Handout: Nominative, Accusative, and Dative: When to Use Them

Nominative

for the subject of a sentence: who or what is doing this?
Der Student lernt Deutsch.


for predicate nouns: when the main verb is sein or werden, use the nominative for both subject and predicate nouns.
Das ist ein Tisch.


Accusative

for the direct object of a sentence: who or what is being <verbed>?
Ich habe einen Tisch. What is being had? A table.


Note that the very common expression "es gibt" (there is/are) requires that the noun be in the accusative case because
it is grammatically a direct object.
Es gibt einen Stuhl da drben. There is a chair over there.


after the accusative prepositions and postpositions: durch, fr, gegen, ohne, um (memory aid: dogfu), as well as the
postpositions bis and entlang . If a noun follows these prepositions, it will ALWAYS be in the accusative!
Er geht um den Tisch. Around what? The table.
Ist das Geschenk fr mich? For whom? For me.


time expressions in a sentence are usually in accusative: jeden Tag, letzten Sommer, den ganzen Tag, diesen
Abend, etc. We havent officially learned this yet, but its good to know.
Jeden Morgen esse ich Brot zum Frhstck. Every morning.


Dative

for the indirect object of a sentence. An indirect object is the beneficiary of whatever happens in a sentence. Its
usually a person, although it doesnt have to be. If you ask yourself: TO whom or FOR whom is this being done?, the
answer will be the indirect object, and in German it will need the dative case. Remember that not every sentence will
have an indirect object -- only some verbs allow an indirect object: to give (to), to bring (to), to tell (to), to buy (for), to
send (to) are some examples of verbs that will almost always have an indirect object. In English, we don't distinguish the
direct and indirect object in the forms of words; instead, we often use "to" or "for" to mark these.
Ich gebe der Frau ein Buch. Im giving her a book = a book to her.
Er schenkt mir ein Buch. He's giving me a book.
Ich habe das dem Mann schon gesagt. I already told the man that.


after the dative prepositions: aus, auer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu (memory aid: Blue Danube Waltz). A noun
immediately following these prepositions is ALWAYS in the dative case. There are many possible translations of these
prepositions, depending on exactly what the context of the sentence is. Please refer to your textbook, pp. 239-240, for
more detailed explanation of the meanings of each preposition.
Sie haben ein Geschenk von ihrem Vater bekommen. From their father.
Auer meiner Mutter spricht meine ganze Familie Deutsch. Except for my mother.
Ich fahre am Wochenende zu meiner Tante in Minnesota. To my aunt's.


after dative verbs: helfen, danken, gefallen, gehren, schmecken, passen. See your book for more details on each
verb. There's no direct translation that explains why these verbs take a dative object, it's just an idiosyncrasy of German -
- it's best just to memorize these verbs as requiring the dative, even though the following noun doesn't 'feel' like an
indirect object.
Ich helfe dir mit deinen Hausaufgaben. I'm helping you = I'm giving help to you.
Wir danken Ihnen, Herr Stein. We're thanking you = we're giving thanks to you.

with some adjectives which describe a condition. You'll just need to know these as fixed phrases.
Mir ist warm. To me (it) is warm / I'm warm.
Wie geht es dir? How's it going / How are you doing?


the preposition in often uses the dative case. Later this week you will be learning more about this preposition and
how to use it correctly. For now, the most you need to know is that when in is used with a stationary verb (e.g. Hes in
the house), it takes the dative case.
Der Tisch steht in der Kche. Where is it? In the kitchen.
Mein Schreibtisch ist im Arbeitszimmer. Note that im = in dem
Die Kinder sind in ihren Zimmern. The children are in their rooms, plural.


Summary: When to use which case

So, when you're trying to decide which case to use, consider the following things:
1. Is it a fixed expression? (such as Mir ist kalt, or Es tut mir Leid)
2. Does the noun follow either an accusative or a dative preposition? If so, this should be easy, since the
preposition determines the case. Just make sure you know which prepositions take the accusative (dogfu)
and which take the dative (Blue Danube Waltz). Once you have the accusative and dative prepositions
memorized, these are your friends when it comes to case -- they tell you exactly what to do. (Next semester
you will learn some other prepositions which aren't quite so easy.)
3. Is the verb a dative verb? If so, the object will be in the dative.
4. If none of the other conditions apply, then you need to determine which noun in the sentence is
the subject, and put that in nominative. Then look for a direct object (put in accusative) and indirect
object (put in dative). Remember that not every sentence necessarily has a direct object and an indirect
object: some have only one or the other, or none at all.


