The Accusative Case in German
Overview
The German accusative case is mainly for direct objects and objects of accusative prepositions. A direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb (i.e. they are acted upon). (accusative case German)
![The Accusative Case in German 1 Painting objects](https://www.corelanguages.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/painting-objects.jpg)
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Understanding German cases is extremely important. The German accusative case is typically the second of the German Cases learned by students. German accusative case: mainly used for direct objects and objects of accusative prepositions. A direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb (i.e. they are acted upon).
Example:
Die Frau füttert den Hund. / The woman feeds the dog.
The direct object can be identified by asking, “Who or what is being ‘verbed’?” For the above example we can ask: Who or what is being fed? The answer is “the dog”. Hence, the dog is the direct object of the sentence. It is in the accusative case.
The accusative case only affects masculine nouns: the definite article changes from “der” to “den.” The indefinite article “ein” (masculine) changes to “einen.” Feminine and neutral nouns do not change.
![The Accusative Case in German 2 accusative8b2efae80c6046c6bce7509bf35c99a6 jpg](https://corelanguages8.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/accusative8b2efae80c6046c6bce7509bf35c99a6-jpg.jpg)
Examples:
Ich rieche den Kuchen. I smell the cake.
(“der Kuchen” is a masculine noun. In the accusative, “der” becomes “den”.)
Ich rieche die Blume. I smell the flower
(“die Blume” is a feminine noun. In the accusative it does not change.)
When a person is the direct object of a sentence, or when we use a personal pronoun to refer to a noun (ex.: I smell the cake. -> I smell it.), then we need use the accusative pronouns.
![The Accusative Case in German 3 accusative pronouns jpg](https://corelanguages8.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/accusative-pronouns-jpg.jpg)
Examples:
Ich rufe ihn an.I call him. (“er” in the accusative changes to “ihn”.)
Wir lieben es.We love it. (“es” in the accusative remains “es”.)
Du nervst mich. You annoy me. (“ich” in the accusative changes to “mich”.)
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Additional Topics
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
The CEFR is an international standard used to describe language ability. Here are specific details of the CEFR for this topic.