German cases with questions and articles. Cases in German. Weak declension of nouns in German
How often have you promised yourself to start doing something next Monday, next month... next year? But then either they didn’t even try to get down to business, or they soon abandoned everything. It’s the same with learning a foreign language: at first we are full of enthusiasm, and then the first difficulties begin to arise - and we begin to look for an excuse for ourselves not to do anything.
And if many people learned the English language with grief, then the cases in the German language scare away almost everyone at the very beginning of learning. However, if you think about it, everything is not so scary at all. After all, our native language is Russian. And it has as many as six cases and three singular genders. Besides, forget about her. And in German everything is the same, but there are only four cases, how can you not cope? So let's start figuring it out right now.
Unlike Russian, cases in German are expressed using articles, and not As for adjectives and pronouns, their endings are consistent across cases, but priority in their expression is still given to articles. The endings rather reflect the noun being defined. So, there are the following cases of the German language:
As mentioned above, cases in German are expressed through articles, so for ease of understanding I offer you a table with the change of articles by case.
* - the ending -s is also added to the noun;
** - the ending -n is added to the noun.
Now that we have dealt with the basic questions regarding how cases are used in the German language, it’s time to get down to the most interesting part - prepositions. After all, they are often the ones who influence the use of one case or another. And they are not difficult to learn!
As you can see, cases in German can still be studied, and their use is even more logical than in Russian. So go for it - and remember that everything here depends only on you.
06.11.2018 by admin
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Cases in German- at first glance, a very complex topic, but in fact it is a grammatical basis. Today we will tell you everything about cases in simple words. Attention! Lots of useful material.
There are 4 cases in German:
. Nominative (N)- answers the questions: wer?(Who?) was?(What?)
. Genitiv (G) - Wessen?(whose? whose? whose?)
. Dativ (D) — wem?(to whom?) wann?(When?) wo?(Where?) wie?(How?)
. Akkusativ (Akk) — wen? was?(who? what?) who?(Where?)
All nouns, adjectives and pronouns have the ability to decline, which means changing by case.
REMEMBER: Cases in Russian and German overlap, but do not coincide. There are 6 cases in Russian, and 4 in German.
How it works
In simple terms, case affects either the article or the ending of the word, or both.
The most important: the case must indicate what gender the word is and what number (singular or plural)
HOW TO CHOOSE A CASE: We need to ask a question! (see list of questions above) Depending on the question we ask about a noun/pronoun, its case changes! An adjective is always “attached” to a noun, which means it changes depending on it.
What do cases affect?
. Usnouns, especially weak nouns
.For personal pronouns, possessive and other pronouns
. On verbs (see Managing Verbs)
. On padjectives
There are three types of adjective declension:
Weak declination- when there is a defining word (for example, the definite article) that shows gender
Strong declination- when there is no defining word
Mixed declension- when there is a defining word, but it does not define everything (indefinite article, pronoun kein)
For more information about declensions, see the article on declensions of adjectives.
Now let's look at each case in detail!
Nominative case (Nominativ)
The nominative case answers the questions wer? - Who? and was? - What?
Nominativ is the direct case, while the other three cases are derived from it and are called indirect. Nominativ is independent and does not come into contact with prepositions. The form of the word (inflected part of speech) in the Nominativ singular is considered to be the basic form of the word. Let's learn several word formation rules regarding the nominative case.
Rule 1. Pronouns, adjectives, the word kein, masculine and neuter, do not have an ending in the nominative case; in the feminine and plural they receive an ending -e
Eine Frau- woman
Ein Mann- man
Keine Fragen!- No questions!
Rule 2. In the case of weak declension (definite article + adjective + noun), the adjective receives the ending -e And the plural is the ending -en
Die intelligente Frau- clever woman
Der ernste Mann- a serious man
Die guten Freunde- Good friends
Rule 3. With a strong declension (adjective + noun), the adjective receives an ending corresponding to the gender of the noun;
Ernster Mann- a serious man
Rule 4. With a mixed declension (indefinite article + adjective + noun), the adjective receives an ending that corresponds to the gender of the noun. After all, the indefinite article does not indicate gender. For example, it is impossible to immediately say what type ein Fenster- masculine or average
Ein kleines Fenster- small window
Eine intelligente Frau- clever woman
BY THE WAY: there are a number of verbs that agree ONLY with the nominative case, that is, after them the Nominativ is always used
sein (to be)Sie ist eine fürsorgliche Mutter.- She is a caring mother.
werden (to become)Er wird ein guter Pilot.- He will become a good pilot.
bleiben (to stay) Für die Eltern blieben wir immer Kinder.- For parents, we always remain children.
heißen (to be called)Ich heiße Alex.- My name is Alex.