If you need reference to these, here's a table of the different endings and pronouns in the three cases:
Nom Akk Dat (Poss)
1 sg ich mich mir (mein_)
2 sg du dich dir (dein_)
3 sg er ihn ihm (sein_)
3 sg sie sie ihr (ihr_)
3 sg es es ihm (sein_)
1 pl wir uns uns (unser_)
2 pl ihr euch euch (euer_)
3 pl sie sie ihnen (ihr_)
form Sie Sie Ihnen (Ihr_)
masc der den dem
fem die die der
neut das das dem
plur die die den (+ _n)
masc ein einen einem
fem eine eine einer
neut ein ein einem
plur keine keine keinen (+ _n)
masc unser unseren unserem
fem unsere unsere unserer
neut unser unser unserem
plur unsere unsere unseren (+ _n)
masc dieser diesen diesem
fem diese diese dieser
neut dieses dieses diesem
plur diese diese diesen (+ _n)


It may help you to remember these changes with the mnemonic device rese nese mr mn -- in other words, der-die-das-
die, den-die-das-die, dem-der-dem-den.

The question words wer - wen - wem

To ask who in German, you need to decided whether the who is the subject, the direct object, or the indirect
object. The forms of wer are just like the masculine article: wer - wen - wem.
Wer ist das? Who is that?
Wer kommt morgen zur Party? Whos coming to the party tomorrow?
Wen hast du eingeladen? Whom did you invite?
Wem hast du das Buch gegeben? To whom did you give the book?
Handout: Der Genitiv
The genitive case is used in German to express either:
possession, ownership, belonging to or with:
Hier ist das Auto meines Vaters. Here is my fathers car.
Hast du die Freunde meiner Schwester gesehen? Did you see my sisters friends?
of in English, when referring to a part or component of something else:
Am Anfang des Kurses haben wir viel gelernt. We learned a lot at the beginning of the course.
Manche Seiten des Buches fehlen. Some pages of the book are missing.
in addition, there are a handful of prepositions that require the genitive case:
anstatt (statt) -- instead of:
Anstatt eines Wagens haben sie ein Motorrad gekauft. Instead of a car they bought a motorcycle.
auerhalb -- outside of:
Der Park liegt auerhalb der Stadt. The park is outside of the city.
innerhalb -- inside of, within:
Sie sind innerhalb eines Tages angekommen. They arrived within a day.
trotz -- in spite of:
Ich gehe zur Party trotz meiner Erkltung. Im going to the party in spite of my cold.
whrend -- during, in the course of:
Whrend der Party habe ich mich sehr schlecht gefhlt. During the party I felt very ill.
wegen -- because of:
Wir sind wegen des Wetters zu Hause geblieben. We stayed at home because of the weather.
You may occasionally see other genitive prepositions, such as diesseits (on this side of), jenseits (on that side of)
or dank (thanks to, due to), but in general the most common genitive prepositions -- and the only ones youre
responsible for knowing -- are listed above.


The formation of the article in the genitive is fairly simple, as there are only two different endings (-es for masculine
and neuter, -er for feminine and plural). However, the genitive case is unusual in German because it adds an ending
not only to the articles, but to masculine and neuter nouns as well. This ending is -es for single-syllable masculine
and neuter nouns. When the noun is more than one syllable long, the ending is usually just -s.
masc neut fem pl
des Mannes des Buches der Frau der Blumen
meines Mannes meines Buches meiner Frau meiner Blumen


Although you arent required to learn them, the adjective endings for the genitive case are extremely easy:
masculine and neuter are always -en, feminine and plural are either -en (if theres an article) or -er (with no
article):
with article without article (rare!)
masc die Frau des alten Mannes der Geschmack kalten Kaffees
fem der Sohn meiner jungen Schwester anstatt heier Suppe
neut ein Zimmer innerhalb des groen Gebudes trotz schlechten Wetters
pl die Augen der schwarzen Katzen wegen langer Tage


In addition, you may see the question word wessen: this is merely the genitive form of wer, and means whose. It
never has any other form or endings:
Wessen Auto ist das? Whose car is that?
Wessen Bcher liegen hier? Whose books are lying here?


Word of warning:
Your impulse may be to simply put an -s before a noun to indicate the possessive, as we do in English (my fathers
car). However, saying mein Vaters Wagen is not only incorrect in German, it is incomprehensible and makes no
sense at all. You must rephrase: der Wagen meines Vaters. If it helps to think of it as the car of my father,
thats fine, since the meaning is the same as English my fathers car.

Remember that with personal names, you can simply add an -s to indicate the possessive. But when referring to
a common noun rather than a proper name, the genitive formation must be used:
Marias Freund heit Thomas. Der Freund meiner Schwester heit Thomas.
Hans Mutter ist nett. Die Mutter meines Freundes ist nett.
Wisconsins Hauptstadt ist Madison. Die Hauptstadt dieses Bundeslands ist Madison.


Alternate method:
The genitive case has been disappearing in German for some time now. Its not dead yet, but you wont often hear
it in informal situations -- its mostly reserved for formal writing or elevated styles of speech. Instead of the genitive
to indicate possession, you will often hear the dative used with the preposition von:
das Haus meines Freundes = das Haus von meinem Freund
der Onkel meiner Mutter = der Onkel von meiner Mutter
die Namen der Kinder = die Namen von den Kindern