In German, nouns change their form or are marked by articles and endings to show their role in the sentence. This guide covers the four cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive, with examples and key prepositions for each.
Nominative
The nominative case marks the subject of the sentence—who or what performs the action. The definite article is der for masculine, die for feminine, das for neuter, and die for plural.
| German Word(s) | English Translation(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| der Hund | the dog | |
| die Katze | the cat | |
| das Kind | the child | |
| die Hunde | the dogs |
The man is here.
Accusative
The accusative case marks the direct object—who or what receives the action. The masculine article changes from der to den, while feminine, neuter, and plural articles remain die or das.
| German Word(s) | English Translation(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| den Hund | the dog | |
| die Katze | the cat | |
| das Kind | the child | |
| die Hunde | the dogs |
Dative
The dative case marks the indirect object—who or what receives something or benefits from the action. The article changes to dem for masculine and neuter, der for feminine, and den (with an added -n) for plural.
| German Word(s) | English Translation(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| dem Hund | the dog | |
| der Katze | the cat | |
| dem Kind | the child | |
| den Hunden | the dogs |
Genitive
The genitive case shows possession or close association. The article changes to des for masculine and neuter (and the noun often adds an -s or -es), der for feminine and plural.
| German Word(s) | English Translation(s) | |
|---|---|---|
| des Hundes | of the dog | |
| der Katze | of the cat | |
| des Kindes | of the child | |
| der Hunde | of the dogs |
Key Prepositions
Some prepositions always take a specific case, so learning them helps you choose the right article and ending. For example, mit takes the dative, für takes the accusative, and während takes the genitive.
| Preposition | Required Case | |
|---|---|---|
| mit | dative | |
| für | accusative | |
| während | genitive | |
| zu | dative | |
| an | accusative or dative | |
| in | accusative or dative |
Summary
The nominative marks the subject, the accusative the direct object, the dative the indirect object, and the genitive shows possession. Articles change according to case, gender, and number, so pay attention to each role in the sentence.
This concise guide helps you understand and recognize German noun cases through clear examples and key prepositions.
Last updated: Fri Oct 24, 2025