Accusative case endings
The endings of the most common determiners in the accusative are iden-
tical with those in the nominative, apart from the masculine forms, which
end in-en:Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Definite article den Mann die Tochter das Kind die Leute
Demonstrative diesen Mann diese Tochter dieses Kind diese Leute
Indefinite article einen Mann eine Tochter ein Kind – Leute
Possessive meinenMann meine Tochter mein Kind meine LeuteThe dative case
Indicating the indirect object
In addition to a direct object, many verbs in German can take a further
object, the indirect object. The indirect object of a sentence is always in
the dative case:Wir kauften dem Kindeinen großen Luftballon.
We bought the child a big balloon.Er macht der Fraueinen Vorschlag.
He puts a preposition to the woman.An easy way to identify the indirect object of a sentence is to ask:To who/m or what is the action being done?
→The child.Note that the indirect object in English is often indicated by the prepo-
sition ‘to’ as shown in the above example.The dative after verbs
Some verbs in German require a dative object. The most common are:
antworten‘to answer’,danken‘to thank’,folgen‘to follow’, gehören‘to
belong to’, gratulieren‘to congratulate’, helfen‘to help’, schaden‘to harm’,
trauen‘to trust’, wehtun‘to hurt’:Bitte antworte mir!
Please answer me!Unit 4: Cases 27