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There are four cases in German:
the nominative case
the accusative case
the dative case
the genitive case
In section A1 Lower, you will only come across the
first 2 cases, the nominative case and the accusative case.
You may look at each case as a name for a set of
endings a definite article, an indefinite article or a possessive article etc. can take. That way, it is easier to talk about them because you don't
have to list the individual endings.
As you can see from the following table, there is very little difference between
the forms in the nominative case and the ones in the accusative case. They are
identical apart from the masculine singular forms:
| |
masculine singular
|
|
feminine singular
|
|
neuter singular
|
|
masculine, feminine &
neuter plural
|
|
nominative case |
|
der
ein
kein
mein, dein
... |
Bruder |
|
|
die
eine
keine
meine, deine
...
|
Tasche |
|
|
das
ein
kein
mein, dein
...
|
Foto |
|
|
die
—
keine
meine, deine ...
|
Brüder
Taschen
Fotos
|
|
|
accusative case |
|
den
einen
keinen
meinen, deinen
... |
Bruder |
|
|
die
eine
keine
meine, deine
...
|
Tasche |
|
|
das
ein
kein
mein, dein
...
|
Foto |
|
|
die
—
keine
meine, deine ...
|
Brüder
Taschen
Fotos
|
|
The nominative case
is used
for
the subject of a
sentence, e.g.
Mein Bruder studiert in Cork. (My brother is
studying in Cork.)
Die
Milch ist sauer? (The
milk is sour.)
|
the noun phrase (e.g.
friend, my friend, my old friend) that describes the subject
of a sentence when the verb is to be (= sein), e.g.
Er
ist
mein Lehrer. (He is my teacher.)
|
Er |
ist |
mein Lehrer.
|
|
|
subject (nominative) |
verb |
nominative |
|
This
means
that there are 2 nominatives in this
sentence.
|
The
accusative case
is used
for
|
the direct object of a
sentence, e.g.
Ich habe
keinen Laptop. (I have no laptop.)
Sie trifft heute Abend
ihren Freund.
(This evening she is going to meet
her friend.)
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to complete the meaning of "es
gibt" (there is, there are), e.g.
Es gibt
einen Zoo in Dublin.
(There is a zoo in Dublin.)
Gibt es
eine Post hier in der Nähe?
(Is
there a post office around here?)
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