In German, “case” is a property of a word that is determined by the grammatical role it (or the noun it modifies) plays in a sentence.
English used to have cases a long time ago, and we can still see a few remnants of it. Notice how “he” and “she” change forms depending on the role they play:
He loves her.
She loves him.
In German, the case system is much more extensive. There are four cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive, and the forms of lots of different kinds of words are affected. Each case comes with a “classic” use, but can also be used in a range of other circumstances as well:
Case | “Classically” used for… |
|---|---|
Nominative | the subjectNo definition set for subjectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. |
Accusative | the direct objectNo definition set for direct objectLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. |
Dative | indirect objectsNo definition set for indirect objectsLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. |
Genitive | possessors |
Now, the time has come to unravel the mysteries surrounding the German case system! Today, I’ll provide you with an overview of the four cases in German and some useful tips to understand their functions.
In German, noun phrasesNo definition set for noun phrasesLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. are assigned a case based on the role they play in a sentence, but it’s not just the noun or pronoun that “shows” that case. The words that modify the noun may also change their endings based on the noun’s case. Some of the other kinds of German words that can be marked for case are:
Usually, we form the nominative, accusative, dative, or genitive of these words by adding special case endings. Each type of word goes with its own specific rules. You can follow the links above to learn more about their case endings.
In German, case is actually manifested more strongly on the words that surround a noun than on the noun itself. This means that while articles and adjectives change a lot with case, the noun won’t have any special case endings, except in a few cases:
singular masculine and neuter nouns end in -(e)s in the genitive case
dative plural nouns end in -(e)n for all nouns except those whose plural ends in -s
masculine nouns of the “n-declension” end in have -(e)n for all cases except the nominative
Let’s see some examples of what it looks like to put German noun phrases into different cases. Notice that in most cells the only words with special endings are the the article (der) and the adjective (gute):
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | der gute Tag ein guter Tag | die gute Woche eine gute Woche | das gute Jahr ein gutes Jahr | die guten Monate gute Monate |
Accusative | den guten Tag einen guten Tag | die gute Woche eine gute Woche | das gute Jahr ein gutes Jahr | die guten Monate gute Monate |
Dative | dem guten Tag einem guten Tag | der guten Woche einer guten Woche | dem guten Jahr einem guten Jahr | den guten Monaten guten Monaten |
Genitive | des guten Tages eines guten Tages | der guten Woche einer guten Woche | des guten Jahres eines guten Jahres | der guten Monate guter Monate |
Translation | the good day a good day | the good week a good week | the good year a good year | the good months good months |
Whenever you build a sentence in German, you need to use the correct case consistently. Every member of a noun phrase needs to have the same case.
Nach einem langen Arbeitstag freue ich mich auf meinen wohlverdienten Feierabend.
After a long working day, I look forward to my well-deserved time at home.
Das rote Auto meines lieben Vaters gefällt unserem reichen Nachbarn sehr.
Our rich neighbor likes my dear father’s red car a lot.
lit. My dear father’s red car pleases our rich neighbor a lot.
As we stated above, German has four cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive.
The traditional grammar of German lists these cases (Fall) in a different order than we usually list them in English:
Scientific name | German names | Mnemonic question | |
|---|---|---|---|
Nominativ | 1. Fall | Wer-Fall | Who’s doing it? / Who or what is it about? |
Genitiv | 2. Fall | Wes(sen)-Fall | Whose it is? |
Dativ | 3. Fall | Wem-Fall | To whom (do you give it)? |
Akkusativ | 4. Fall | Wen-Fall | Who or what is affected? |
In German, the case of a German noun phraseNo definition set for noun phraseLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. is usually determined either by the verbNo definition set for verbLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. or a prepositionNo definition set for prepositionLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.. However, there are a few other situations to be aware of as well. Let’s go through each situation!
Every verb in German must be used with one or more noun phrases, each with a different case depending on its role in the sentence. Sounds complicated? Not so much, as most of the verbs are rather intuitive.
There are four types of verbs:
Verbs which require only a subject. These are called “intransitive verbs.”
Die nette Frau lächelt.
The nice woman is smiling.
Verbs which require a subject (who’s doing the action) and a direct object (the object or person that is affected by the action). These are called “transitive verbs.”
Die nette Frau ruft den alten Mann.
The nice woman calls the old man.
Verbs which require the subject (who’s doing the action), a direct object (the object or the person that is affected by the action), and an indirect object (receiver, beneficiary, or sufferer). These are called “ditransitive verbs.”
Die nette Frau gibt dem alten Mann einen Apfel.
The nice woman gives the old man an apple.
Verbs which require a subject (who’s doing the action) and an indirect object (who receiver, beneficiary, or sufferer). These are also called “ditransitive verbs.”
Die nette Frau hilft dem alten Mann.
The nice woman helps the old man.
Now, how do we know which verb belongs to which category? The answer to this is the key to mastering the case system! To help you, we prepared a list of the most common verbs with the case(s) they require.
In order to use more than one case in a sentence, you can remember the following the pattern:
Nominative
Verb
Dative
Accusative
Die Kellnerin bringt der Frau das Essen.
The waitress brings to the woman the food.
This pattern is the basic word order, but remember that words can move around in German? Check out our post on how word order works in German!
