all articles for the words, the plural and pronouns. For example, even though “Frau” is a feminine noun, it will take the masculine article here to indicate the dative: “Ich danke der Frau” (I thank the woman).
Case Mas Fem Neut Plur
Nominative der die das die
Accusative den die das die
Dative dem der dem den
Case Mas Fem Neut
Nominative ein eine ein
Accusative einen eine ein
Dative einem einer einem
German Plurals: The Dative Case
There are some exceptions when it comes to pluralizing nouns in the dative case.
As mentioned before, for most German one-syllable nouns, the -e ending will be needed in their plural form. However, in the dative case, the noun always adds an -en ending (and there may be umlaut changes). For "the hands," in the dative case it is "den Händen" and for "the dogs" it is "den Hunden." For most German masculine or neuter nouns, the plural will end in -er with the exception of the dative case: they will end in -ern in the dative case. There may also be umlaut changes. For example, for "the books" it is "den Büchern." An example sentence would be "Der Junge lernt mit den Büchern." (The boy is learning with the books). Or for "the children," this would mean "den Kindern." Whereas most neuter or masculine nouns ending in -chen, -lein, -el, or -er, require no change of the noun in the plural, they end in -n in the dative case. There may be umlaut changes. For example, for "the windows" it is "den Fenstern" for the dative plural. An example sentence would be: "Es funktioniert mit den Fenstern." (It works with the windows). For "the mothers," it is "den Müttern" as in: "Ich spreche mit den Müttern." (I talk with the mothers).
Nominative Case
The nominative object is the subject of a sentence (the one doing the action), so when we say “Die Frau spielt” (the woman plays), “Frau” is in the nominative case.
Accusative Case
The accusative object is the thing or person that is directly receiving the action. For example, in “Der Lehrer sieht den Ball” (the teacher sees the ball), “Lehrer” is the nominative object and “Ball” is the accusative object. Notice that the articles for accusative objects are not the same as the articles for nominative objects: “the” is “der” for the nominative object and “den” for the accusative.
Nominative/Accusative Case
Case Masc Fem Neut Plur
Nominative der die das die
Accusative den die das die
Case Masc Fem Neut
Nominative ein eine ein
Accusative einen eine ein
Contractions
When a preposition and a definite article are combined or contracted in German, a new word is formed. For instance, “in dem” (in the) becomes “im” like in “Der Mann ist im Restaurant” (the man is in the restaurant). Note that the best translation of a contraction includes the definite article “the” (and not the indefinite article).
Below is a table with common contractions:
Original Contraction English
an + dem am at the/on the
bei + dem beim by the/at the
zu + dem zum to the
The German Preposition “am”
Most likely, food is being consumed at the table. The German preposition “am” is the contraction of “an” (at/on) and “dem” (the).
For example, “The man eats at the table” is “Der Mann isst am (an + dem) Tisch.”
Since “an” can translate to both “at” and “on,” “am” can translate to both “at the” and “on the,” depending on the context.
For example “an dem Tisch” only translates to “at the table” (context: spatial relationship between things) and “an dem Tag” only translates to “on that day” (context: temporal).
German Plurals - The Nominative Case
In English, making plurals out of singular nouns is typically as straightforward as adding an “s” or an “es” at the end of the word. In German, the transformation is more complex, and also the articles for each gender change.
The following five suggestions can help:
- e ending: most German one-syllable nouns will need -e in their plural form. For example, in the nominative case, "das Brot" (the bread) becomes "die Brote," and "das Spiel" (the game) becomes "die Spiele." - er ending: most masculine or neuter nouns will need the -er ending, and there may be umlaut changes. For example, in the nominative case "das Kind" (the child) becomes "die Kinder," and "der Mann" (the man) becomes "die Männer." - n/-en ending: most feminine nouns will take either -n or -en in all four grammatical cases, with no umlaut changes. For example, "die Frau" (the woman) becomes "die Frauen" and "die Kartoffel" becomes "die Kartoffeln." - s ending: most foreign-origin nouns will take the -s ending for the plural, usually with no umlaut changes. For example: "der Chef" (the boss) becomes "die Chefs." There is no change for most neuter or masculine nouns that contain any of these in the singular: -chen, -lein, -el, or -er. There may be umlaut changes. For example: "das Mädchen" (the girl) becomes "die Mädchen," and "die Mutter" (the mother) becomes "die Mütter."
