Learn German A1: Intro to German Cases (Accusative Case). In the last lesson we learned that words can have different functions within a sentence. We call these functions cases.

We were also introduced to the nominative case as the first of the four German cases, as given below:

Learn German A1: Intro to German Cases (Nominative case)

What is Accusative Case?

This lesson will now focus on the second case, the accusative case: der Akkusativ.

First, let’s compare the nominative and accusative case:

When someone or something is ‘doing’ the action, we use the nominative case.

In contrast, when someone or something is being affected by the action, we use the accusative case which is why the spelling of the article changes.

Look at “der Mann” in the two different cases to see the differences:

NOMINATIV: Der Mann arbeitet. (The man is working.)

“Der Mann” is doing the action: working. So “der Mann” is in the nominative case.

AKKUSATIV: Die Frau trifft den Mann. (The woman is meeting the man.)

“Der Mann” is affected by the action: The woman meets him, so “der Mann” is in the accusative case.

The accusative case shows us who or what is affected by the action in a sentence. We call that someone or something the direct object.

Here are some more examples of words (direct objects) in the accusative case, highlighted in bold.

Siehst du den Mann? (Do you see the man?)

Ich habe einen Sohn. (I have a son.)

Sie hat eine Tochter. (She has a daughter.)

Du hast ein Buch. (You have a book.)

Die Studentin hat eine Tasche. (The student has a bag.)

Learn German A1: Possessive Adjectives Lesson 14

What are Articles in Accusative Case?

In the accusative case, only the spelling of the masculine articles change. The feminine articles (die, eine), the neutral articles (das, ein) and the plural article (die) stay the same!

ARTICLE	NOMINATIVE	ACCUSATIVE
definite/masculine	der	den
indefinite/masculine	ein	einen

Examples of Accusative Case

Here are a few more examples to see direct objects in the accusative case, highlighted in bold.

Die Frau heiratet den Mann. (The woman marries the man.)

Eine Frau heiratet einen Mann. (A woman marries a man.)

sie heiratet ihn. (she marries him.)

Ali hat ein Fahrrad. (Ali has a bicycle.)

Mein Freund hat einen Computer. (My friend has a computer.)

Ich suche den Schlüssel. (I’m searching for the key.)

Der Lehrer hat ein Auto. (The teacher has a car.)

Ich treffe den Arzt im Krankenhaus. (I meet the doctor at the hospital.)

Mein Freund hat einen Computer. (My friend has a computer.)

Die Kollegin trifft das Mädchen. (The colleague meets the girl.)

Different Articles of Noun as Accusative

While, In German all nouns are either masculine, feminine or neuter. Get complete information about articles in Learn German A1 Lesson 3.

	(the) definite	(a) Indefinite	Negative	Pronoun
Masculine	den Mann	einen	keinen	ihn
Feminine	die Frau	eine	Keine	sie
Neuter	das Kind	ein	kein	es
Plural	die	—	Keine	sie

Only the highlighted articles (Masculine) are going to change in accusative case, as you can see in the table.

Highlight the Objects

Here is an exercise, you have to highlight the objects mean accusative articles in each sentence.

Hast du einen Bruder? (Do you have a brother?)

Oh, hat er einen Freund? (Oh, does he have a boyfriend?)

Er hat keinen Freund. (He doesn’t have a boyfriend.)

Der Vogel hasst den Hund. (The bird hates the dog.)

Der Mann findet den Ball. (The man finds the ball.)

Die Frau findet die Blume. (The woman finds the flower.)

Der Mann streichelt den Hund. (The man pets the dog.)

Learn German A1 W-Questions & Basic Conversations Lesson 6

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