The 3 Key Cases

Introduction

There are three key cases in German (for beginners):

• Nominative

  • It is the subject of the sentence, i.e., who/what does the action.

  • Example: Der Mann liest. (The man reads.) Der Mann is nominative, because it is the one who is doing the action of reading.

• Accusative

  • It is the direct object of the sentence , i.e., who/what is affected directly by the action.

  • Example: Ich sehe den Mann. (I see the man.) Den Mann is accusative, because it is the one who is being seen by the subject (Ich).

• Dative

  • It is the indirect object of the sentence, i.e., to/for whom/what something happens.

  • Example: Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch. (I give the man the book.) Dem Mann is dative because it is the one to whome the book is being given.

Declension of the articles

The definite (the) and indefinite (a/an) articles change depending on the gender and case of the name they refer to.