Verbs with the noun cases
Accusative
The accusative case is used mainly to indicate the direct object of a sentence. If a verb conveys any form of action, then the direct object is the person or thing that has that action done to him/her/it.
Sometimes there is not much action in a verb, such as 'haben', 'to have', but there can still be direct objects with such verbs, of course.
For example:
| Wer hat den (letzten) Apfel gegessen? | Who ate the (last) apple? |
| Hebt den rechten Arm! | Raise (plural) your right arm! |
| Er hat einen neuen Pullover gekauft. | He bought a new pullover. |
| Hast du sie gesehen? | Have you seen her? |
| Er trägt sein neues Hemd. | He’s wearing his new shirt. |
| Hast du mich im Kino gesehen? | Did you see me at the cinema? |
| Ich kann meine Schuhe nicht finden. | I can’t find my shoes. |
The definite article in the accusative
The definitive article in the accusative is shown in the table below:
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
| nominative | der | die | das | die |
| accusative | den | die | das | die |
The indefinite article in the accusative
The indefinite article in the accusative is shown in the table below:
| masculine | feminine | neuter | |
| nominative | ein | eine | ein |
| accusative | einen | eine | ein |
Personal and impersonal pronouns in the accusative
Personal and impersonal pronouns in the accusative are as follows:
| mich | me | uns | us |
| dich | you (singular, familiar) | euch | you (plural, familiar) |
| Sie | you (singular, polite) | Sie | you (plural, polite) |
| ihn/sie/es | he/she/it | sie | them (all genders) |
Possessive adjectives in the accusative
All the possessive adjectives follow exactly the same pattern as the indefinite article.
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
| meinen | meine | mein | meine | my |
| deinen | deine | dein | deine | your |
| seinen | seine | sein | seine | his |
| ihren | ihre | ihr | ihre | her |
| seinen | seine | sein | seine | its |
| unseren | unsere | unser | unsere | our |
| euren | eure | euer | eure | your |
| Ihren | Ihre | Ihr | Ihre | your |
| ihren | ihre | ihr | ihre | their |
Adjective endings in the accusative
Adjective endings in the accusative are shown as follows. The 'xxx' represent the adjectives.
With the definite article: 'the'
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
| nominative | der xxx-e + noun | die xxx-e + noun | das xxx-e + noun | die xxx-en + noun |
| accusative | den xxx-en + noun | die xxx-e + noun | das xxx-e + noun | die xxx-en + noun |
with the indefinite article: 'a'
| masculine | feminine | neuter | |
| nominative | ein xxx-er + noun | eine xxx-e + noun | ein xxx-es + noun |
| accusative | einen xxx-en + noun | eine xxx-e + noun | ein xxx-es + noun |
with possessive adjectives: 'my/your/his/her' etc
| masculine | feminine | neuter | plural | |
| nominative | mein xxx-er + noun | meine xxx-e + noun | mein xxx-es + noun | meine xxx-en + noun |
| accusative | meinen xxx-en + noun | meine xxx-e + noun | mein xxx-es + noun | meine xxx-en + noun |
NB: Note that 'kein' (not '-a') follows exactly the same pattern as the indefinite article 'ein', and the possessive adjectives 'mein' etc.