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ONE SENTENCE, FOUR ROLES derVater denBall demKind des Nachbarn NOMINATIVEwho does it ACCUSATIVEwhat is given DATIVEwho receives GENITIVE · whose Der Vater gibt dem Kind den Ball des Nachbarn. The father gives the child the neighbour’s ball.
The nouns barely change. The word for “the” does the work: der, den, dem and des all mean “the”.
German · Grammar · A2

The four German cases: who does what to whom

A case is a change in the form of a word that shows its role in the sentence. English kept cases only in its pronouns: “he” sees, but you see “him”. German marks the role of every noun, mostly on the article in front of it. Because of that, German can move words around (see word order) without losing track of who did what.

Nominative Who? What? The subject, doing the action. Accusative Whom? What? The direct object, receiving the action. Dative To whom? The indirect object, the receiver. Genitive Whose? The owner.

The article table

Here is “the” and “a” in every gender and case. It looks like sixteen things to learn, but most cells repeat. Choose a case to highlight its row.

MasculineFeminineNeuterPlural
Nominative derein dieeine dasein die(keine)
Accusative deneinen dieeine dasein die(keine)
Dative demeinem dereiner demeinem den …n(keinen …n)
Genitive des …seines …s dereiner des …seines …s der(keiner)

Red cells are the ones that differ from the nominative. Two patterns save most of the work: feminine, neuter and plural look the same in nominative and accusative, so only masculine changes in the accusative (der → den). And the dative has its own clear set: dem, der, dem, den, with an extra -n on most plural nouns: den Kindern.

Nominative and accusative: subject and direct object

The nominative is the dictionary form, used for the subject: the person or thing doing the action. The accusative marks the direct object: the person or thing the action is done to. Ask “who or what does it?” for the subject and “whom or what?” for the object. After sein (to be), both sides stay nominative: Das ist der Lehrer.

Derthe (nom.)Hunddogbeißtbitesdenthe (acc.)Mann.man
dair HOONT bysst dain MAHN “The dog bites the man.”
Why: Der marks the dog as the subject; den marks the man as the object.
Denthe (acc.)Mannmanbeißtbitesderthe (nom.)Hund.dog
dain MAHN bysst dair HOONT “The dog bites the man. (It’s the man the dog bites.)”
Why: Same meaning: the articles still say who bites whom. Only the emphasis changes.
IchIhabehaveeinena (acc.)Bruder.brother
ikh HAH-buh INE-un BROO-der “I have a brother.”
Why: Haben takes an accusative object. Ein becomes einen for a masculine noun.

Dative: the receiver

The dative marks the indirect object: the person who receives something or benefits from the action. English shows it with “to” or “for”, or by word order: “I give the child a book”. Ask “to whom?”. A handful of everyday verbs always take the dative, even though English uses a direct object.

IchIschenkegive-as-a-giftmeinermy (dat.)Muttermothereinena (acc.)Schal.scarf
ikh SHENG-kuh MINE-er MOO-ter INE-un SHAHL “I’m giving my mother a scarf.” Why: The mother receives: dative, meiner. The scarf is what is given: accusative, einen. No word for “to” is needed.
Verbs that always take the dative

Prepositions decide the case too

A preposition is a small word showing place, time or relation: in, with, for. Every German preposition requires a particular case for the noun after it. Learn them in their groups.

Always accusativedurch, für, gegen, ohne, um through, for, against, without, around
Always dativeaus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu from, at, with, after, since, from, to
Two-wayin, an, auf, über, unter … accusative for movement, dative for position
auf den Tisch where to? movement → accusative auf dem Tisch where? location → dative
Nine two-way prepositions follow this rule: an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen. Die Katze springt auf den Tisch (jumps onto); die Katze sitzt auf dem Tisch (sits on).

Genitive: the owner

The genitive shows possession, like English ’s or “of”. Masculine and neuter nouns add -s or -es: das Auto des Vaters, the father’s car. Names take -s with no apostrophe: Annas Buch. In everyday speech, Germans usually replace the genitive with von + dative: das Auto von meinem Vater. You will need the genitive for reading and formal writing, and after prepositions such as wegen (because of) and während (during).

Pronouns in each case

Pronouns change more than articles do, just as English “I, me” and “he, him” do. The genitive pronouns are rare and left out here.

EnglishNominativeAccusativeDative
I / meichmichmir
you (friend)dudichdir
he / himerihnihm
she / hersiesieihr
itesesihm
we / uswirunsuns
you (group)ihreucheuch
they / them; you (polite)sie / Siesie / Sieihnen / Ihnen
Gibstgiveduyou (nom.)ihmhim (dat.)dastheBuch?book
GEEPST doo EEM dahs BOOKH “Are you giving him the book?”
Why: He receives the book, so dative ihm, not accusative ihn. English “him” covers both.

Related guides

Next guideDer, die, dasThe three genders the case table is built on. Next guideThe perfect tenseHow German talks about the past. Next guideWord orderWhy cases let German move words around. Course mapGerman hubThe full course map from A1 to C2.