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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.
The cases determine the grammatical role which a
noun
and its accompanying words (e.g. definite articles or possessive articles)
or a pronoun play in a sentence. Depending on the role, the article words have different endings and the pronouns different forms, e.g.
Sein Garten
ist sehr schön. (His garden is very nice.):
the small garden = subject of the sentence -> nominative
Er mag
seinen Garten.
(He likes his garden.): his garden = direct object of the
sentence -> accusative
Er
wohnt in Berlin. (He lives in Berlin.):
he = subject of the sentence -> nominative
Ich besuche
ihn am Wochenende.
(I will visit him at the weekend.): him = direct object of the
sentence -> accusative
You will find out more about the different forms of pronouns in A1 Higher.
As you can see from the following table, there is very little difference between
the definite articles, indefinite articles, "kein..." and possessive articles in the nominative case and 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?)
The "es" in "es gibt" plays the role of the subject.
|
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