Here are a few tips that will help you decide which cases to use with a verb:
If the verb only requires one noun, that noun will be nominative:
Er lacht.
He's laughing.
Verbs of impact, like schlagen(to hit), stoßen(to poke), or schieben(to push), and verbs starting with be-, like beenden(to end), besuchen(to visit), or bekommen(to get), nearly always require the accusative.
Ich schiebe das Auto.
I'm pushing the car.
Verbs which denote a beneficiary or sufferer, like vertrauen(to trust), danken(to thank), schaden(to harm), or helfen(to help), tend to require the dative.
Vertraust du mir?
Do you trust me?
What about the genitive case? The genitive usually isn’t “triggered” by a verb, but by something else in the sentence. Only very, very few verbs like gedenken(to commemorate) and some reflexive verbs like sich erfreuen(to enjoy) require the genitive. We’ll cover the genitive case more below!
Ich erfreue mich bester Gesundheit.
I enjoy excellent health.
In German, each prepositionNo definition set for prepositionLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. “assigns” a specific case to the noun phrase it introduces. Have a look at the following examples:
Sophie arbeitet für ein großes Unternehmen.
Sophie is working for a big company.
Sophie redet mit einem großen Unternehmen.
Sophie is talking to a big company.
Sophie arbeitet innerhalb eines großen Unternehmens.
Sophie is working within a big company.
Most prepositions can only ever assign one of the four cases, but some can assign different cases in different contexts. For example, spatial prepositions like in(in), auf(on), unter(under), neben(next to), assign the dative case if describing a (e.g. “It’s under the table”) or the accusative when describing movement (e.g. “She crawled under the table.”).
Ich bin in einer guten Schule.
I’m at a good school.
Sitzt du morgen neben mir?
Do you want to sit next to me tomorrow?
Ich gehe in eine gute Schule.
I’m going to a good school.
Setzt du dich morgen neben mich?
Do you want to take the seat next to me tomorrow?
To learn more about this, check out our post on two-case prepositions in German!
Though you can usually determine the case of a noun phrase by looking at a verb or a preposition, there are some other uses of German cases. Let’s look at a couple of them!
Adjectives of emotion often allow the additional use of the experiencer, which is put in the dative case.
Die Aufgabe ist uns klar.
The task is clear to us.
Der Frau ist kalt.
The woman feels cold.
Ist dir das nicht peinlich?
Isn’t that embarrassing for you?
Possessors, both literal and abstract, are generally in the genitive case:
Der Bleistift des Lehrers fiel vom Tisch.
The teacher’s pencil fell off the table.
Die Tür des Lehrers ist rot.
The door of the house is red.
Check out our post on the German genitive case to learn more about this use!
The accusative is a very useful case to convey many temporal expressions without a preposition:
Wir treffen uns nächsten Montag.
We’ll meet next Monday.
Berlin, des Lehrers 15.05.2022 (= fünfzehnten fünften)
Berlin, date: May 15, 2022 (on a letter)
Sometimes fixed expressions involve certain cases for historical reasons, though it may no longer be obvious why that particular case is used.
For example, we use the accusative case in Guten Tag!(Good day!) rather than the nominative (❌ Guter Tag) because we’ve taken it from a sentence in which it was a direct object:
Ich wünsche Ihnen einen guten Tag!
I wish you a good day!
Here are a few examples of fixed expressions that use the dative case for similar reasons. Can you see why these might historically have been indirect objects?
(Das ist) mir egal!
I don’t care.
Wie geht’s dir?
How are you?
Dem deutschen Volke
To the German People
Languages have different ways to show who is doing what in a sentence. English typically does that by putting the subject in the very first position, followed by the verb, then comes the object. German can do that too, as shown by this example:
Der Hund aß den Fisch.
The dog ate the fish.
However, because German has cases, you can change the word order and still recognize what role each noun plays in the sentence. So in German, you can change this word order without affecting the meaning:
Den Fisch aß der Hund.
✅ The dog ate the fish.
❌ The fish ate the dog.
Here are some more examples of how cases allow more flexibility in the word order. In these examples, phrases have moved to the beginning of the sentence for emphasis.
Der Frau schickte ich einen Kalender.
I sent a calendar to the woman.
Einen Kalender schickte ich der Frau.
I sent a calendar to the woman.
The same can happen in possessive phrases. According to the standard word order, the genitive follows the thing possessed, but thanks to cases, we can even change the word order and put the genitive before the possessed object (though the latter sounds very poetic).
das Auto meines Vaters
my father’s car
meines Vaters Auto
my father’s car
In this post, we’ve covered the following points:
The case of a noun phrase is determined by its grammatical role in the sentence.
Most words in German noun phrases are marked for case, including not only the nouns and pronouns themselves but also the article, demonstratives, adjectives, numerals, and more.
You can determine what case to use for a noun phrase in a number of ways:
by looking at whether the noun is the subject, direct object, or indirect object of a verb
by looking at the preposition that introduces the noun phrase
by looking for certain other constructions, like possessive constructions (genitive) or adjectives of emotion (dative)
by looking out for certain fixed expressions
The main advantage of cases is that the word order is more flexible. Thanks to the use of cases, we can rearrange the words in a sentence and still know exactly who’s doing what to whom, even though the words are not in their “typical” positions.
Ready to practice? Check out our exercises to practice cases in German! Happy learning!
