Overview: German Cases, Articles & Adjectives
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Below you will find tables and explanations regarding the use of the four German cases (Nominative, Accusative, Genitive & Dative). In order to be able to use these tables correctly, it is important for you to know the gender of the German nouns you learn (German nouns can be feminine, masculine or neuter). Knowing the gender means that you know which article to use in the table. Articles change depending on which of the four the cases is being used.
- To learn new German nouns along with their base articles (der / die / das), check out our vocabulary section.
- To learn some new German adjectives that you can use with these nouns, check out our adjectives section.
German adjectives are learned in their simple form (alt, jung, laut, klein), but become influenced by various factors when used in a sentence. These factors include the gender of the noun they are describing, and the case that is applied to them (depending on the context of the sentence). These changes involve adding certain endings to the adjectives, which are marked in the tables below in bold.
Nominative Case
Definite Article:
The nominative case in German is used for the subject of the sentence. The subject of the sentence is the person or thing doing something. For example:
Der Hund isst das Brot. – [The dog eats the bread]
Der alte Hund isst das Brot. – [The old dog eats the bread]
Who is doing the action in this sentence? The dog. This makes “Der Hund” the subject of the sentence, meaning that the article belonging to “Hund” (der because it is a masculine noun) and any adjectives describing “Hund” (alt) must comply with the rules for the nominative case. These rules can be seen in the table below:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| der | die | das | die |
| der alte Hund | die kleine Katze | das große Haus | die bunten Blumen |
Indefinite Article:
The same rules apply if the subject of the sentence has an indefinite article (ein / eine / ein): For example:
Eine Katze trinkt die Milch. – [A cat drinks the milk].
Eine kleine Katze trinkt die Milch. – [A small cat drinks the milk].
The cat is doing the action (it is drinking the milk), so the article belonging to “Katze” (eine because it is a feminine noun) and any adjectives describing “Katze” (klein) will follow the rules of the nominative case:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| ein | eine | ein | keine |
| ein alter Hund | eine kleine Katze | ein großes Haus | keine bunten Blumen |
No Article:
If the subject of the sentence has no article, the following changes happen to the adjective:
Frisches Brot schmeckt gut. – [Fresh bread tastes good].
The adjectives will take on the endings of the missing articles, as you can see in the following table:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| heißer Kaffee | kalte Milch | frisches Brot | warme Brötchen |
**Note: The verb “sein” acts like an equals sign (=) in a sentence, which means that anything on the other side of “sein” is still in the same case as the subject:
Der Hund ist ein alter Freund von mir. – [The dog is an old friend of mine].
Both “Der Hund” and “ein alter Freund” are the subjects of the sentence because the dog is both; it is a dog and it is an old friend of mine. Therefore both nouns, their articles, and their adjectives must follow the rules of the nominative case.
Accusative Case
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| den | die | das | die |
| den alten Hund | die kleine Katze | das große Haus | die bunten Blumen |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| einen | eine | ein | keine |
| einen alten Hund | eine kleine Katze | ein großes Haus | keine bunten Blumen |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| heißen Kafee | kalte Milch | frisches Brot | warme Brötchen |
Genitive Case
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| des | der | des | der |
| des alten Hundes* | der kleinen Katze | des großen Hauses* | der bunten Schuhe |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| eines | einer | eines | keiner |
| eines alten Hundes* | einer kleinen Katze | eines großen Hauses* | keiner bunten Schuhe |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| heißen Kaffees* | kalter Milch | frischen Brotes* | warmer Brötchen |
Dative Case
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| dem | der | dem | den |
| dem alten Hund | der kleinen Katze | dem großen Haus | den bunten Schuhen* |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| einem | einer | einem | keinen |
| einem alten Hund | einer kleinen Klatze | einem großen Haus | keinen bunten Schuhen* |
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| heißem Kafee | kalter Milch | frischem Brot | warmen Brötchen |
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