In most textbooks, the genitive case comes next, but we will consider the accusative, since it differs from the nominative only same family , and it’s easier to learn this way!
Accusative case (Akkusativ)
The accusative case answers the questions wen? - whom? and was? - What?
MEMORY: Remember that the letter R has changed to N. This will make it easier to learn several rules at once.
Akkusativ also plays a huge role in the language. In fact, it is easier than its “indirect” brothers in terms of word formation.
Rule 1. Adjectives, articles, pronouns male get ending -en, the noun remains unchanged ( );
Rule 2. The plural, feminine and neuter forms are the same as in Nominativ!
Remember, we talked about how R changed to N, and now look at the sign, even the personal pronoun has an N ending!
Dative
The dative case answers the question wem? - to whom?
The dative case (Dativ) is used very often
FACT: In some regions of Germany, the dative case is even replaced by the genitive...almost completely
In terms of word formation, the dative case is more complex than the accusative case, but still quite simple.
Rule 1. Adjectives, articles, masculine and neuter pronouns receive endings -m without changing the noun itself ( excluding weak nouns);
Rule 2. Adjectives, articles, feminine pronouns receive endings -r;
Rule 3. In the plural, both the noun and the word dependent on it acquire the ending -(e)n.
For examples explaining the rules of word formation in the dative case, see the table
By the way, pay attention to the correspondence between the last letters of definite articles and personal pronouns:
de m—ih m
de r—ih r
Yes, yes, this is also not without reason!
Genitive case
The genitive case (Genetiv) answers the question wessen? (whose?, whose?, whose?)
This is perhaps the most difficult case of the four. As a rule, it denotes the belonging of one object to another ( die Flagge Germany). In the masculine and neuter genders, nouns receive the ending -(e)s, the feminine gender and plural remain unchanged. There are a lot of word formation rules in the genitive case; they are clearly presented below.
Rule 1. In Genitiv, masculine and neuter nouns of the strong declension take on the ending -(e)s, feminine and plural remain unchanged;
Rule 2. A masculine or neuter adjective in Genitiv becomes neutral -en, since the “indicator” of the genitive case is the ending -(e)s- already has a noun on which this adjective depends, but adjectives, articles, feminine and plural pronouns receive a characteristic ending -r;
Rule 3. Some weak nouns (those ending -en in all cases except the nominative) are still received in the genitive case -s:
der Wille - des Willens,
das Herz - des Herzens,
der Glaube - des Glaubens.
They must be remembered!
How are nouns declined in German?
If in Russian the ending of a noun changes when declension occurs (mama, mamu, mama...), then in German the article changes (conjugates). Let's look at the table. It gives the declination of both the definite article and the indefinite:
SO: To conjugate a noun in German, it is enough to learn the declension of the article and take into account some of the features that nouns receive 
Pay attention again!
1. Masculine and neuter nouns in Genitiv acquire an ending (e)s - (des Tisches, des Buches)
2. In the plural in Dativ, the noun receives the ending (e)n - den Kindern
3. In the plural there is no indefinite article.
4. Possessive pronouns bow down according to the principle of the indefinite article!
About prepositions. What is management?
The fact is that in the German language (as often in Russian) each case has its own prepositions! These prepositions control parts of speech.
Management can be:
- at verbs
- for adjectives
In simple words with an example:
If the pretext MIT(c) belongs to the Dativ, then in combination with a verb or an adjective the noun will be in the dative case:
Ich bin mit meiner Hausaufgebe fertig - I finished my homework
Here are examples of verbs with controls in the dative and accusative cases:
AND ALSO, REMEMBER: If in relation to space you pose the question “where?”, then Akkusativ will be used, and if you pose the question “where?”, then Dativ (see Spatial prepositions)
Let's consider two proposals:
1. Die Kinder spielen in dem ( =im) Wald. - Kids are playing ( Where? - Dativ) in the forest, i.e. noun der Wald is in the dative case (so the article DEM)
2. Die Kinder gehen in den Wald. - The children are going (where? - Akk.) to the forest.
In this case, der Wald is in Akk. — den Wald.
Here is a good summary table of the distribution of prepositions by case:
So, in order to master the topic of noun declination, you need to learn how masculine, feminine, neuter and plural articles are declined. At first, our table will be your support, then the skill will become automatic.
