German cases: start with the noun phrase's job

Published 29 August 2026 · DeckLearn Editorial Team · Reviewed by DeckLearn New Zealand

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

For masculine definite articles, watch der → den → dem → des: Der Mann schläft; Ich sehe den Mann; Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch; das Auto des Mannes.

Yesterday’s weil and verb-at-the-end lesson dealt with word order. Cases answer a different question: what grammatical role does each noun phrase play?