The Ultimate Guide to understanding the German Accusative!
Have you just started studying German? If so, you've probably already encountered the term "Accusative." German cases often unsettle students because they do not fully understand their meaning. But don’t worry! After reading this article, you will be a pro at understanding the German Accusative case and ready for our upcoming adventure called "Dative."
Recommended study materials on the topic:
A-Grammar: Practice German grammar German (incl. answers)
B-Grammar: Practice German grammar German (incl. answers)
German self-study book for A1-B1 (incl. answers)
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Understanding German Grammar – The Cases
German sentences are constructed using four cases: Nominative, Accusative, Dative, and Genitive. Depending on your first language or the ones you have already studied, it might be easier or more challenging for you to grasp the concept of German grammar. However, knowing that you cannot (!) avoid studying these four cases (4 Fälle) if you wish to achieve a higher level than A1 is essential. The good news is, once you understand their function, you’ve already won half the battle.
In the last article – The Ultimate Guide to understanding the German Nominative! – I discussed the concept of the first German case Nominative. To recap: its role is to describe the subject – somebody or something that acts as the sentence.
Now, when we want to start building sentences that are a little more complex and include a second person or object in addition to the subject, we need to express the relationship between the subject and this object. This is where we use the Accusative, Dative, and Genitive in German. This article will focus only on the Accusative, as the other two cases will be covered in the following articles in this series.
The Concept of the Accusative Case in German
An accusative object is always a direct object.
Therefore:
It never acts itself but rather has an action performed upon it by the subject.
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An example of Accusative:
Der Mann trinkt den Kaffee. - Subject + Verb + Accusative object
As you can see, the man is doing something with the coffee – he drinks it. Therefore the coffee becomes the direct object. As we learned in the first article of this series, you can ask for Nominativ by using “who” (wer). For Accusative, you can ask “whom” (wen). Also, in English, one would not ask, “Whom does the man drink?” as he drinks coffee, and therefore one would ask, “what.” Accordingly, in classical German Grammar, one can ask “was” (what) to find your subject, but unfortunately, you can also use “was” to find out the nominative case. While working as a German online teacher, I realized this is very confusing and will become even worse when adding Dative. As a result, I suggest using “wen” at the beginning for every Accusative object until you are more confident and, therefore, will not get lost within the cases.
For our example above, the question would be: Wen (was) trinkt der Mann?
And the answer would be: den Kaffee
Remember: An accusative object in German doesn't act; it receives the action from the subject.
Accusative verbs
Several verbs always require an Accusative object. Some examples include: lieben (to love), fragen (to ask), essen (to eat), kaufen (to buy), kennen (to know), lernen (to learn), mögen (to like), machen (to do/make), möchten (to want), kosten (to cost), or hängen (to hang), legen (to lay), stellen (to place), setzen (to set).
Accusative prepositions
Another essential aspect is that certain prepositions always demand the Accusative case. When you use the following prepositions, you can be 100% sure you will need to use the Accusative: bis (until), durch (through), für (for), gegen (against), ohne (without), or um (around).
Remember: The prepositions bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, or um are always followed by an Accusative object.
Genders in Accusative
As you might already know, German has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter and all can be the Accusative object in your sentence. But there’s a twist: the masculine gender (der, ein) changes to "den" and, accordingly, "einen" in the Accusative case, which is the correct way to express the direct masculine object in a German sentence. In contrast, all other genders remain the same as you know them from the Nominative. Here’s a quick overview:
| Defined article | Undefined article | ||
| Male | den (the) | einen (a) | Der Mann trinkt den/einen Kaffee. |
| Female | die (the) | eine (a) | Das Kind isst eine Pizza. |
| Neuter | das (the) | ein (a) | Die Schüler lesen das Buch. |
| Plural | die (the) | / | Ich kenne die Menschen. |
Examples:
Der Mann trinkt den/einen Kaffee. (The man drinks the/a coffee.)
Das Kind isst eine Pizza. (The child eats a pizza.)
Die Schüler lesen das Buch. (The students read the book.)
Ich kenne die Menschen. (I know the people.)
Remember: The “n” in "den" and "einen" marks the masculine gender throughout the entire Accusative case in German – also, you ask "when" to identify the object.
Personal pronouns in Accusative
Similar to English, German also uses personal pronouns like “me” or “him” as direct objects. These are known as “Personalpronomen” in German.
Here’s a breakdown:
| me | → mich | Du liebst mich. – You love me. |
| you | → dich | Ich kenne dich. - I know you. |
| him | → ihn | Ich mag ihn. - I like him. |
| her | → sie | Ich trinke sie. - I drink it. [referring to a feminine noun like “die Cola”] |
| it | → es | Die Kinder lesen es. – The children read it. |
| us | → uns | Ihr grüßt uns. – You greet us. |
| you | → euch | Wir kennen euch. – We know you. |
| them | → sie | Wir haben sie. – We have them. |
| you (formal) | → Sie | Ich unterrichte Sie. – I teach you. |
Possessive pronouns in Accusative
Finally, another way to identify a subject is by using Possessivpronomen (possessive pronouns). As the name suggests, they indicate the relation or possession of a noun. Once again, only the masculine form changes.
| den (m) | das (n) | die (f) /die (pl) | |
| meinen | mein | meine | Du hast meinen Laptop. |
| deinen | dein | deine | Ich kenne deinen Vater. |
| seinen | sein | seine | Die Kinder lieben ihre Mutter. |
| ihren | ihr | ihre | Der Hund frisst ihre Schuhe. |
| seinen | sein | seine | Ich kaufe sein Fahrrad. |
| unseren | unser | unsere | Ich mache unsere Hausaufgaben. |
| eueren | euer | eure/ euere | Die Lehrerin kennt euren Bruder. |
| ihren | ihr | ihre | Die Frau mag ihren Beruf. |
| Ihren (formal) | Ihr | Ihre | Ich brauche Ihren Namen. |
Examples:
Du hast meinen Laptop. (You have my laptop.)
Ich kenne deinen Vater. (I know your father.)
Die Kinder lieben ihre Mutter. (The children love their mother.)
Der Hund frisst ihre Schuhe. (The dog eats their shoes.)
Ich kaufe sein Fahrrad. (I buy his bike.)
Accusative Overview
Here’s a quick overview to summarize the Accusative case:
| Male | Ich kenne Maik. | Ich kenne den Mann. | Ich kenne ihn. | Ich kenne meinen Mann. |
| Female | Ich kenne Sabine. | Ich kenne die Frau. | Ich kenne sie. | Ich kenne meine Frau. |
| Neuter | Ich kenne Jan. | Ich kenne das Kind. | Ich kenne es. | Ich kenne mein Kind. |
| Plural | Ich kenne Marie und Paul. | Ich kenne die Schüler. | Ich kenne sie. | Ich kenne meine Schüler. |
Summary of Accusative
It is always the direct object of your sentence, and this can be:
Name
Noun (den Mann, die Frau, das Kind, die Autos)
Personal pronouns (mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie, Sie)
Possessive pronouns (mein/e/n, dein/e/n, sein/e/n, ihr/e/n, sein/e/n, unser/e/n, euer/e/n, ihr/e/n, Ihr/e/n)
Congratulations! Now, that you understood Accusative, you can start to build more complex sentences. In the next round, we will have a date with “Dative”.
Bis bald!
Steffie
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