FAM: The German Case System

The German Case System

Remember in the previous module when we talked about word order and the German language being more flexible than the English language?

Whereas English relies on syntax or word order for meaning, German relies more on a case system. That is, nouns, pronouns, and articles take different endings or forms to indicate their case (function) in a sentence.

For example, we know that if a masculine noun takes the definite article "der" in a sentence, it is the subject of the sentence. When that same masculine noun takes "den" as the article, it functions as a direct object in the sentence.

German NOUNS and PRONOUNS are declined to reflect the CASE in which they are being used.

Declination is indicated by different endings or forms for the noun or pronoun itself, plus any article, or adjective used with a noun/pronoun.

Thought Question

Why would the following phrase be incorrect?

• He greets he.

Because in English you have to decline (change) he to him when he serves as the direct object in a sentence. Him is the accusative case form of the pronoun he. Declination in the Nominative (subject) and Accusative (object) cases is something English speakers do, too, just on a smaller scale than in German. Of course, as a native speaker, you don't have to think about it: you just know that He greets he doesn't sound right!

The same is valid in German:

• Er grüßt ihn.
• We would never say Er grüßt er. (He greeted he)

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