You won’t get far into your German learning journey without noticing some words change their form in ways that seem strange for an English native. Meet the four German cases! There’s no denying that the extra “moving parts” complicate German for learners but, if you take time to understand how the system works, you’ll see that the cases can be conquered 🙂 Hold on, though! What even is “case”? What are the different cases for? Which case ending do I need? How do I remember them? This post will give you the answers and set you up to start practising the cases with confidence and to get those endings RIGHT!
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What is case and what are case endings?
In short, the job of case is to show the role of a noun (person or thing) or a pronoun representing a person or thing in relation to other nouns in a phrase. For example who does what to whom or whose this or that is.
A thousand years ago, Old English had a full case system and we can see some of its remnants in the way that “who” gains case endings to change to “whom” or “whose”.
German also expresses case by changing the endings of words but it does so much more frequently than today’s English (the -’s ending there is an example of the English “possessive case”, by the way).
In German, it’s not usually the noun (name a living being, thing or idea) itself that gets an ending.
Yes, when pronoun takes the place of a noun, there are case-specific forms (“er” > “ihn”, “ihm”; “wir” > “uns”). It’s the same in English: “he” becomes “him” or “his”, “we” becomes “us” or “our” and so on. But the German case-ending action mainly affects two other groups of words.
First, determiners.
These are words that “narrow down” a noun. First among the determiners are the articles.
In German, as in English, there’s a definite article that is put before a noun to make clear that we’re talking about a specific or “definite” example of it: not a dog/ein Hund but the dog/der Hund.
“A” or “ein” are the indefinite article. They show that we’re talking about a “non-specific” example of the thing known as “dog” or “Hund”.
Other determiners are demonstratives (diese, jene; this/that), possessives (mein, unser/my, our) and some indefinites (einige/a few, manche/some and so on). Unlike the articles, these other determiners can also be used instead of the noun (as pronouns):
“I like it” (e.g. the dog), “I saw a few” (dogs) not “I like the”.
Some of these determiners change their form in English to show a plural: this > these but otherwise, in English, they are fixed.
In German, in contrast, determiner endings change to show gender, singular or plural (der, die, das, die). As we’ll see, they also change to show the case.
Second, adjectives.
Adjectives are describing words that tell you more about a noun (or a pronoun).
In English, adjectives don’t change to show case at all (though some adjectives get the ending -er in English when we’re comparing two nouns or pronouns (big > bigger).
In German, it’s not so simple.
Grammarians call the way the endings change to show case in German (and many other languages) “declension”.
Don’t confuse declension with the endings that we add to verbs (words expressing action like “to eat” or a state “to be”). Verb endings show who did action (me, you, they etc) and when (I work > I worked), for example. Changes like these are called verb “conjugation”.
Before we look in detail at German case endings, let’s get a quick overview at the four German cases and what each one is used for.
The four German cases and when they are used
Nominative
The nominative singular is the the starting point in any learner’s German case endings adventure.
Subject in the nominative
The subject goes in the nominative. Ask yourself “Who” is doing the action (expressed by the verb). That’s the “subject”.
The nominative is the “Wer?” case, the answer to the question “Who?” (or What?) does the action.
Der alte Mann schickte dem Kind der Frau einen Brief
The old man sent the woman’s child a letter
(Der alte Mann/The “old man” is in the nominative case. In relation to modern English, this is sometimes the “subjective case”).
Nominative after six verbs that link to a closer description of the subject
Sometimes there isn’t any action. Six German verbs describe the state of the subject or describe or identify it more closely. The verbs are sein (to be), werden (to become), bleiben (to stay), heißen (to be called), scheinen (to seem).
After them, this additional information (the “complement” of the subject) also takes the nominative.
Das Buch ist blau (The book is blue)
Er wird ein guter Lehrer (He’ll be a good teacher)
Nominative for persons or things addressed or in exclamations
If you address somebody directly, or make an exclamation, you identify them in the nominative:
“Karl, komm her!” (Karl, come here!)
“Junger Mann! Warten Sie bitte noch einen Moment” (Please wait here a moment more, young man!)
“Mein Gott!” (My God!)
This use is sometimes called a vocative. Some languages, like Latin and Polish have a separate vocative case specially for this….Thank goodness we’re only learning German 😉 ).
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Accusative
The accusative is the most common case after the nominative and, in most German courses, may be the first hint you get that things are going to be a bit more complicated than it seemed in the first few lessons.
