German cases explained · Nominative, Accusative, Dative & Genitive chart
Master the 4 German cases (Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ, Genitiv) with clear article and pronoun charts, a 3-step decision rule and links to interactive practice.
German uses four grammatical cases—Nominative, Accusative, Dative and Genitive—to show what role each noun phrase plays in a sentence. Instead of relying only on word order as English often does, German marks roles on the article, pronoun or adjective before the noun.
Practise German cases
What each German case does
Master German case charts (articles & pronouns)
Notice a reassuring pattern in the definite and indefinite tables below: in the accusative, only the masculine singular form changes (der → den, ein → einen). Feminine, neuter and plural stay identical in nominative and accusative.
How to choose the right case in 3 steps
- Check for a preposition first. If a preposition stands before the noun phrase, that preposition controls the case. Fixed accusative prepositions (durch, für, gegen, ohne, um) always take accusative; fixed dative prepositions (aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu) always take dative. For two-way prepositions (in, an, auf, neben, hinter, über, unter, vor, zwischen), use dative for static location (Wo?) and accusative for destination (Wohin?).
- If there is no preposition, check the verb. Who or what performs the action and agrees with the verb? That is the nominative subject. After sein, werden or bleiben, the identifying noun stays nominative (Er ist ein guter Freund). Most other verbs take an accusative direct object, while specific dative verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen, gehören, antworten) require dative.
- With two objects, separate person and thing. When a verb such as geben, schenken or zeigen has both a recipient and a thing, the recipient is dative and the thing given is accusative: Ich gebe der Kollegin (Dat.) den Schlüssel (Akk.). See dative and accusative word order.
Next steps in the Grammar Book