German Grammatical Cases

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing the functions, prepositions, and verbs associated with the four German grammatical cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive.

Accusative

Indicates the direct object of the sentence, the object which directly receives the action. It is also used after the prepositions: durch, für, gegen, ohne, um. den, die, das

Nominative

Indicates the subject of the sentence, the one that performs the action. It is also used after the verbs: sein, bleiben, werden. It is the basic form you find in the dictionary. Der, die, das

Dative

Indicates the indirect object, the receiver of the direct object. It is also used after the prepositions: aus, bei, mit, von, zu. Dem, der, dem, (Plural den)

Genitive

Indicates possession by s.o./s.th. or attributes of s.o./s.th., and it is also used after certain prepositions: e.g. wegen, trotz, infolge, dank.

Des, der, des (Plural der)