ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the use of case in the German grammar. In German, articles, pronouns, adjectives and some nouns have special endings depending on the case (nominative, accusative, genitive or dative), number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, neuter) of the noun. Number and gender are integral features of the noun, while case is assigned depending on the noun’s relationship to other elements in the sentence: to express relationships between words in a sentence, e.g. subject versus object; as a result of a particular word requiring a certain case, e.g. with prepositions. Nominative case is assigned to the subject of the clause (i.e. the person or thing carrying out the action described by the verb). Accusative case is assigned to the direct object of the sentence (i.e. the person/thing directly affected by the action described by the verb). Dative case is assigned to the indirect object of the sentence, i.e. the recipient of the direct object.