Direct object takes the accusative
The direct object is the person or thing affected by the action of the verb. The butt of the joke, if you like :). Put the it in the accusative.
Der alte Mann schickte dem Kind der Frau einen Brief
The old man sent the woman’s child a letter
(“The letter” is in the accusative, often called the “objective case” in relation to English).
The accusative the “Wen?” case, the answer to the question “Whom?” or “What” is the action done directly to the letter.
Yes, the child is affected by this too, but indirectly. It’s the letter that gets sent. Keep the difference in mind (because the dative case is coming up in a moment!).
Accusative after “es gibt”
With the impersonal “es gibt” (there is), use the accusative:
“Es gibt keinen Weg zurück” (There is no way back)
“Es gibt einen guten Grund dafür” (There’s a good reason for it)
“Es gibt keine Lösung” (There’s no solution)
Accusative follows some prepositions
In German, some prepositions (in, auf, unter etc) always force a noun or pronoun into the accusative, dative or genitive case.
Some prepositions always require the accusative. The most common are bis, für (for); ohne (without); durch (through), um (round, around), gegen.
The prepositions of position (or place) with movement require the accusative (as we’ll see below, if there is no movement, use the dative): an (on, to, at); auf (on, in, to, at); hinter (behind); in (in, into, to); neben (next to, beside); über (over, across, above); unter (under, among); vor (in front of, before); zwischen (between).
Accusative for expressing time, measurements, distance
To express time, measurements, and (with motion) distance use the accusative (how long, how far, how heavy etc):
“Das Programm wird jeden Tag wiederholt” (The programme is repeated every day)
“Ich war einen Monat unterwegs” (I was travelling for a month)
“Die Kirche ist einen Kilometer entfernt” (The church is a kilometre away from here)
“Das ist keinen Pfennig wert” (That’s not even worth a pfennig!)
Accusative with common greetings and wishes
Some common “set phrase” greetings and wishes are in the accusative:
“Guten Morgen” (sorry, not going to translate this one – have you started German yet or not 😉
“Guten Rutsch (ins neue Jahr)” (Happy New Year!)
“Vielen Dank” (see comment to “Guten Morgen”)
This usuage is logical as “Morgen”, “Besserung” is the direct object and a verb such as “wünschen” is implied.
Dative
The dative may not be as common as the nominative or accusative but it has the widest range of uses of all the German cases, some of them quite idiomatic.
Indirect object takes the dative
The indirect object of a verb takes the dative case. The direct object is the person or thing that’s acted on directly while the indirect object is less directly affected by the action (often the action happens “to” or “from” it).
The dative is the “Wem?” case (to/for whom/what?).
Der alte Mann schickte dem Kind der Frau einen Brief
The old man sent the woman’s child a letter
(In English the indirect object in English is usually said to be in the “objective” case, just like the direct object. That’s because there are no dative case forms left at all in English. Instead, the objective case forms are used with “to”, “from” (to whom, to us etc)).
Dative with verbs
After certain verbs use the dative (often with the idea of “to” something, somebody). There are many verbs where there’s only an indirect object. Among the most common are “danken”; “folgen”; “gratulieren”; “helfen”.
“Ich danke dir”
“Er hilft seinem Vater im Garten”
Dative follows some prepositions
Some prepositions always require the dative. The most common are aus, außer, bei, gegenüber, mit, nach, seit, von, zu.
The dative follows prepositions of position or place when there is no movement (if there is movement, use the accusative): an (on, to, at); auf (on, in, to, at); hinter (behind); in (in, into, to); neben (next to, beside); über (over, across, above); unter (under, among); vor (ini front of, before); zwischen (between).
Genitive
The genitive is the least-used of the four cases. In many contexts, it sounds archaic or stilted. All the same, you’ll still hear it in some usages quite a lot (and read it even more). Once you moving into the intermediate level, you need to recognise the genitive. Plus, as we’ll see, there’s one use of the German genitive, that’s very common (and it’s exactly like the English equivalent).
Genitive to show possession
The genitive shows a relationship of one noun to another. It’s sometimes called the “Wessen?” or “Whose?” case because it expresses belonging.
Der alte Mann schickte dem Kind der Frau einen Brief
The old man sent the woman’s child a letter
(In English the “the woman’s child” is in the genitive, in relation to the English language often also called the “possessive” case. It’s the one case where nouns have an ending in English).
In German (like English) the “possessor” that’s in the genitive. The possessor usually comes after the “possessed” (the opposite of English): (das) Kind der Frau/the woman’s child)
While English loves its possessive case, German’s usually use “von” + Dativ instead (“das Kind von der Frau” – the child of the woman).
