Learning German Sentence Structure

Once you are familiar with German nouns, it's time to learn how to start forming sentences. In English, once you have the subject, the verb and the direct object, this is an easy enough thing to do; you put the words in the right order and start talking.

It doesn't work this way in German, however. Word order - the position of words in a sentence - isn't as crucial in German as it is in English. The reason for this is that in German, nouns, pronouns, articles, adjectives and prepositions occur in four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.

Cases are the form nouns, pronouns, adjectives and prepositions take in a sentence depending on their function. When we speak of cases and nouns, we are speaking of their articles, since it is primarily the article that comes before a noun that indicates its gender, number and - you guessed it - case. Don't be put off by these four cases. Basically, the nominative case indicates the subject of a sentence, the accusative case indicates the direct object of a sentence and the dative case indicates the indirect object of a sentence. The genitive case is used to show possession, as in the phrase "the fish's tail."

In German, cases enable you to vary the order of nouns and pronouns without changing the overall meaning of the sentence.

The Subject is the Nominative Case

You begin with the nominative case. Nominative is the case of the subject of the sentence, that is, of the noun or pronoun performing the action (or undergoing the state of being) of the verb.

Nominative (Subject)
Verb
Ich (I)
Trinke (drink)


The Accusative Case Goes with the Direct Object

The direct object refers to at whom or what the action of the verb is being directed. You also use the accusative with time and measuring data that answers the questions how short, how soon, how often, how much, how old and so on.

Nominative
(Subject)
Verb
Accusative
(Direct Object)
Er (he)
schickt (sends)
ein Paket (a package)


The Dative Case Goes with the Indirect Object

The dative case can be used instead of a possessive adjective with parts of the body and after certain verbs, prepositions and adjectives. It is used primarily to indicate the indirect object, however. The indirect object is the object for whose benefit or in whose interest the action of the verb is being performed.

Nominative
(Subject)
Verb
Dative
(Indirect Object)
Accusative
(Direct Object)
Er (he)
schickt (sends)
seinem Bruder
(his brother)
ein Paket
(a package)


The Genitive Case Takes Possession

The genitive case indicates possession.

Nominative
(Subject)
Verb
Dative
(Indirect Object)
Genitive
(Possessive)
Accusative
(Direct Object)
Er
(he)
schickt (sends)
der Frau
(the wife)
seines Bruders
(of his brother)
ein Paket
(a package)




Previous
Next Post »