2. Cases
There are four cases in German: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.
The table below indicates the way articles and nouns are inflected in terms of case, gender and number.
Definite and indefinite articles:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der, ein Tisch | die, eine Katze | das, ein Haus | die, — Bücher |
| Accusative | den, einen Tisch | die, eine Katze | das, ein Haus | die, — Bücher |
| Dative | dem, einem Tisch | der, einer Katze | dem, einem Haus | den, — Büchern |
| Genitive | des, eines Tisches | der, einer Katze | des, eines Hauses | der, — Bücher |
The basic form, nominative, is the case the subject of a sentence is in. It is also used with the following verbs: sein, werden and bleiben. In the example below, “Die Frau”, the subject, is in the nominative case.
Accusative
The accusative case is used for the object in a sentence. It therefore answers the questions Was? or Wen? (What?/Who?). In the example below, “einen Rock” is in the accusative case, as it is the object of the sentence:
Die Frau kauft einen Rock.
The woman buys a skirt.
The accusative case is also used when answering the following questions: Wie oft? (How often?), Wie lange? (How long?) and Wie viel? (How much?), and with certain prepositions (which are discussed in further detail in chapter 8):
Wir gehen jeden Tag zusammen spazieren.
We go out for a walk together every day.
Ich habe ein Jahr in Berlin gewohnt.
I lived in Berlin for one year.
Dative
The dative case is used to answer the question: Wem? (To whom?). It is also used with some specific verbs, such as helfen (help), which is shown in the second example. In German, it is therefore important to note that the case can be governed by a verb. As with the accusative case, some prepositions also require the dative case (see chapter 8):
Ich gebe meinem Freund ein Geschenk.
I give my friend a present.
Die Frau hilft ihrer Tochter beim Umzug.
The woman helps her daughter with the move.
Genitive
Finally, the genitive case indicates ownership, thus answering the question Wessen? (Whose?), or a part of a whole:
Ein Teil der finnischen Bevölkerung spricht Schwedisch.
A part of the Finnish population speaks Swedish.
In spoken language, the genitive case is often replaced by the preposition “von”, which requires the dative case:
Das ist das Auto meines Bruders. ⇒ Das ist das Auto von meinem Bruder.
That is my brother’s car. ⇒ (literally) That is the car of my brother.
NB! Der Dativ ist dem Genetiv sein Tod! Nowadays, the dative case is gaining popularity and is used more and more to replace the genitive, especially in speech.