The still very common use of the genitive in German is when the “owner” is identified by his, her or its personal name (also called a “proper noun”). So, we’re talking about things that have their own name (people, pets, geographical features like towns or rivers).
With proper nouns in the genitive, the possessor is usually in front of the possessed (like in English): “Frau Müllers Wohnung” (Mrs Merkel’s apartment/flat).
Genitive to show a loser attribution between nouns
Although the two nouns in “belong” together, the noun-noun relationship is sometimes a looser connection than possession or ownership in the literal sense.
It’s often more that one noun is an “attribute” of another. Usually, in English, this can be often more expressed by “of” than by -s: as in English “the end of the affair”; “the centre of the town”). For lots of German examples, see my fuller guide to the German genitive case.
Genitive follows some prepositions
The most common genitive prepositions are während (during), wegen (on account of) and trotz (in spite of).
In the spoken language, it’s much more natural, though, to hear these prepositions followed by the dative instead: “wegen des Wetters” or “wegen dem Wetter” (because of the weather)
The genitive with some (very formal) verbs, adverbs and adjectives
The German genitive is also used with a small number of verbs, adverbs and adjectives but these are very uncommon (mainly found in very formal style). In everyday speech and writing, Germans would usually instinctively choose a different way to express the same thing. For more, see my full Genitive case post.
Some expressions of habitual time use the genitive
There are some common genitive expressions of indefinite or habitual time, for example “eines Tages” (on one day) or morgens (mornings/of a morning).
Some set phrases use the genitive
There are other “set phrases” where the genitive is used. Some are very literary but a few are used often in the informal language, such as “ich bin der Ansicht, dass” (I think/my view is, that; literally: I am of the view, that”).
Link to Dr P’s full guide to the German genitive case
Noun position in English, case endings in German
The only surviving English noun case ending: the “apostrophe s” genitive/possessive ending.
Poor old English doesn’t have a range of case endings to use to show the role of a noun (person or thing) or a pronoun representing a person or thing in relation to other nouns in a phrase.
Instead, English relies much more than German on aspects of word order to make these relations clear. In particular, whether a noun comes before or after the verb.
If we switch round our English example sentence (in relation to the underlined verb), it has quite an effect on the meaning:
The old man sent the woman’s child a letter.
>
The woman’s child sent the old man a letter.
In German, you can reverse the sentence in the same way, but the basic meaning doesn’t change because the case endings (underlined) make the relationship clear:
Der alte Mann schickte dem Kind der Frau einen Brief
>
Dem Kind der Frau schickte der alte Mann einen Brief
The only difference in meaning in German is to put a bit more emphasis on who was sent the letter. In English we could achieve this effect emphasis with the voice:
The woman’s child sent the old man a letter
We could also rephrase slightly:
It was the woman’s child who sent the old man a letter
In German you could also change the word order like this:
Der alte Mann schickte dem Kind der Frau einen Brief
>
Einen Brief schickte der alte Mann dem Kind der Frau
In English this means:
The woman’s child sent the old man a letter / It was a letter that the woman’s child sent the old man
So, while there’s less riding on the position of the nouns (or pronouns) in the sentence in German, case endings are a big deal. We can’t postpone a full frontal attack on the German case endings any longer!
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Why German case endings aren’t as difficult as they seem
We’ve already seen that with the German cases it’s not usually the form of the noun itself that changes. In our example sentence none of the German nouns have endings.
Much more important in the German case system are the German determiners and adjectives (which we identified and explained above). Both types of word have their own “set” of endings and, as there are determiners for all three genders (plus plural) and four cases, that’s quite a lot of endings 🙁
But, there are two pieces of good news about German cases 🙂 :
First, there are only five endings (-e, -n, -r, -m, -s).
Second, there’s an underlying logical system to the German cases and it’s this: once you’ve signalled the case with a determiner, an adjective that follows “relaxes” with the ending -e or -n. If there isn’t a determiner or the determiner doesn’t have a case ending, the adjective has to signal the case: it becomes “strong”.
Next let’s look at the system in more detail and flag the small number of surprises.
With practice, it will soon become second nature.
German cases – der-word, ein-word endings
We saw that determiners point to a specific person or thing to differentiate it from other examples of the same type of thing.
The case endings depend on whether the determiner is a “der word” (der/die/das and friends) or an “ein word” (ein/eine and co).
