NOUNS AND PRONOUNS IN PROPER CASES

 

"Case"  is a concept foreign to American students. This tutoral page is intended to help students better understand what the subject, direct object, and indirect object are and what case (nominative, accusative , dative or genitive case) should be used for subject, direct object,  or  indirect object respectively. Press the radio button next to the item you want to use to see the conjugated verb or the pronoun or noun in a proper case.

 

1.  The Subject Modifying a Verb Is in the Nominative Case: A subject is necessary in any complete sentence. It is either a noun (der Student, die Studentin, das Kind, etc.) or a pronoun (ich, du, er, etc.). The subject is the "DOER" of an action. It modifies or conjugates the verb. Subject Ich Du Er/Sie/Es Wir Ihr                       [gehen]  in die Stadt. Sie Der Student / Er Die Lehrerin/ Sie Das Kind / Es Meine Eltern / Sie            2.  The Direct Object Required by a Verb Is in the Accusative Case:  The direct object is the target of an action. It can be a person being visited, a book being read, or food being eaten, etc. The direct object is required by a transitive verb or a verb requiring a direct object: watch TV, write a paper, visite a friend, etc.  Note: Don't use the same pronoun or noun in both columns in one sentence at the same time, for example: ich-ich, du-du, etc.   Instead use: ich-du, ich-er, etc.

Subject Ich Du Er/Sie/Es Wir Ihr    [besuchen]  Sie Der Student / Er Die Studentin/ Sie Das Kind / Es Meine Lehrer / Sie

Direct Object [ich] [du] [er] [sie] [es]  [wir] . [ihr] [sie] [Sie] [der Student/er] [die Studentin/sie] [das Kind/es] [meine Lehrer/sie]

3.     The Indirect Object Indicating the Receiver (to) or Benificiary (for) of an Direct Object is in Dative Case

The indirect object is the RECEIVER or BENIFICIARY of the direct object .
RECEIVER: I send him a letter. "Him" is indirect object.
           or:     I send  a letter to him.
BENIFICIARY:  He buys her flowers.
          or:             He buys flowers for her.

Note: Don't use the same word in both columns in one sentence. For example: ich-ich, du-du, etc.;  instead: ich-du, ich-er, etc.

Subject Ich Du Er/Sie/Es Wir Ihr [geben] Sie Der Student/Er Die Lehrerin/Sie Das Kind/Es Die Lehrer/Sie

Indirect Object        Direct Object [ich] [du] [er] [sie]  [es]   [wir]  ein Buch/eine Blume/ einen Ring. [ihr]  [sie]  [Sie]  [der Student/er]  [die Studentin/sie]  [das Kind/es]  [die Lehrer/sie]

4. The Noun or Pronoun Indicating the Possessive Relationship to a Person or Thing Is in Genitive Case

Possessive Pronoun or Noun das Buch -- [ich] das Buch -- [du] das Buch -- [er] das Buch -- [sie] das Buch -- [es] das Buch -- [wir] das Buch -- [ihr] das Buch -- [sie] das Buch -- [Sie] das Buch -- [der Student] das Buch -- [der Lehrer] das Buch -- [die Studentin] das Buch -- [die Studenten]