Grammatical Cases (Nominative, Accusative, Dative, Genitive)
What are the four cases in German and what do they mean?
Cases indicate the grammatical function of a noun or pronoun in a sentence.
1. Nominative (Wer/Was? - Who/What?): The subject of the sentence (performs the action).
2. Accusative (Wen/Was? - Whom/What?): The direct object of the sentence (receives the action).
3. Dative (Wem? - To whom/For whom?): The indirect object of the sentence (the recipient of the direct object or action).
4. Genitive (Wessen? - Whose?): Indicates possession or belonging.
Example
Nominative: Der Mann liest. (The man reads.)
Accusative: Der Mann liest ein Buch. (The man reads a book.)
Dative: Der Mann gibt der Frau ein Buch. (The man gives the woman a book.)
Genitive: Das ist das Auto des Mannes. (That is the man's car.)