If you look at the case endings of der (or dies) (and other “der words”) and ein (and other “ein words”, you’ll see that they’re all the same except for three.
The nominative masculine and neuter “ein” don’t have an ending. Neither does the accusative neuter (also “ein”). As there is no ending, the adjective has to step up to the plate and flag the case.
So we can refine the rule:
Once you’ve signalled the case with a determiner, the adjective that follows “relaxes” with the ending -e or -n. So, if there isn’t a determiner or the determiner is an “ein word” in the masculine and neuter nominative or neuter accusative, the adjective has to signal the case: it becomes “strong”.
Super simple table of German “determiner” case endings
| case | masc | neut | fem | pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom | der ein ! | das dieses ein ! | die eine | die (keine*) |
| Acc | den einen | das dieses ein ! | die eine | die (keine*) |
| Dat | dem einem | dem einem | der einer | den (keinen*) |
| Gen | des eines | des eines | der einer | der (keiner*) |
- Masculine and neuter are the same for “der” and “ein” words in all cases except in the nominative and accusative “der” words and the accusative “ein” words. from nominative and accusative for “der” words and the accusative for “ein” words.
- Feminine and plural are the same for “der” and “ein” words, except in the dative.
- We’ve flagged the three eins that don’t have an ending with “(!)” (masculine and neuter nominative and neuter accusative).
- *There is no German equivalent to the English definite article plural: a/an > some but kein (not any, no) is an “ein word” and has a plural form, so we’ve put it in the table.
Other “der words” include dies- (this or that ) and jen- (that over there/yonder), jed- (each or every), all- (all), solch- (such). Their endings are exactly the same as “der” i.e. -e + r/s/m/n except that in the nominative and accusative neuter where -as becomes –es (see the table).
The other “ein words” are kein (not any, no); the possessive adjectives: mein (my), dein (thy/your, informal singular), sein (his or its), ihr (her or its), unser (our), eur (your, informal plural), Ihr (your, polite singular and plural) and ihr (their).
You’ll see the pattern of the der endings (masculine) in the question words (or interrogative pronouns) that we met above: Wer? Wen? Wem? Wessen?
In another post we’ll come back to the personal and relative pronouns. Their forms will also make sense to you once you get thoroughly used to the “der” endings in the table.
German cases – adjectival endings: Dr P’s easy flow chart
If you know the “der-” (better still “dieser-”) endings and the three “ein” exceptions thoroughly, adjectival endings are very easy.
You shouldn’t need a table for them.
Instead of trying to memorise the tables of “strong”, “mixed” and “weak” German adjectival endings you’ll find in most German courses, ask yourself as you go:
Is there a “der” word or “ein” word (determiner) in front of the adjective?
No?
Then the adjective must be “strong”, it has to take the “der” word (“deise-”) endings to show the gender (or plural) and case (but the genitive masculine and neuter ending is -en, not the expected -es).
Yes?
Is the determiner an “ein” word nominative masculine or nominative/accusative neuter?
Yes? Then, just like when there is no determiner at all, the adjective has to stay strong and show these “missing” endings. Add -er or -es.
No? The determiner is already flagging the case/gender and the adjective relaxes with the “weak” endings: -en in all cases, singular and plural except in the nominative singular (all genders) and the accusative singular (neuter and femine), where it’s just -e.
Looked at another way, the adjective relaxes as -e in the nominative and accusative singular, except for the accusative masculine, which takes -en, as do all all singulars in the dative and genitive and all plurals.
That’s it! 🙂
Now it’s just a question of practice at slotting the endings in as you go. You can also reinforce what “sounds right” by learning example phrases.
Want examples and exercises for that? Get my worksheet.
You still want a table of German adjective endings? Oh, go on then!
| case | masc | neut | fem | pl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nom strong | -er | -es | -e | -e |
| Nom weak | -e | -e | -e | -en ! |
| Acc strong | -en | -es | -e | -e |
| Acc weak | -en ! | -e | -e | -en |
| Dat strong | -em | -em | -er | -en ! |
| Dat weak | -en | -en | -en | -en |
| Gen strong | -en ! | -en ! | -er | -er |
| Gen weak | -en | -en | -en | -en |
German cases – declension of nouns
We’ve seen that it’s the modifiers: the determiners (der- or ein-words) and adjectives that do most of the “endings” heavy lifting in the German case system. Some nouns do decline as well and, to finish, let’s look at how.
