Intermediate German: A Grammar and Workbook

The nominative after verbs

The nominative is also used after the verbs sein‘to be’, werden‘to become’

andscheinen‘to seem’:

Heinz war immer ein guter Vater.

Heinz was always a good father.

Das Mädchen wird sicher eine berühmte Sängerin werden.

The girl will surely become a famous singer.

Er scheint ein fähiger Trainer zu sein.

He seems to be a capable coach.

Nominative case endings

Here is an overview of the most common determiners in the nominative:

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

Definite article der Mann die Tochter das Kind die Leute

Demonstrative dieser Mann diese Tochter dieses Kind diese Leute

Indefinite article ein Mann eine Tochter ein Kind – Leute

Possessive mein Mann meine Tochter mein Kind meine Leute

The accusative case

Marking the direct object

The accusative case in German marks the direct object in a sentence. The

direct object is the person or thing on the receiving end of the action:

Sie füttert das Baby.

She feeds the baby.

Helga wäscht den Wagen.

Helga washes the car.

In order to identify the direct object, you could ask the question:

At who/m or what is the action directed?

→The baby.

Unit 4: Cases 25

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