![]() The endings on the definite
articles spell out the mneumonic RESE NESE MRMN SRSR ("reesee neesee mermen sirsir"). These article endings are known as strong endings. ![]() Rosetta Stone German Language Learning Software More info - Buy ![]() Whereas German uses cases
to identify the functions of nouns and pronouns in a sentence, English relies on word order to perform this task. |
German casesDefinite & indefinite articles & possessive adjectivesThe
cases | Definite articles
| der-words | Indefinite
articles | Possessive adjectives
Nominative case | Accusative case | Dative case | Genitive case | GRAMMAR INDEX The German case systemWhen used in a sentence, German nouns and pronouns take cases.
The case of a noun or pronoun signifies its function in the sentence,
that is, whether it is acting as the subject or an object, or whether
it is acting in some other capacity. Nominative case | Accusative case | Dative case | Genitive case GRAMMAR INDEX Definite articlesYou have already seen that the genders of German nouns are typically
shown by way of an accompanying definite article: der (masculine),
die (feminine), or das (neuter). These are the nominative
case forms of the definite articles. When a noun is used in a different
case, the form of its definite article may change. No matter the
case or the inflected form, the definite article still means the.
The plural form of the definite article is identical to the feminine
form in the nominative and accusative cases (die). Note that
the noun is usually identifiable as either feminine or plural, because
the plural noun itself has an altered form: die Frau (singular) > die Frauen (plural) Also note that there are three instances where a noun itself takes
on an ending to help signify its case: 1) Nouns in the dative plural add an -n, unless the plural form already ends in -n or -s. These endings are vestiges of an older system of case inflection in which the nouns themselves altered their suffixes to signify case. Nominative case | Accusative case | Dative case | Genitive case GRAMMAR INDEX der-wordsA number of words behave in their case inflection like the definite articles.
Because these words are declined much like the definite articles, they are often referred to as der-words. The only difference is that in the neuter nominative and accusative, the article ending is -es instead of -as.
Just like the definite articles, these der-words precede nouns and indicate the case of the accompanying noun. Nominative case | Accusative case | Dative case | Genitive case GRAMMAR INDEX Indefinite articles or ein-wordsIndefinite articles can also precede a noun and specify its case. The indefinite article ein and all of its inflectional variations mean a or an. Because of this, ein cannot be used with the plural form of a noun. Just as one would never say "a books" or "a children" in English, it is neither possible to combine ein or any variation of it with plural forms in German.
Although it is unacceptable to use the indefinite article with a plural form, the German article kein, which is inflected similarly to ein and means no, not a, can be and often is combined with plurals.
As noted above with respect to definite articles, with indefinite articles, too, do the nouns themselves take endings in the dative plural (-n) and the genitive masculine and neuter (-[e]s). Nominative case | Accusative case | Dative case | Genitive case GRAMMAR INDEX Possessive adjectivesIn addition to the der-words, ein, and kein, the possessive adjectives can also precede a noun and show its case.
As ein-words, the possessive adjectives follow the same declension pattern as kein.
Whenever the possessive adjective euer has an ending, the
final e is dropped and the endings are added to the root
eur-: euer Kind (nom.
& acc., no ending), but eurem
Kind (dat.), eures
Kindes (gen.). The cases | Definite articles | Indefinite articles | Possessive adjectives Nominative case | Accusative case | Dative case | Genitive case GRAMMAR INDEX ![]() All content on this site is copyrighted. © 2004- VISTAWIDE.COM Contact - About us |