The Case System
Overview
Let's look at an example before we start to get a good idea of this chapter's topic.
Der Kuchen schmeckt gut.
The cake tastes good.
Ich nehme den Kuchen, danke.
I'll take the cake, thanks.
There are four different cases in German: The Nominative, Genitive, Dative and german accusative case practice US Each case gives you information about the respective noun and its relation to the other elements of the sentence. The Nominativ is used for the subject of the sentence (the person or thing that is doing something). german cases nominative accusative dative genitive US there is no additional learning when it comes to the Nominativ as nouns are always cited in that form. Therefore, when you learn new vocabulary, you automatically learn the respective noun`s Nominativ form.
The Nominative Case
In this table, we can see well that we use the nominative case for the subject. The words in bold are the subject (article + noun).
Nouns
The Akkusative Case
But what are cases and why do we need them? Their function becomes a lot clearer when we take a short look at the Akkusative. Before, we mentioned that each case is linked to a noun's role within a sentence. When we use a noun as the subject for a sentence, we need to use the Nominative. But what do we need when we use an object (the person or thing that receives the action of the verb)? Exactly, the Akkusative! When using the Akkusative, the appearance of that respective noun can change. But Interestingly, it is not the noun itself, but the article that changes. Another positive aspect is that only the article for masculine nouns changes from "der" to "den" and from "ein" to "einen".
To see what all this theory actually means, take a look at the table. There a lot of examples, because there is nothing better than a lot of examples, right? In this table we can see well that we use the akkusative case for the direct object. The words in bold are the direct object (article + noun).
Nouns
We use the Akkusativ after almost every verb ("Ich habe einen Bruder"), the only exception is "sein", as this verb equates the following noun with the subject and we therefore have to use the Nominativ ("Tom ist mein Bruder").
This should give you an idea of how the case system works in German. So far, we have clarified that the Nominativ is used for the subject of a sentence, whereas the Akkusativ is used for the object of the sentence. Moreover, when it comes to the Akkusativ, only the article of masculine nouns change, and that's it for the Akkusativ! Not as complicated as you expected, right? In the upcoming chapters, we will talk about the other two cases, the Dativ and the Genitiv, and their function.
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