The Four German Cases
Understand what nominative, accusative, dative and genitive do, and pick the right article form in every sentence.
German shows a noun's job in the sentence with its article, not only with word order. That's why der Hund can become den Hund, dem Hund or des Hundes.
There are four cases. Learn what each one does, then the article table, and most sentences fall into place.
What each case does
Each case marks one role in the sentence. The article changes to show it, while the noun itself mostly stays the same.
One noun, four cases
- Nominativeder Hundsubject: who acts
- Accusativeden Hunddirect object
- Dativedem Hundindirect object: to whom
- Genitivedes Hundesowner: whose
Der Hund schläft im Garten.
The dog is sleeping in the garden.
Ich sehe den Hund jeden Morgen.
I see the dog every morning.
Lena gibt dem Hund Wasser.
Lena gives the dog some water.
How the definite article changes
Masculine changes the most, with a new form in every case. The indefinite article follows the same pattern: einen, einem, eines.
Nominative
- Masculineder
- Femininedie
- Neuterdas
- Pluraldie
Accusative
- Masculineden
- Femininedie
- Neuterdas
- Pluraldie
Dative
- Masculinedem
- Feminineder
- Neuterdem
- Pluraldennoun adds -n
Genitive
- Masculinedesnoun adds -s/-es
- Feminineder
- Neuterdesnoun adds -s/-es
- Pluralder
Find the case with a question
Ask a question about the noun, and the question word tells you the case.
Question words by case
- NominativeWer? Was?who? what? (subject)
- AccusativeWen? Was?whom? what? (object)
- DativeWem?to whom?
- GenitiveWessen?whose?
Prepositions and verbs set the case too
- Some prepositions always take one case: für + accusative, mit + dative.
- Some verbs take a dative object: helfen, danken, gefallen.
- After sein and werden, both sides are nominative.
Der Kaffee ist für den Chef.
The coffee is for the boss.
Wir fahren mit dem Bus zur Arbeit.
We take the bus to work.
Kannst du dem Mann helfen?
Can you help the man?
Common mistakes
✗
Ich habe ein Bruder.✓ Ich habe einen Bruder.
haben takes the accusative: masculine ein becomes einen.
✗
Ich helfe den Mann.✓ Ich helfe dem Mann.
helfen always takes a dative object.
✗
Ich spiele mit die Kinder.✓ Ich spiele mit den Kindern.
mit takes the dative; dative plural adds -n.
Questions learners ask
How many cases does German have?
Four: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive. Everyday speech relies mostly on the first three.
Do German nouns change in different cases?
Mostly only the article changes. The exceptions are the genitive -s/-es, the dative plural -n and weak nouns like der Student.
Which case should I learn first?
Start with nominative and accusative, since nearly every sentence uses them. Add the dative next; the genitive can wait until later.