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German Accusative Case (der Akkusativ)

In this lesson, we will unravel the intricacies of the โ€œGerman 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. Letโ€™s begin with a quick overview of the functions of German cases, as illustrated in Table 1.1:

CasesRoleDescription
Nominativesubjectperforms action
Accusativedirect objectaffected by action
Dativeindirect objectrecipient of action
Genitivepossessiveindicates ownership
Table 1.1

The German accusative case corresponds to the English direct object and indicates who or what is impacted by an action.

๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Der Mann (Nomiative case) hat einen Hund (Accusative case).
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ The man has a dog.

In this sentence, โ€œDer Mannโ€ is the subject performing the action and is, therefore, in the nominative case. Subjects conjugate verbs, so here, โ€œhabenโ€ is conjugated by โ€œder Mannโ€. โ€œEinen Hundโ€ is the direct object affected by the subjectโ€™s action, making it accusative.

Article Declension in Accusative Case

Table 1.2 illustrates how German articles change in the accusative case:

CasesMasculineFeminineNeutralPlural
Nominativeder
ein
die
eine
das
ein
die
โœ–๏ธ
Accusativeden
einen
die
eine
das
ein
die
โœ–๏ธ
Table 1.2 โ€“ Articles in the accusative case

For example, consider the declensions of the words in Table 1.3:

CasesSingularPlural
NominativDer Stuhl
Chair

Die Frau
Woman

Das Haus
Haus
Die Stรผhle
Chairs

Die Frauen
Women

Die Hรคuser
Hauses
AkkusativDen Stuhl
Chair

Die Frau
Woman

Das Haus
Haus
Die Stรผhle
Chairs

Die Frauen
Women

Die Hรคuser
Hauses
Table 1.3

โ— Generally, in German, only the nouns with the article โ€œderโ€ change in the accusative case.

However, masculine nouns that are weakly declension, ending with an -e(n) in the plural, and have the article โ€œderโ€ display a special declension in the accusative case. They take the โ€“e(n) ending in the singular as if they were plural. For example:

CasesSingularPlural
NominativDer Soldat
Soldier
Die Soldaten
Soldiers
AkkusativDen Soldaten
Soldier
Die Soldaten
Soldiers

In Which Situations Is Accusative Case Used?

  • To identify the direct object in German, locate the verb and ask, โ€œwen (whom) or was (what)โ€.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Julia liebt ihren Mann. (Wen liebt Julia?)
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Julia loves her husband. (Whom does Julia love?)
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Ich habe einen Hund. (Was hast du?)
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ 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.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Er hat einen Hund
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ He has a dog.
  • Accusative is also employed with accusative prepositions.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Ich habe einen Tasche fรผr meinen Bruder.
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ I have a bag for my brother.
  • The accusative case is used with time expressions (mit Zeitangaben).
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Jeden Tag gehe ich joggen.
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Every day, I go jogging.

Some common time expressions are listed in Table 1.4:

jeden Tagevery day
jeden Morgenevery morning
letzten Sommerlast summer
diesen Winterthis winter
den ganzen Abendthe whole evening
Table 1.4
  • Verbs requiring the accusative case (Verben mit Akkusativ) use the accusative.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Ich habe einen Hund
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ I have a dog.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Ich mรถchte eine Cola
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ I would like a cola
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Ich nehme einen Hamburger.
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Iโ€™ll have a hamburger.

Some common German accusative verbs are listed in Table 1.5:

suchento search
findento find
kaufento buy
lesento read
besuchento visit
bestellento order
trinkento drink
essento eat
Table 1.5
  • Objects in the accusative case can be a person (Person) or a thing (Sache), and they can be singular or plural:
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Thomas sieht KoJo.
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Thomas sees KoJo.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Thomas sieht einen Papagei.
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Thomas sees a parrot.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Thomas sieht seinen Papagei.
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Thomas sees his parrot.
    • ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Thomas sieht ihn.
    • ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ 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.

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