German cases.. easy way to remember?

Doing A2 German at the mo and reckon I'm on track to get my grade (hopefully) but partly due to my A at AS! I still find cases confusing believe it or not, and I know I could just teach it to myself again, but wondered if anyone had a particular way of knowing which case to use?

Danke!

Reply 1

Cunning Linguist

3

do you mean which prepositions take dative/accusative etc?

if yes, then i do it like this:

"mit - nach - von - zu - seit - aus - bei - gegenüber" those take the dative.

my friend has a better one actually. i think it's something like:

"mit - nach - gegenüber - von - aus - bei - seit - zu - That's the dative case for you"

cheesy, i know!

Reply 2

mellow-yellow

OP

1

Hehe very cheesy, but thanks!

So I understand when to use the dative, but what about accusative?!

I get confused sometimes between the indirect object in a sentence (and so using the dative) and the object (and therefore using accusative)... any tips?

Reply 3

zed328

accusative after durch fur gegen ohne um wider
genitive after trotz wahrend wegen

Reply 4

Fleece

15

it's indirect object and therefore dative when something is being done to someone... like "i gave him the book".

It's the direct object and therefore accusative when you can ask the question "what?" e.g. "i gave him the book" --> "what did you give him?" = the book = accusative.

if you get me...

Reply 5

BovineBeast

mellow-yellow

Hehe very cheesy, but thanks!

So I understand when to use the dative, but what about accusative?!

I get confused sometimes between the indirect object in a sentence (and so using the dative) and the object (and therefore using accusative)... any tips?

The indirect object is the object it's done for or to, simply speaking. So, 'Ich gab es dir' - 'I gave it to you', 'Ich gab dich ihm' - 'I gave you to it/him'.

Reply 6

Cunning Linguist

3

some verbs just ALWAYS tend to take the dative.

i think some of them are: geben, fragen, sagen (to say TO somebody)...can't think of anymore.

it's the same in french "je LUI ai démandé" (i asked him/her. "lui" = dative (to him)) rather than "je l'ai démandé"

Reply 7

Fleece

15

fragen doesn't take dative...

Reply 8

Cunning Linguist

3

Fleece

fragen doesn't take dative...

oh ok. does it not?

i thought you would say "ich fragte ihm.." - is that wrong?

edit - yes you're absolutely right! it's "ich fragte ihn.." i think i must have thought that because of the french? never mind. thanks for that!

Reply 9

mellow-yellow

OP

1

linguist786

oh ok. does it not?

i thought you would say "ich fragte ihm.." - is that wrong?

edit - yes you're absolutely right! it's "ich fragte ihn.." i think i must have thought that because of the french? never mind. thanks for that!

Hehe. I think danken, glauben, passen take dative.. can't think of any more for the minute.

Thanks for the explanations of indirect/direct object everyone :biggrin:

Reply 10

dfghj

Helfen, gefallen, antworten and folgen are a few more which take the dative as well.

Reply 11

Bottekrank

1

For learning which form of "the" goes with the noun I have a fairly simple way of remembering it...

You just keep saying to yourself:
der-die-das-die
den-die-das-die
des-der-des-der
dem-der-dem-den

The first row refers to the nominative case, the second is accusative, the third genitive and the fourth dative. Each column goes masculine, feminine, neuter, plural. If you say it to yourself enough times you'll get really quick at saying it and therefore never forget how it goes. Hope that helps!

Reply 12

splodgethefirst

those which take the accusative follow the accronym FUDGE BOW
Für, Unter, Durch, Gegen, Entlang, Bis, Ohne, Wider

Reply 13

mellow-yellow

OP

1

splodgethefirst

those which take the accusative follow the accronym FUDGE BOW
Für, Unter, Durch, Gegen, Entlang, Bis, Ohne, Wider

Or DOGE WUF (doggy woof) as my crazy german teacher says hehe!

Reply 14

discombobulation

2

Yeah we got told it as 'DOG WUF' and to memorize the others lol

Reply 15

BovineBeast

Do 'trotz' and 'wegen' count as prepositions or conjunctions? Becuase they take the genetive.

Reply 16

Loz2402

BovineBeast

Do 'trotz' and 'wegen' count as prepositions or conjunctions? Becuase they take the genetive.

they are prepositions

Reply 17

deutschsweetie

8

lol me and my friend in german sit there and chant
acc: bis durch entlang fur gegen ohne um..
dat : aus auBer bei gegenuber mit nach seit - von zu dank
genetive - dieseits jenseits statt trotz wegen wahrend

and der die das die
den die das die
des der des der
dem der dem den :smile:

German cases.. easy way to remember?

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