German Accusative Case (der Akkusativ)
In this lesson, we will unravel the intricacies of the โGerman accusative case,โ a vital element of German grammar that is indispensable for creating correct and meaningful sentences.
Understanding German Accusative Case
The German language employs cases to determine the grammatical role of a noun or a pronoun in a sentence. Letโs begin with a quick overview of the functions of German cases, as illustrated in Table 1.1:
Cases | Role | Description |
---|---|---|
Nominative | subject | performs action |
Accusative | direct object | affected by action |
Dative | indirect object | recipient of action |
Genitive | possessive | indicates ownership |
The German accusative case corresponds to the English direct object and indicates who or what is impacted by an action.
๐ฉ๐ช Der Mann (Nomiative case) hat einen Hund (Accusative case).
๐บ๐ธ The man has a dog.
In this sentence, โDer Mannโ is the subject performing the action and is, therefore, in the nominative case. Subjects conjugate verbs, so here, โhabenโ is conjugated by โder Mannโ. โEinen Hundโ is the direct object affected by the subjectโs action, making it accusative.
Article Declension in Accusative Case
Table 1.2 illustrates how German articles change in the accusative case:
Cases | Masculine | Feminine | Neutral | Plural |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | der ein | die eine | das ein | die โ๏ธ |
Accusative | den einen | die eine | das ein | die โ๏ธ |
For example, consider the declensions of the words in Table 1.3:
Cases | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominativ | Der Stuhl Chair Die Frau Woman Das Haus Haus | Die Stรผhle Chairs Die Frauen Women Die Hรคuser Hauses |
Akkusativ | Den Stuhl Chair Die Frau Woman Das Haus Haus | Die Stรผhle Chairs Die Frauen Women Die Hรคuser Hauses |
โ Generally, in German, only the nouns with the article โderโ change in the accusative case.
However, masculine nouns that are weakly declension, ending with an -e(n) in the plural, and have the article โderโ display a special declension in the accusative case. They take the โe(n) ending in the singular as if they were plural. For example:
Cases | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominativ | Der Soldat Soldier | Die Soldaten Soldiers |
Akkusativ | Den Soldaten Soldier | Die Soldaten Soldiers |
In Which Situations Is Accusative Case Used?
- To identify the direct object in German, locate the verb and ask, โwen (whom) or was (what)โ.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Julia liebt ihren Mann. (Wen liebt Julia?)
- ๐บ๐ธ Julia loves her husband. (Whom does Julia love?)
- ๐ฉ๐ช Ich habe einen Hund. (Was hast du?)
- ๐บ๐ธ I have a dog. (What do you have?)
- The primary function of the accusative case in German is to mark the direct object (direktes Objekt = Akkusativobjekt) of transitive verbs.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Er hat einen Hund
- ๐บ๐ธ He has a dog.
- Accusative is also employed with accusative prepositions.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Ich habe einen Tasche fรผr meinen Bruder.
- ๐บ๐ธ I have a bag for my brother.
- The accusative case is used with time expressions (mit Zeitangaben).
- ๐ฉ๐ช Jeden Tag gehe ich joggen.
- ๐บ๐ธ Every day, I go jogging.
Some common time expressions are listed in Table 1.4:
jeden Tag | every day |
jeden Morgen | every morning |
letzten Sommer | last summer |
diesen Winter | this winter |
den ganzen Abend | the whole evening |
- Verbs requiring the accusative case (Verben mit Akkusativ) use the accusative.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Ich habe einen Hund
- ๐บ๐ธ I have a dog.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Ich mรถchte eine Cola
- ๐บ๐ธ I would like a cola
- ๐ฉ๐ช Ich nehme einen Hamburger.
- ๐บ๐ธ Iโll have a hamburger.
Some common German accusative verbs are listed in Table 1.5:
suchen | to search |
finden | to find |
kaufen | to buy |
lesen | to read |
besuchen | to visit |
bestellen | to order |
trinken | to drink |
essen | to eat |
- Objects in the accusative case can be a person (Person) or a thing (Sache), and they can be singular or plural:
- ๐ฉ๐ช Thomas sieht KoJo.
- ๐บ๐ธ Thomas sees KoJo.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Thomas sieht einen Papagei.
- ๐บ๐ธ Thomas sees a parrot.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Thomas sieht seinen Papagei.
- ๐บ๐ธ Thomas sees his parrot.
- ๐ฉ๐ช Thomas sieht ihn.
- ๐บ๐ธ Thomas sees him.
Mastering the accusative case is essential for communicating effectively in German. With practice, identifying and using the accusative case will become second nature, allowing you to construct sentences with confidence and precision.