Here’s the thing: we have to know which case a noun is in, right? Otherwise sentences don’t have any meaning (or wouldn’t have clear, unambiguous meaning, anyway).īUT it’s not the noun itself that tells us which case it’s in … it’s the words coming in front of the noun that tell us the noun’s case!Īnd adjectives are one of those types of words that come in front of nouns! That’s nice’, you say … ‘but I thought we were talking about adjectives?’ How noun case and adjective endings intersect Look at our same German sentences about the kind man giving the sad dog a big bone:ĭoes this concept of cases = ‘slots’ make more sense now, I hope? But German can juggle the slots around - they can trade places without changing the basic meaning of the sentence. These cases are like ‘slots’ in a sentence that get filled in with nouns. There are 4 German cases for the different roles a noun might have: Cases are ‘slots’ for nouns But in German - as you’ve seen - the nouns can be all shuffled around without it changing the sentence’s meaning. In English, it’s the position of each noun (relative to the others) that tells us who is who. If it weren’t for what’s called the German case system, we couldn’t know who or what is the subject doing something, or who/what is being acted upon, etc. It’s the noun’s case that tells us what role the noun is playing in the sentence. What is German noun case and why does it matter? This German grammar fancy footwork that allows for such flexibility in sentence structure is all about noun case, a.k.a. Those ^^ are exact translations of the English example sentences, but all these work in German! They make sense! And they share the same meaning, too: ‘the kind man gives the sad dog a big bone.’ In German, however, because of declensions, we can say all three of those sentences:ĭer nette Mann gibt dem traurigen Hund einen großen Knochen.ĭem traurigen Hund gibt der nette Mann einen großen Knochen.ĭen großen Knochen gibt der nette Mann dem traurigen Hund. Change the order like I did in those examples and the meaning of the sentence changes, too. Only the first sentence truly makes sense, right? That’s because, in English, we know who is who in a sentence because of rigid word order. The sad dog gives the kind man a big bone.Ī big bone gives the kind man the sad dog. The kind man gives the sad dog a big bone. They tell us, for example, who is the subject doing something to/for someone else.Ĭheck out these scrambled English sentences: German declensions or ‘endings’ on adjectives (and other words) tell us who is who in a sentence. But in German, those little endings we put on the tailends of adjectives tell us absolutely crucial information. No such thing as adjective endings (<– better word: declensions) exists in English. German is a different type of language from English. To an English speaker, all of the fiddly grammar details of German can seem so unnecessary. how to put the correct endings (declensions) on adjectives every single time*.the rhyme & reason behind them (If you are finding it difficult to remember the four cases, do not get discouraged! These cases are often tricky for the English speaker, since in English, the use of the word, "the" as well as adjectives and pronouns do not decline in English. The exercises below will help you practice and learn these different cases and how they are applied. For example, the word, " Hund" (dog) would be " der Hund" in the nominative (" Der Hund fängt den Ball."), " den Hund" in the accusative (" Der Mann sucht den Hund."), " dem Hund" in the dative (" Ich gebe dem Hund mein Brot.") and " des Hundes" (" Der Schwanz des Hundes ist braun.") in the genitive. You will find that in German, the endings for adjectives and nouns will change depending on how they are used in the sentence. (" I give the hat to the woman.") Finally, there is the genitive, which is the possessive case (" Die Bluse des Maedchens ist rot."). The dative is the indirect object, which is the receiver of the direct object. The accusative case is the direct object of it ( "I wear the hat."). The nominative case is the subject of the sentence (" The cat is small."). These cases are the nominative, accusative, dative and genitive cases. In addition, German employs different cases to define and describe the noun, pronoun or adjective in the sentence. You may have already learned that German defines the masculine (" der"), femine (" die"), neuter (" das") and plural (" die") forms of nouns and adjectives. German grammar exercises about cases and declension.
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