In English, the words "he" and "I" can be used as subjects (the ones
doing the action in a sentence), and they change to "him" and "me" when
they are objects (the ones the action is applied to). For example, we
say "He likes me" and "I like him." This is exactly the notion of a
"grammatical case:" the same word changes its form depending on its
relationship to the verb. In English, only pronouns have cases, but in
German most words other than verbs have cases: nouns, pronouns,
determiners, adjectives, etc.
Understanding the four German cases is one of the biggest hurdles in learning the language. The good news is that most words change very predictably so you only have to memorize a small set of rules. We'll see more about cases later, but for now you just need to understand the difference between the two simplest cases: nominative and accusative.
The nominative object is the subject of a sentence (the one doing the action), so when we say "Die Frau spielt" (the woman plays), "Frau" is in the nominative case.
The accusative object is the thing or person that is directly receiving the action. For example, in "Der Lehrer sieht den Ball" (the teacher sees the ball), "Lehrer" is the nominative object and "Ball" is the accusative object. Notice that the articles for accusative objects are not the same as the articles for nominative objects: "the" is "der" for the nominative object and "den" for the accusative. The following table shows how the articles change based on these two cases:
The fact that most words in German are affected by the case explains why the sentence order is more flexible than in English. For example, you can say "Das Mädchen hat den Apfel" (the girl has the apple) or "Den Apfel hat das Mädchen." In both cases, "den Apfel" (the apple) is the accusative object, and "das Mädchen" is the nominative object.
PS: This has been reproduced without any change from duolingo.com.
Understanding the four German cases is one of the biggest hurdles in learning the language. The good news is that most words change very predictably so you only have to memorize a small set of rules. We'll see more about cases later, but for now you just need to understand the difference between the two simplest cases: nominative and accusative.
The nominative object is the subject of a sentence (the one doing the action), so when we say "Die Frau spielt" (the woman plays), "Frau" is in the nominative case.
The accusative object is the thing or person that is directly receiving the action. For example, in "Der Lehrer sieht den Ball" (the teacher sees the ball), "Lehrer" is the nominative object and "Ball" is the accusative object. Notice that the articles for accusative objects are not the same as the articles for nominative objects: "the" is "der" for the nominative object and "den" for the accusative. The following table shows how the articles change based on these two cases:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der | die | das | die |
| Accusative | den | die | das | die |
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ein | eine | ein |
| Accusative | einen | eine | ein |
The fact that most words in German are affected by the case explains why the sentence order is more flexible than in English. For example, you can say "Das Mädchen hat den Apfel" (the girl has the apple) or "Den Apfel hat das Mädchen." In both cases, "den Apfel" (the apple) is the accusative object, and "das Mädchen" is the nominative object.
PS: This has been reproduced without any change from duolingo.com.