German Feminine Plurals - Nouns Ending in -in
Feminine nouns that end in “-in” will need “-nen” in the plural. For example, “die Köchin” (the female cook) becomes “die Köchinnen” in its plural form.
Personal Pronouns in the Nominative Case
A pronoun is a word that represents a noun, like “er” does for “der Mann.”
In the nominative case, the personal pronouns are simply the grammatical persons you already know:
“ich,” “du,” “er/sie/es,” “wir,” “ihr,” “sie,” and “Sie.”
Demonstrative Pronouns in the Nominative Case
The demonstrative pronouns in English are: this, that, these, and those.
In German, the demonstrative pronouns in the nominative case are the same as the definite articles. That means, “der,” “die” and “das” can also mean “that (one)” or “this (one)” depending on the gender of the respective noun, and “die” can mean “these” or “those.” For example, if you talk about a certain dog, you could say “Der ist schwarz” (that one is black).
Personal Pronouns in the Accusative Case
Aside from the nominative case, most of the German pronouns are declined in each of the four cases.
Like in English, when the subject becomes the object, the pronoun changes.
For instance, “ich” changes to “mich” (accusative object) as in “Ich sehe mich” (I see me).
In the accusative case of the third person pronouns, only the masculine gender shows the change, thus neither the feminine “sie” nor the neuter “es” change.
For example, “Er/Sie/Es mag ihn/sie/es” (He/She/It likes him/her/it).
Nominative Accusative
ich (I) mich (me)
du (you) dich (you)
er (he) ihn (him)
sie (she) sie (her)
es (it) es (it)
wir (we) uns (us)
ihr (you guys) euch (you guys)
sie (they) sie (them)
Sie (you) Sie (you)
Demonstrative Pronouns in the Accusative Case
Similarly, only the masculine gender shows the change in the demonstrative pronouns:
“der” (for “that one”) changes to “den,”
but “die” and “das” (for “that one”) remain the same.
The demonstrative pronouns in the accusative case are thus:
“den” = that one (masculine),
“die” = that one (feminine),
“das” = that one (neuter), and for the plural,
“die” = “these.”
Take this example: “Er isst den” is “He is eating that one (masculine);”
“Er isst die” and “Er isst das” are both “He is eating that one,” but for the other two genders.
German Conjunctions
A conjunction like “wenn” (when) or “jedoch” (however) connects two parts of a sentence together. In German, conjunctions do not change with the case (i.e. they are not declinable).
Subordinating conjunctions combine an independent clause with a dependent clause; the dependent clause cannot stand on its own and its word order will be different than if it did. For instance, in “Er ist hungrig, weil er nichts aß” (he is hungry, because he ate nothing), the clause starting with “weil” is the dependent clause, which would be ordered as “er aß nichts” (he ate nothing) if it stood by itself.
Coordinating conjunctions form a group of coordinators (like “und” = and; “aber” = but), which combine two items of equal importance; here, each clause can stand on its own and the word order does not change.
Lastly, correlative conjunctions work in pairs to join sentence parts of equal importance. For instance, “entweder…oder” (either…or) is such a pair and can be used like this: “Der Schuh ist entweder blau oder rot” (this shoe is either blue or red).
Personal Pronouns in the Dative Case
Many words change in the dative case.
For the third person pronouns, the following are different from the nominative case:
the masculine pronoun is “ihm” (to him),
the feminine is “ihr” (to her),
the neuter is “ihm” (to it), and
the plural is “ihnen” (to them).
Personal Pronouns in the Dative Case
Nominative Accusative Dative
ich (I) mich (me) mir (to me)
du (you) dich (you) dir (to you)
er (he) ihn (him) ihm (to him)
sie (she) sie (her) ihr (to her)
es (it) es (it) ihm (to it)
wir (we) uns (us) uns (to us)
ihr (you guys) euch (youguys) euch (to you guys)
sie (they) sie (them) ihnen (to them)
Sie (you) Sie (you) Ihnen (to you)
