There are four cases in German: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. We will come back to genitive at a later date. It is important to understand the cases because they impact the ending of adjectives, indefinite articles and which personal pronoun you use.
Nominative case
The nominative case is used for the noun that is doing the action. That means, the subject of the sentence. It answers the question WHO or WHAT did something. It is also always used after the verbs sein and werden
Der Mann schläft. ==> WHO sleeps?
Die Frau kocht. ==> Who cooks?
Es ist ein schönes Haus. ==> WHAT is beautiful?
The Accusative Case
The accusative case is used for a person, animal or thing what is directly affected by the action of the verb. These are called direct objects. It answers the questions WHAT or WHOM. It is usually directly after the verb.
Ich sehe den Mann.==> Whom do I see?
Wir haben die Torte gegessen. ==> What have we eaten?
Er hat ein Foto gemacht. ==> What has he made?
The accusative case is also used after the prepositions durch, für, gegen, ohne, um and the either/or prepositions. (see other blog post for more info)
The Dative Case
The dative case is used to show the indirect object of a verb. (Guess what? These are called indirect objects) They answer the question TO/FOR WHOM TO/FOR WHAT.
Ich gebe der Frau einen Apfel. ==> Whom did I give an apple to?
Er hilft dem Mann beim Putzen. ==> Whom did he help clean?
Er gibt einem Mädchen einen Kuss. ==> Whom did he give a kiss to?
The dative case is also used with the either/or prepositions and the dative prepositions: aus, ausser, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu.
There are also verbs that are dative triggers.
Need practice?
http://german.net/exercises/cases/
http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar.html
The nominative case is used for the noun that is doing the action. That means, the subject of the sentence. It answers the question WHO or WHAT did something. It is also always used after the verbs sein and werden
Der Mann schläft. ==> WHO sleeps?
Die Frau kocht. ==> Who cooks?
Es ist ein schönes Haus. ==> WHAT is beautiful?
The Accusative Case
The accusative case is used for a person, animal or thing what is directly affected by the action of the verb. These are called direct objects. It answers the questions WHAT or WHOM. It is usually directly after the verb.
Ich sehe den Mann.==> Whom do I see?
Wir haben die Torte gegessen. ==> What have we eaten?
Er hat ein Foto gemacht. ==> What has he made?
The accusative case is also used after the prepositions durch, für, gegen, ohne, um and the either/or prepositions. (see other blog post for more info)
The Dative Case
The dative case is used to show the indirect object of a verb. (Guess what? These are called indirect objects) They answer the question TO/FOR WHOM TO/FOR WHAT.
Ich gebe der Frau einen Apfel. ==> Whom did I give an apple to?
Er hilft dem Mann beim Putzen. ==> Whom did he help clean?
Er gibt einem Mädchen einen Kuss. ==> Whom did he give a kiss to?
The dative case is also used with the either/or prepositions and the dative prepositions: aus, ausser, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu.
There are also verbs that are dative triggers.
Need practice?
http://german.net/exercises/cases/
http://www.nthuleen.com/teach/grammar.html