That's all you need to know about the cases of the German language. In order to finally understand them and avoid making grammatical mistakes, we will briefly outline several important rules for the declension of different parts of speech.
Rustam Reichenau and Anna Reiche, Deutsch Online
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Articles in German have important grammatical functions. They express gender, number, case and the category of definiteness and indeterminacy of the noun they precede.
Types of articles
German language articles divides in three categories: singular der or ein- for the masculine gender, das or ein– for average, die or eine– for feminine and for plural – article die.
Articles der, das, die – certain And ein, eine – uncertain. The category of certainty says that the subject being discussed is isolated from many similar things and is known to the interlocutors, i.e. contextual or unique.
The indefinite article in German carries novelty information about an object in a given context, introduces interlocutors to a new object that has appeared in the field of communication and is replaced in repeated use by a definite article. For example:
Ich sehe da ein Mädchen. Das Mädchen weint.
I see (some) girl there. She's crying.
It is easy to see what shades of information both articles convey: in the first case, the girl has just appeared in our context, we do not know her yet, she is one of many for us, some kind of girl in other words. In the second sentence we already use definite article in German, because we continue to talk about that girl, the specific girl who is standing there, so in the translation we can easily replace the word “das Mädchen” simply with the word “she”, since it is already clear who we are talking about.
German article table
It is very important to understand the logic when the subject is not yet defined and when it already becomes defined, i.e. acquaintances, in each specific situation, otherwise even misunderstandings may arise in communicating with Germans. You cannot use only definite or indefinite articles, both of them carry their own grammatical and semantic functions and loads in the language system. Therefore, for clarity, below German article table to begin with, in the nominative case (who? what?).
Declension of articles in German by case
We use the nominative case when we answer the question “who?”, “what?”, i.e. we call an object, in other words, it itself produces an action, being a subject. If the action is directed at an object, and it acts as the object of this action, then the noun begins to change according to cases. Declension of articles in German is unthinkable without the participation of the article, unlike in Russian, where the very form of the word changes due to the ending or other methods of word formation. Therefore, as “Our Father” you need to know the following tables of declination of articles:
Declension of the definite article
| Casus Case |
Maskulinum Masculine |
Neutrum Neuter gender |
Feminine Feminine |
Plural Plural |
| Nominative Wer? Was? Who? What? |
der | das | die | die |
| Genitiv Wessen? Whose? |
des | des | der | der |
| Dativ Wem? Wo? To whom? Where? |
dem | dem | der | den |
| Akkusativ Wen? Was? Whoa? Whom? What? Where? |
den | das | die | die |
Declension of the indefinite article
| Casus Case |
Maskulinum Masculine |
Neutrum Neuter gender |
Feminine Feminine |
*
Plural Plural |
| Nominative Wer? Was? Who? What? |
ein | ein | eine | keine |
| Genitiv Wessen? Whose? |
eines | eines | einer | keiner |
| Dativ Wem? Wo? To whom? Where? |
einem | einem | einer | keinen |
| Akkusativ Wen? Was? Whoa? Whom? What? Where? |
einen | ein | eine | keine |
* Since the indefinite article ein came from the numeral eins= one, then in the plural ein is inappropriate, but according to a similar pattern the negative is declined kein= none, for plural – keine= none.
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Comparing the grammar in Russian and German, it is difficult to say where it is simpler or more complex - each has its own characteristics. As for cases, there are many more of them in Russian than in German. This greatly simplifies the process of mastering the case system for beginners - you will have to memorize a little.
How many cases in German? Titles And definitions
There are four cases in German:
- nominative – Nominative;
- accusative – Akkusativ;
- dative – Dativ;
- genitive – Genitiv.
Each noun, regardless of what case it is in, is “supplied” with one or another article. This auxiliary part of speech always goes along with nouns and is their integral part. When learning words in German, do not miss this moment - do not forget about articles. They indicate the gender, case and number of a noun.
Questions about cases and their features
Let's look at each case in more detail - some of them have their own characteristics:
- Nominative in German is given in every dictionary, its articles are: der, die, das, die. Nominativ answers the questions: wer – who? And was – what?
- Accusative has articles den, die, das, die. His questions are wen – who? was – what? And wohin - where?
- Dative used together with articles dem, der, dem, den. The questions Dativ answers are: wem – to whom? woher - where from? wann – when? wo – where? There is a peculiarity in the plural - nouns receive the ending n: die Kinder - den Kindern, die Schueler - den Schuelern. In cases where nouns already have the ending -n, they remain unchanged: die Frauen – den Frauen. If you look at the dative questions, you can mistakenly assume that there are no inanimate objects in this case, because there is no corresponding question. This is not so - inanimate objects in dative German occur very often, they are simply not asked at all.