The dative endings -e; -n
You’ll occasionally see an -e added to dative monosyllabic masculine and neuter nouns. This very old fashioned, even in the formal, written language. That said, it is still normal in a handful of set phrases, for example:
“im Falle, dass” (if, in the event that)
“im Grunde genommen” (basically)
“nach Hause”/”zu Hause” ((to) home/at home)
“im Jahre 2021” (in 2021).
In the dative plural, an -n is always added, unless the nominative plural is already -n or is -s:
die Schüler > den Schülern
die Söhne > den Söhnen
die Frauen > den Frauen
die Autos > den Autos
The genitive -s:
The -s ending is familiar to us from the apostrophe “s” genitive/possessive ending in English. In German the -s is added to the end of most masculine or neuter nouns in the genitive (but no apostrophe!).
der Koffer > des Koffers
When the masculine/neuter noun has just one syllable ending in a consonant, the ending often becomes -es:
das Haus > des Hauses
der Freund > des Freundes
In German, like in English, proper nouns also take an -s in the genitive, regardless of gender. Again, there’s no apostrophe and the “possessor” usually comes first:
Frau Merkels Haus
Franks Auto
“Weak” masculine nouns
Some masculine nouns called “weak nouns” end in -en in all cases except the nominative singular.
There are only a few native German words in this group: these are mainly living things.
Most end in -e in the nominative:
der/ein Junge (nom) > den/einen Jungen (acc); dem/einem Jungen (dat); des/eines Jungen (gen) (pl. die Jungen, den Jungen, der Jungen).
There are some “weak” masculine nouns that don’t end in -e in the nominative such as:
der Mensch > den/dem/des/die Menschen etc; der Spatz (sparrow) > ein/einen/einem/eines Spatzen etc.
There’s a longer list of masculine nouns loaned from other languages that take -en in all cases (except the singular or plural nominative). This group includes words that end in a stressed -ant, -ant, -aph, -arch, -at, -ent, -et, -ist, -krat, -log, -nom, -at:
der Student > den Studenten (acc); der Biologe > dem Biologen (dat) etc.
Key takeaways and tips to master the German cases (and the endings)
The function of cases is to show how nouns or pronouns relate to each other in a phrase.
There are four cases in German:
- nominative (for the subject that “is” or “does the action)
- accusative (for the object that directly receives the action)
- dative (for the indirect object that indirectly receives or is affected by the action)
- genitive (connects two nouns in a relationship of possession or that one is an attribute of another)
The German cases are flagged by endings (declensions), mainly added to determiners like der, dies- or ein, or adjectives.
The key endings to learn are those of der, which other “der word” determiners follow. Ein and other “ein word” have exactly the same endings, except in the masculine and neuter nominative and neuter accusative, which don’t have endings (see the first of the two tables in this post, above).
Once you know the “der” ending table (and three unexpected “ein” endings, it will not be difficult to remember why the interrogative pronouns (wer, wen, wem, wessen) have the forms they do or how possessives (mein, dein etc) and relative pronouns (deren, dessen etc) change across the cases (we’ll come back to this in later posts).
Rather than trying to learn a table to work out the adjectival ending, follow the yes/no flow chart steps that I’ve outlined in this post. In brief:
Once you’ve signalled the case with a determiner, the adjective that follows “relaxes” with the “weak” ending -e or -n. So, if there isn’t a determiner or the determiner is an “ein word” in the masculine and neuter nominative or neuter accusative, the adjective has to signal the case: it becomes “strong”.
As you learn the “der” table, practise a lot with example sentences. Don’t try to learn just a determiner/adjective + noun without a wider context.
Three pitfalls to avoid:
- the temptation to add -er to masculine “ein words” in the nominative (X ich bin einer MannX) and to add -es to ein (neuter nominative and accusative)(ich habe Xeines HausX)
- adjective strong plural ending in the nominative and accusative is -e and weak is -en: Im Cafe kann man gute Getränke kaufen; die alten Männer essen zusammen.
- adjective strong masculine/neuter genitive ending is -en (not -es): wir sind gleichen Alters (we are of the same age).
Remember, don’t stress over the German cases and case endings.
Accept that you can’t learn everything about the German cases at once or get good at using them without a lot of practice.
Understand the system.
Practise applying the endings as you speak and doing exercises (if they’re your thing).
Try to notice the endings as you listen and read and, every so often, do some deliberate practice again, listen, read and speak some more.
It will come.
| Discover how YOU can use Dr P's free Weekly Workout Routine to get ready for more confident German conversations in a matter of weeks. Click here to get the training ! |
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