Cases Nominative and Accusative - Nouns & Articles

Question 1

Say whether the bold bit in each of these sentences is in the nominative or accusative case:

a) Der Feuerwehrmann sieht das Feuer.
b) Jeden Tag putze ich die Toilette.
c) Der Hund bleißt den Mann.
d) Heute habe ich Schnupfen.

Answer 1

a) nominative - ‘Der Feuerwehrmann’ is the subject.
b) accusative - ‘die Toilette’ is the object.
c) accusative - ‘den Mann’ is the object.
d) nominative - ‘ich’ is the subject.

Question 2

Explain when you should use the nominative case and the accusative case.

Answer 2

Nominative: For the subject (the thing or person doing the action) of a sentence, you use the nominative case.

Accusative: For the direct object (the thing or person having the action done to it, you use the accusative case.

Question 3

True or False?

In German, the nominative case can sometimes appear after the accusative case.

Answer 3

True.

In German, you can sometimes put the accusative case before the nominative case in a sentence, e.g. ‘einen Pfirsich habe ich schon heute gegessen’ (’I have already eaten a peach today’.)

Question 4

Translate:

a) Would you like a piece of cake?

b) The man saw a black bird.

c) Sie isst den Käse sehr langsam.

d) Diesen Sommer wollen sie eine Bootsfahrt in Deutschland machen.

Answer 4

a) Möchten Sie ein Stück Kuchen?

b) Einen schwarzen Vogel hat der Mann gesehen.

c) She eats the cheese very slowly.

d) This summer, they want to do a boat trip in Germany.