how they’re interacting with each other). The purpose of noun case is to indicate the relationship between the nouns in the sentence (i.e. the subject fills up the nominative case). In summary, noun cases are slots in our sentence that we fill up with whatever role belongs in to them (e.g. In contrast, the genitive is dependent on another case - it must be paired with a noun in the nominative, accusative, or dative. Notice in the simple sentence example how the nominative is the most independent case: the subject can stand all by itself (with just a verb, too no other cases necessary). Think of the four cases as ‘slots’ in a sentence that we must/may fill up with nouns. how it’s interacting with) the other nouns in the sentence. The case of each noun in a sentence indicates what role it is playing in the sentence and therefore also shows its relationship to (i.e. special exceptions, so you’re not taken by surprise.shortcuts you’re not hearing about anywhere else.how to correctly plug any noun into the German case system.how to identify subjects, (in)direct objects, and possessives.how case works in English and in German.In this article you’ll learn the following: So, what is case? What do the terms nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive mean?īuckle up! In this all-in-one guide, I’m going to answer all your questions on German noun case AND help you build the confidence to actually use them correctly. Well, my friend, welcome to the wonderful topic of German Noun Cases. Why would der sometimes change to den, dem or des? THEN, I started noticing that a noun I learned as masculine - for example, der Stein (stone) - was sometimes written in a sentence as den Stein, dem Stein, or even des Steines. When I first started learning German, I remember discovering noun genders and thinking ‘OK, got it! Some nouns are masculine ( der), some are feminine ( die) and some are neuter ( das).

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