How often have you promised yourself to start doing something next Monday, next month ... next year? But then either they didn’t even try to get down to business, or they soon abandoned everyone. So it is with learning a foreign language: at first we are full of enthusiasm, and then the first difficulties begin to arise - and we begin to look for an excuse to not do anything.
And while many did learn English with grief in half, the cases in German frighten away almost everyone at the very beginning of the study. However, if you think about it, then everything is not so scary at all. After all, our mother tongue is Russian. And in it there are as many as six cases and three genera of the singular. Also, forget about the plural. But in German everything is the same, but there are only four cases, how can you not cope? So let's get it right now.
Unlike Russian, cases in German are expressed using the article rather than the ending of a noun. As for adjectives and pronouns, their ending is consistent in cases, however, the priority in their expression is still given to the articles. The endings rather reflect a definable noun. So, there are the following cases of the German language:
- Nominativ - expresses the subject or object,producing action in this sentence. Also used for an application that explains the subject, the predicate (nominal predicate) and in the references. Those. German "Nominativ" is completely equivalent to the Russian "colleague".
- Genitive (Genetiv) - if other cases in the German language are used in a number of cases, this one unambiguously means belonging and answers the question “whose?”.
- Dative (Dativ) - it is also most often Russian instrumental, and sometimes even prepositional. While other cases in German are mostly similar to Russian, Dativ requires close attention. In general terms, it is used for the supplement to which the action in the proposal is directed, and for the circumstance that answers the question “where?”.
- Accusative (Akkusativ) - is mainly used to express the complement on which the object's action is directed in the German sentence. It can also express a circumstance if it answers the question “where?”.
As mentioned above, cases in German are expressed through articles, so for ease of understanding, I offer you a table with a change in articles by cases.
Change in the cases of a certain article| Case | Questions | Male gender | Feminine gender | Neuter gender | Plural |
| Nominative | Who? what? | der | die | das | die |
| Genitive | whose? | des * | der | des * | der |
| Dative | to whom? to what? Where? | dem | der | dem | den ** |
| Accusative | whom? why? where from? | den | die | das | die |
* - the ending -s is also added to the noun;
** - the ending -n is added to the noun.
Change in cases of the indefinite article| Case | Question | Male gender | Feminine gender | Neuter gender | Plural |
| Nominative | Who? what? | ein | eine | ein | - |
| Genitive | whose? | eines * | einer | eines * | - |
| Dative | to whom? to what? Where? | einem | einer | einem | - |
| Accusative | whom? why? where from? | einen | eine | ein | - |
Now that we have understood the basic questions regarding how the cases are used in the German language, it is time to start the most interesting - the prepositions. Indeed, often it is they that affect the use of a particular case. And they are very easy to learn!
Prepositions and cases| Genetiv | wegen, während, unweit, trotz, längs, (an-) statt, längs |
| Dativ | zu, von, seit, nach, mit, gegenüber, entgegen, bei, ausser, aus |
| Akusativ | um, ohne, für, gegen, entlang, durch |
As you can see, the cases in the German language are still amenable to study, and their use is even more logical than in Russian. So go for it - and remember that everything here depends only on you.