Open any German grammar book at the chapter on cases and you will find a page of tables, four rows deep, with words like „dative“ and „genitive“ and no explanation of why anybody would need them. Most English speakers close the book at this point. This article is the version without the tables first and the jargon second.
The short version: a case tells you what job a noun is doing in the sentence. English does the same job with word order and with a few leftover forms you use every day without thinking. German does it with the article. Once you see that you already know the idea, the four cases stop being a wall and become a list of four questions.
You already use cases: he, him, his
English lost most of its cases centuries ago, but the pronouns kept them. You say he when he is doing something, him when something is done to him, and his when something belongs to him. He sees him. His dog sees him. Nobody taught you a table for this; you would simply never say „him sees he“.
That is exactly what German does, but with every noun, through its article. Der Mann is „he-the man“, den Mann is „him-the man“, des Mannes is „his-the man’s“. German has one more form, the dative, which English once had too and still shows in „whom“ and in the difference between „give him the book“ and „give the book to him“. Four forms, four jobs.
Nominative: who is doing it
The nominative is the subject of the sentence, the person or thing doing the verb. It is also the form you find in the dictionary. The question to ask is „who or what is doing this?“
Der Hund schläft. The dog sleeps. Who is sleeping? Der Hund.
Die Frau liest. The woman reads.
Das Kind spielt. The child plays.
The nominative also appears after sein (to be): Das ist der Chef. That is the boss. Both sides of „is“ are nominative, as in the old English „it is I“.
Accusative: who it is done to
The accusative is the direct object, the thing the verb acts on. Question: „whom or what?“ The good news for learners: only the masculine changes. Der becomes den, ein becomes einen. Feminine, neuter and plural look exactly like the nominative.
Ich sehe den Hund. I see the dog.
Ich sehe die Frau. I see the woman. (no change)
Ich sehe das Kind. I see the child. (no change)
Ich habe einen Bruder. I have a brother.
Because word order is free in German, the case is what tells you who did what. Den Hund sieht der Mann still means the man sees the dog; the den makes that clear even though the dog comes first. This is the main reason cases exist: they let a German speaker put the important word at the front.
A handful of prepositions always take the accusative. Learn them as a chant: durch, für, gegen, ohne, um (through, for, against, without, around). Ein Geschenk für den Lehrer, a present for the teacher.
Dative: to whom or for whom
The dative is the indirect object, the receiver. In „I give the child a book“, the book is what I give (accusative) and the child is who gets it (dative). Question: „to whom?“
Ich gebe dem Kind ein Buch. I give the child a book.
Ich helfe der Frau. I help the woman. (helfen takes the dative)
Das gehört dem Mann. That belongs to the man.
The forms: dem (masculine and neuter), der (feminine), den plus an -n on the noun for the plural: den Kindern. Yes, the feminine dative der looks like the masculine nominative. Context sorts it out, and after a week it stops feeling strange.
Where you will meet the dative most is after prepositions. These always take it: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu (from/out of, at, with, after/to, since, from/of, to). mit dem Auto, by car; nach der Arbeit, after work; seit einem Jahr, for a year. Learn the preposition with the case and you never have to decide.
Genitive: whose
The genitive shows possession, English „of“ or the apostrophe s. Question: „whose?“ Forms: des plus -s or -es on the noun (masculine and neuter), der (feminine and plural).
das Auto des Mannes, the man’s car
die Tasche der Frau, the woman’s bag
am Ende des Tages, at the end of the day
Here is the relief: in spoken German the genitive is dying. Most Germans say das Auto von dem Mann (the car of the man) with the dative, and the prepositions that officially take the genitive, wegen, trotz, während (because of, despite, during), are used with the dative in conversation all over the country. You need to recognise the genitive when you read it. You can leave producing it for later.
The two-way prepositions: where versus where to
Nine prepositions of place take either the accusative or the dative, and the choice carries meaning. Dative for a location (where is it?), accusative for a movement towards (where to?). The nine: an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen (at/on, on top of, behind, in, next to, above, under, in front of, between).
Ich bin in der Stadt. I am in town. (location, dative)
Ich fahre in die Stadt. I am going into town. (movement, accusative)
Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch. The book is on the table.
Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch. I put the book on the table.
English makes the same distinction with „in“ and „into“, „on“ and „onto“. German makes it with the case, and once you see it that way, the two-way prepositions become the most logical part of the system.
Say it like this
Ich habe einen Termin. – I have an appointment. (accusative: einen)
Ich komme mit dem Bus. – I am coming by bus. (mit always takes the dative)
Können Sie mir helfen? – Can you help me? (helfen takes the dative: mir, not mich)
Ich wohne in der Nähe des Bahnhofs. – I live near the station. (a genitive you will read on every rental listing)
What to learn first, and what to leave
Learn the nominative and accusative now, because you use both in almost every sentence, and the only thing that changes is masculine der to den. Then learn the dative through its seven prepositions and the verbs helfen, danken, gehören (help, thank, belong). Leave the genitive until you are reading longer texts. And if you are not sure which article a noun takes in the first place, the ending rules in Der, die, das: how to guess the right article solve that problem before the cases even start.
Most of all, do not learn the cases from a table. Learn them from sentences you will actually say, with the article inside the phrase: mit dem Auto, für den Chef, in der Küche. The course on our page Learn German with an English interface explains each case in English at the point where you first need it, rather than all four on one page. That is the order in which the tables finally make sense.
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to learn all four German cases?
To speak, you need the nominative, the accusative and the dative. The genitive is rare in conversation and is being replaced by von plus dative. You should recognise it in writing, but you can speak good German for years without producing it.
Which case changes the most?
The masculine. Der, den, dem, des are four different words, while the feminine only alternates between die and der. If you get the masculine right, you have done most of the work.
How do I know which case a preposition takes?
Learn each preposition with its case as one item: mit + dative, für + accusative. Nine prepositions of place take the dative for a location and the accusative for a movement towards it.
Learn the cases in the order you need them
The German course with an English interface introduces each case with English explanations exactly when the vocabulary calls for it, and repeats the phrases until the article comes out on its own. Two days free, then a one-off payment without subscription.
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