The German Accusative Case for Beginners
After this lesson you can use den and einen for the object of a sentence.
Do this first: der, die, das
The German Accusative Case for Beginners
When a noun is on the receiving end of the action, German marks it. That mark is the accusative — and the good news is that only the masculine changes.
When a noun is on the receiving end of the action, German marks it. That mark is the accusative — and the good news is that only the masculine changes.
masculine
↓
den / einen Mann
der / ein Mann
masculine becomes der / ein Mann. For example: **den / einen** Mann.
The video for this lesson is being made. Here is the idea in the meantime.
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Kulturnotiz
The accusative is why the article on a German shop sign can look "wrong" to a learner: Für den Kunden, Ohne den Ausweis kein Zutritt. If you start noticing den on notices and adverts you are seeing the case in the wild — and it is a good sign your eye is tuning to German rather than translating it.
Common questions
+What actually changes in the accusative?
Only the masculine: der → den, ein → einen, kein → keinen, mein → meinen, er → ihn. Feminine, neuter and plural are identical to the nominative.
+How do I find the object of a sentence?
Ask wen or was after the verb. Ich sehe den Mann — whom do I see? The man. That noun is in the accusative.
+Which prepositions always take the accusative?
At A1: für, ohne, durch, gegen and um. They take it regardless of what the rest of the sentence is doing — für den Mann, never für der Mann.
+Why does the library video teach all four cases at once?
Because it was made for A2. Four cases in one go is too much at A1 — the accusative on its own covers most of what a beginner needs, and the dative follows in the next lesson.