German/Appendices/Grammar I

Beginning German | Basic German | Intermediate German Der-word Case for German Nouns Case Gender Nominativ Genitiv Dativ Akkusativmasculinederdesdemdenfemininediederderdieneuterdasdesdemdasplural*diederdendie* The same regardless of singular noun gender Personal Pronoun Tables: nominative, genitive, dative & accusative cases Nominative case personal pronouns The nominative case is used as the subject of a verb. SingularPlural 1st person ichI wir we 2nd person  du (Sie*) you ihr (Sie*) you 3rd personer, sie, es he, she, it sie they*Polite form. Genitive case personal pronouns The genitive case corresponds to the possessive case in English or to the English objective case preceded by 'of' and denoting possession. The use of genitive personal pronouns is very rare in German and many Germans are unable to use them correctly. Singular Plural 1st person meiner my unser our 2nd person deiner (Ihrer*) your eurer (Ihrer*) your 3rd person seiner, ihrer, seiner his, her, its ihrer their*Polite form. Examples: Ich erbarme mich eurer. ~ I take pity on you(rs). meiner unbedeutenden Meinung nach. ~ in my humble opinion (IMHO) Dative case personal pronouns The personal pronouns in the dative case are used as indirect objects of verbs and after the prepositions aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu. Singular Plural 1st person  mir   me   uns  us 2nd person   dir (Ihnen*)     you  euch (Ihnen*)     you 3rd person  ihm, ihr, ihm  him, her, it    ihnen  them      *Polite form. Accusative case personal pronouns The personal pronouns in the accusative case are used as direct objects of transitve verbs and after the prepositions durch, für, gegen, ohne, um. Singular Plural 1st person mich me uns us 2nd person dich (Sie*) you euch (Sie*) you 3rd person ihn, sie, es him, her, it sie them* Polite form. deep