German cases: learn the job before the ending

Published 29 August 2026 · DeckLearn Editorial Team · Reviewed by DeckLearn Australia

Nominative normally marks the subject, accusative the direct object, dative the recipient or indirect object, and genitive possession or relationship.

Watch the masculine article change: der → den → dem → des. Examples: Der Mann schläft; Ich sehe den Mann; Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch; das Auto des Mannes.

Yesterday’s German V2 word order lesson focused on sentence structure. Cases add another layer: the role of each noun phrase.