The case system

  • There are four German cases
    1. The Nominative Case - Der Nominativ
    2. The Accusative Case - Der Akkusativ
    3. The Dative Case - Der Dativ
    4. The Genitive Case
  • Personal pronouns also change with case
  • Word order in german
    • German allows freedom of word placement
    • Meaning of sentence is derived from the case rather than the word order
    • Examples
      • The man pets the dog
        • Der Mann streichelt den Hund
        • Den Hund streichelt der Mann
      • Is the man petting the dog?
        • Streichelt der Mann den Hund?
        • Streichelt den Hund der Mann?

  • Prepositions that can either be dative or accusative

    an at
    auf on
    hinter behind
    in in
    neben next to
    unter under
    über over, on top of, above
    vor in front of
    zwischen between
    • When they tell the position of something, corresponding word is in dative case
      • e.g Der Mann steht vor dem Eingang
    • When they tell the motion of something, corresponding word is in accusative case
      • e.g Der Mann läuft vor den Eingang