- The last case in German is genitive- answers the question wessen – whose? Its articles are des, der, des, der. In the case of neuter and masculine nouns, these words receive the endings -(e)s: der Vater – des Vaters, das Kind – des Kindes. Sometimes there are exceptions. Germans use the genitive case very rarely, because, in their opinion, it is not convenient for use. Most often it is replaced with more convenient forms. It is sometimes called the possessive case.
Example tables endings
It is most convenient to learn cases and their articles in German when they are summarized in one table. The endings used in questions are similar to those with adjectives.
| Case | Questions | m.r. | w.r. | sr.r | plural |
| Nominative | Wer? Was? | der | die | das | die |
| Akkusativ | Wen? Was? Whoa? | den | die | das | die |
| Dativ | Wem? Wo? Woher? Wann? | dem | der | dem | den |
| Genitiv | Wessen? | des | der | des | der |
The indefinite article in nominative and other cases
The indefinite article in German is modified as follows:
| Case | Questions | m.r. | w.r. | sr.r | plural |
| Nominative | Wer? Was? | ein | eine | ein | – |
| Akkusativ | Wen? Was? Whoa? | einen | eine | ein | – |
| Dativ | Wem? Wo? Woher? Wann? | einem | einer | einem | – |
| Genitiv | Wessen? | eines | einer | eines | – |
All derivatives of this article come from one word - eins, which is translated as “one”. Therefore, this article is not used in the plural.
Negative article by case
The negative article in German is kein. It is translated as "not". Variants of its changes by case are collected in the table:
| Case | Questions | m.r. | w.r. | sr.r | plural |
| Nominative | Wer? Was? | kein | keine | kein | keine |
| Akkusativ | Wen? Was? Whoa? | keinen | keine | kein | keine |
| Dativ | Wem? Wo? Woher? Wann? | keinem | keiner | keinem | keinen |
| Genitiv | Wessen? | keines | keiner | keines | keiner |
Demonstrative article by case
The demonstrative article in German is the function word dies. It is translated as “this one”. Changing the demonstrative article by case:
| Case | Questions | m.r. | w.r. | sr.r | plural |
| Nominative | Wer? Was? | dieser | diese | diesels | diese |
| Akkusativ | Wen? Was? Whoa? | diesen | diese | diesels | diese |
| Dativ | Wem? Wo? Woher? Wann? | diesem | dieser | diesem | diesen |
| Genitiv | Wessen? | diesels | dieser | diesels | dieser |
If we look at the data in all the tables presented, we will see that the endings of all articles in the corresponding cases coincide. Only the stem of each article changes.
Grammar is one of the most capacious sections in the German language, and you need to master it in parts. There is no need to try to learn everything at once; after each topic, you need to complete tasks and familiarize yourself with examples of their implementation in detail. It’s good if your teacher gives you a test to test your knowledge.
If you are learning a language on your own, you can find tests with answers and test yourself. It is recommended not just to memorize the rules, but to learn to use them. When expanding your vocabulary, choose a selection of words with translation and transcription - this will help you learn them without errors.
A noun is a part of speech that changes according to cases, i.e. it is declined. There are four cases in German:
- Nominativ - answers the question - who? What? (wer? was?)
- Genitiv - answers the question - whose, whose? whose, whose? whom? what? (wessen?)
- Dativ - answers the question - to whom? (wem?)
- Akkusativ - answers the question - who? What? (wen? was?)
In German, case endings in nouns are most often absent, and case is indicated by the case form of the article.
Declension of the article in German
| Definite article | Indefinite article | ||||||
| Number | Case | Husband. R. | Wed. R | Women R. | Husband. R. | Wed. R. | Women R. |
| Unit h. | Nominative | der | das | die | ein | eine | |
| Genitiv | des | der | eines | einer | |||
| Dativ | dem | der | einem | einer | |||
| Akkusativ | den | das | die | einen | ein | eine | |
| Plural h. | Nominative | die | Absent | ||||
| Genitiv | der | ||||||
| Dativ | den | ||||||
| Akkusativ | die | ||||||
Depending on the case endings of singular nouns, three types of noun declension are distinguished:
- strong declination,
- weak declination,
- Declension of feminine nouns.
