The Dative case - Der Dativ

The dative is a very important element of communicating in German. The dative is the indirect object of the sentence but can also occur after certain verbs and prepositions. The dative affects all three genders and causes changes in the endings of articles and adjectives and even of the noun itself (in plural and some masculine nouns).

This is how the definite articles (der/die/das = the) change in the dative case:

	masculine	feminine	neuter	Plural
Nominative	der Mann	die Frau	das Kind	die Kinder
Dative	dem Mann	der Frau	dem Kind	den Kindern*

* In plural all nouns add the letter -n unless the word already ends in -n or -s. There are also some masculine nouns that add an -n; they are the so called weak nouns. More information about those in a later post.

And here the indefinite articles (ein/eine = a/an):

	masculine	feminine	neuter	Plural
Nominative	ein Mann	eine Frau	ein Kind	keine Kinder
Dative	einem Mann	einer Frau	einem Kind	keinen Kindern*

 

If there is an adjective before the noun the endings are as follows:

	masculine	feminine	neuter	Plural
Nominative	der alte Mann	die junge Frau	das netteKind	die netten Kinder
Dative	dem alten Mann	der jungen Frau	dem netten Kind	den netten Kindern*

	masculine	feminine	neuter	Plural
Nominative	ein alter Mann	eine junge Frau	ein nettes Kind	keine netten Kinder
Dative	einem alten Mann	einer jungenFrau	einem netten Kind	keinen netten Kindern*

 All adjectives get the ending -en, no matter what gender they are.

The German Case system - Die Fälle

The German language has four cases which affect the endings of nouns and their articles and adjectives.  The use of certain cases is determined by the role the noun plays in the sentence, e.g. subject or object, or they depend on certain verbs and prepositions.

The German cases are called Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive.

This is just a first introduction into the case system. More detailed information about each case will follow.

Nominative Case

Nominative is the case of the subject of the sentence. You can ask ‘who’ or ‘what’ to identify this case. The subject of a sentence always reigns the verb, so it should be easy to recognize it. The Nominative article is always ‘der/die/das’ or ‘ein/eine’.

Beispiel - example:

Der Schüler lernt die deutsche Sprache. The student learns the German language.
(Who learns German? the student = subject)

Accusative Case

The Accusative case is used for the direct object of the sentence. You can ask ‘what’ or ‘who’ to identify the case. The Accusative articles are ‘den’ instead of ‘der’ or ‘einen’ instead of ‘ein’ for all masculine nouns. The feminine and neuter nouns are not affected by the Accusative.

Beispiel - example:

a) Der Schüler lernt die deutsche Sprache. The student learns the German language.
(What does the student learn? the German language = object)
b) Der Mann hat einen Hund. The man has got a dog.
(What has the man got? a dog = object)
This time the object is masculine (der Hund or ein Hund), therefore the ‘ein’ changes to ‘einen’.

Dative Case

The Dative case is used to indicate the indirect object. The indirect object is often the receiver of the direct object (to whom or to what the action is being done). All articles are affected by the Dative: ‘die/eine’ changes to ‘der/einer’ and ‘der/das/ein’ change to ‘dem’ and ‘einem’.

Beispiel - example:

a) Der Mann gibt seinem Hund einen Knochen. The man gives his dog a bone.
(To whom does the man give a bone? his dog = indirect object)
The direct object in this sentence is ‘einen Knochen’.
b) Die Frau gibt ihrer Tochter ein Geschenk. The woman gives a present to her daughter.
(To whom does the woman give a present? her daughter = indirect object)

Genitive Case

The Genitive case indicates possession, similar to the English 's. However, there is no apostrophe used for the Genitive.

Beispiel - example:

Der Hund des Mannes heisst Rex. The man's dog is called Rex.
(Whose dog is called Rex? the man’s = possession)