By Erik Steel
The accusative case, one of the four cases of German, is perhaps the easiest to learn. This is because, in form, only masculine nouns, adjectives and articles are affected, along with personal pronouns; all other words appear the same as in the nominative case, the form you find in the dictionary. You have more than enough time to master the accusative case on your flight to Germany.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Things You'll Need:
- Online examples
- Online examples
Step 1
Learn the uses of the accusative case in German. As is true in many other languages, the basic usage of the accusative in German is to mark the direct object, as in: "Mark liest ein Buch" ("Mark is reading a book"). "Ein Buch" is in the accusative because it is the direct object of "liest" ("is reading").
German also uses the accusative case after a number of prepositions, including, according to faculty at McKinnon Secondary College: durch (by), für (for), gegen (against), ohne (without), um (around), bis (to), entlang (along). (Note that entlang is actually commonly used as a postposition.)
Step 2
Focus on the other two uses of the accusative case in German. These include expressions of motion and expressions of time.
When a preposition is used to show motion (as opposed to location), its complement takes the accusative case: "Wir gehen unter die Brücke" ("We're going under the bridge"). If the same preposition were used to show location, you would use the dative: "Wir sind unter der Brücke" ("We're under the bridge").
When an expression of time is not accompanied by a preposition, it is placed in the accusative: "Sie singt jeden Tag" ("She sings every day").
Step 3
Learn the personal pronouns in the accusative. These are:
mich (me), dich (you singular informal), Sie (you singular formal), ihn (him), sie (she), es (it), uns (we), euch (you plural informal), Sie (you plural formal), sie (they).
These are used in expressions like "Ich sehe dich" ("I see you") and "Er singt für uns" ("He is singing for us").
Step 4
Learn the masculine forms of adjectives and articles in the accusative; for the most part, these are the only elements of speech that change form in the accusative.
The masculine singular direct article "der" becomes "den" in the accusative. "Ein" becomes "einen." For example: "Ich sehe den Mann" ("I see the man") and "Ich sehe einen Mann" ("I see a man").
Masculine adjectives in the accusative end in -en, as in "Ich sehe den/einen glücklichen Mann" ("I see the/a happy man").
Step 5
Turn to the masculine nouns that take a special ending in the accusative. While most masculine nouns are the same in the accusative as in the nominative, some have an -(e)n ending. According to Learn to Speaker, these include foreign words denoting occupations that end in -t, like der Polizist (police officer) and der Soldat (soldier): "Ich sehe den Polizisten/den Soldaten" ("I see the police officer/soldier").
Others include some words for men and animals, like der Junge (boy), der Kunde (customer), der Löwe (lion), der Elefant (elephant), der Neffe (nephew) and der Zeuge (witness). Very common nouns that take this ending include Herr (Sir), Mensch (person) and Nachbar (neighbor): "Ich kaufte ein Buch für meinen Nachbarn" ("I bought a book for my neighbor").
About the Author:
Erik Steel is a graduate of the University of Michigan, earning his bachelor's degree in Russian. Steel has worked as writer for more than four years and has contributed content to eHow and Pluck on Demand. His work recently appeared in the literary journal "Arsenic Lobster."