Strong declension of nouns in German
The strong declension includes most masculine nouns, as well as all neuter nouns.
| Nominative | der (ein) Schauspieler | der Tisch | das (ein) Mittel | das Buch |
| Genitiv | des (eines) Schauspielers | des Tisches | des (eines) Mittels | des Buches |
| Dativ | dem (einem) Schauspieler | dem Tisch | dem (einem) Mittel | dem Buch |
| Akkusativ | den (einen) Schauspieler | den Tisch | das (ein) Mittel | das Buch |
From the table above it is clear that a strong declination is characterized by the end -(e)s in Genitiv. Moreover, nouns ending in -s, -?, -sch, -z, -tz, get the ending -es in Genitiv. Nouns ending in -е, -er, -el, -en, -chen, -lein, -ling, -ig, -ich, as well as most polysyllabic endings in Genitiv -s.
Weak declension of nouns in German
A small group of masculine nouns denoting animate objects belongs to the weak declension.
- Nouns ending in -e:
der Junge (boy), der Russe (Russian), der Lowe (lion), der Hase (hare); - nouns der Mensch (man), der Held (hero), der Bauer* (peasant), der Graf (count), der Nachbar* (neighbor), der Herr (lord), der Hirt (shepherd), der Ochs (ox) , der Bar (bear), der Narr (fool);
- foreign words with suffixes -ist, -ent, -ant, -at, -soph, -nom, -graph, -log(e):
der Komponist, der Assistent, der Praktikant, der Kandidat, der Diplomat, der Philosopher,
der Soldat, der Agronom, der Photograph, der Philolog(e).
In all cases, except Nominativ singular, weak declension nouns take a case ending -(e)n.
| Nominative | der (ein) Junge | der (ein) Mensch |
| Genitiv | des (eines) Jungen | des (eines) Menschen |
| Dativ | dem (einem) Jungen | dem (einem) Menschen |
| Akkusativ | den (einen) Jungen | den (einen) Menschen |
Nouns that end in -e, as well as der Herr, der Bauer, der Nachbar, receive the ending -n, the rest - the ending -en.
Declension of feminine nouns in German
Feminine nouns do not take singular case endings, and the case is indicated by the form of the article.
This group includes:
- der Name, der Gedanke, der Same, der Wille, der Glaube, der Buchstabe, der Friede,
der Funke, der Schade, der Fels.
Also in special cases is the declension of the noun das Herz. The noun das Herz is declined as follows:
| Nominative | das Herz |
| Genitiv | des Herzens |
| Dativ | dem Herzen |
| Akkusativ | das Herz |
The declension type of a noun is easy to determine using a dictionary.
For example: Stuhl m-(e)s, ?-e; m determines the gender of the noun - masculine. Ending -(e)s indicates the Genitiv singular form of this noun - des Stuhl (e)s, thus, the noun belongs to the strong declension.
Another example: Student m-en, -en. Here the first -en indicates that the Genitiv form of this noun is Studenten, so the noun is a weak declension.
Special cases of declension of nouns are shown similarly in the dictionary.
Declension of German nouns in the plural
All plural nouns are inflected the same way, taking the case ending -n in the dative case, with the exception of nouns that receive a plural suffix -(e)n or -s.
Declension of proper names in German
- Proper names take endings -s in Genitiv singular:
Goethe s Gedichte (Goethe's poems); Anna s Vater (Anna's father). - Names of persons ending in -s, -x and –z, accept the ending –ens:
Sachsens Werke (works by Sachs).
Often in these words the ending is completely omitted and replaced with an apostrophe:
Claus’ Auto (Claus’s car). Proper names denoting geographical names and ending in -s, -x, -z, do not receive any ending:
der Gipfel des Elbrus (peak of Elbrus). - Female names on -ie have a singular ending in Genitiv -s or -ns:
Marie ns(Marie s) Freund (Maria's friend). - The genitive case can be replaced by a construction with a preposition von:
Peter s Buch = das Buch von Peter,
die Straßen Munchen s= die Stra?en von Munchen (streets of Munich). - A proper name is usually not declined if it is preceded by an article with a definition:
- If a proper name is preceded by a common noun expressing title, rank, position, etc., then two cases are possible:
- When there is an article, only the common noun is declined:
- Without an article, only the proper noun is declined, and the common noun remains unchanged:
die Regierungszeit Konig Ludwigs
die Vorlesung Professor Mullers.
- If the first and last names are indicated, then only the last name is declined:
die Werke Patrick Suskinds (works by Patrick Suskind).