The four German cases, and the articles that show them

What each case does

Nominative — the subject (wer? was?)

The person or thing doing something, and anything after sein, werden or bleiben. It is the form you find in the dictionary.

• Der Hund schläft im Garten. The dog is sleeping in the garden.
• Mein Bruder ist ein guter Koch. My brother is a good cook.

Accusative — the direct object (wen? was?)

The person or thing the action is done to. Only the masculine singular changes: der → den, ein → einen. Durch, für, gegen, ohne and um always take it.

• Ich sehe den Hund. I can see the dog.
• Wir kaufen einen neuen Tisch. We are buying a new table.

Dative — the indirect object (wem?)

The person something is given, shown or told to, and the case after aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von and zu. A few common verbs take only a dative object: helfen, danken, gefallen, gehören. In the plural the noun adds -n: mit den Kindern.

• Ich gebe dem Kind ein Buch. I give the child a book.
• Sie hilft ihrer Mutter im Garten. She helps her mother in the garden.

Genitive — the owner (wessen?)

Whose something is, and the case after während, wegen and trotz. Masculine and neuter nouns add -s or -es: des Jahres. In speech, von with the dative often takes its place.

• Das ist das Auto meines Vaters. That is my father’s car.
• Wegen des Wetters bleiben wir zu Hause. Because of the weather we are staying at home.

The article tables

Each form links to its page in the word list, with its rank among the 5,000 most common German words.

The possessives — mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer — take exactly the same endings as kein: meinen Bruder, meiner Schwester, meine Eltern. The words dieser, jeder and welcher follow der: diesen, diesem, dieses.

Which forms you meet most

How often each form of the definite article appears per million words in the texts behind our list. im, am, zum, vom and beim all contain dem, zur contains der and ins, ans, aufs, fürs, ums contain das, so they are added to those forms.

die is the most common word in German: it is feminine nominative and accusative, and every plural. Count the contractions and the dative dem is used 3.8 times as often as the genitive des — but the genitive is far from dead in writing.

Where case comes from

Most of the time the case is decided by a preposition — see which case each German preposition takes — or by the verb. Pronouns change with case too (ich, mich, mir), and so do adjectives before a noun (adjective endings).

Questions

How many cases does German have?

Four: nominative (the subject), accusative (the direct object), dative (the indirect object) and genitive (possession). Mostly it is the article that shows the case, not the noun.

Which case comes after sein?

The nominative. Sein, werden and bleiben link two things that are the same, so both stay in the nominative: Das ist der neue Lehrer.

Is the genitive dying out?

Not in writing. In the news and web texts behind our list, des appears 6,781 times per million words. In speech it is often replaced by von and the dative: das Auto von meinem Vater instead of das Auto meines Vaters.

How do I know which case to use?

Ask what the noun does in the sentence (subject, object, receiver, owner), then check the verb and the preposition: helfen and danken take the dative, mit and bei always take the dative, für and ohne always the accusative.

More German grammar

• Prepositions and their casesDative, accusative, two-way and genitive
• Personal pronounsich, mich, mir — every case in one table
• Adjective endingsThree tables and a four-rule shortcut
• The perfect tense: haben or seinEvery participle in the list, sorted
• PluralsThe five endings, by gender
• Word orderVerb second, verb last, and the bracket
• Der, die or das?The endings that predict noun gender