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Questions tagged [grammatical-case]

grammatikalischer Fall – Questions relating to the grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive)

15 votes
3 answers
3k views

Should one necessarily learn, when a verb goes with a dative object and when with accusative one?

Should one necessarily learn, when a verb goes with a dative object and when with an accusative one, or can it be deduced? How to determine if a verb in question induces *accusative or dative? If ...
c.p.'s user avatar
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6 votes
4 answers
2k views

Nominative or Accusative case "Sie ist meine Mutter"

In the phrase: Sie ist meine Mutter. 'meine Mutter' is the nominative case although I don't understand why this is so since I naturally think that it should be the accusative case as it receives the ...
inquisitor's user avatar
28 votes
5 answers
4k views

"Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod": is German really losing Genitiv? (evolutionary viewpoint)

Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod is an interesting German phrase which originates this question. I’m interested in knowing how true is it/will it be. Has German always had four cases? Or were some ...
c.p.'s user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
391 views

Can you say "Ich wurde (etwas) gegeben"?

I wrote a quick email to my doctor yesterday and hastily wrote the sentence below. "Nach der Untersuchung wurde ich eine CD mit den Befunden gegeben" Then I was wondering, When you use ...
Henry Firth's user avatar
  • 1,469
5 votes
3 answers
5k views

Why is "den" used in "am Montag, den 10. August''?

This question also has an answer here (in German): Am Samstag, dem/den It's more logical to me to be "am Montag, dem 10. August" since without specifying Monday, I would say "am 10. August" ...
Jim O'Neil's user avatar
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Welchen Fall benutzt man mit Phrasen wie "last year"?

Zum Beispiel im englischen Satz "Last year I visited Germany.", welchen Fall benutzt man? Letztes Jahr habe ich Deutschland besucht. Letztem Jahr habe ich Deutschland besucht. Ich glaube ...
StrixVaria's user avatar
  • 2,119
5 votes
1 answer
3k views

Der Unterschied zwischen Dativ und Akkusativ bei Ortsangaben

Warum heißt es: Ich sitze in der Schweiz. aber Ich gehe in die Schweiz. und Ich gehe in die Schule. und Ich gehe in der Schule.
aziz's user avatar
  • 69
24 votes
7 answers
4k views

Accusative vs Dative: "Schau in der/die Schublade!"

What is correct? Q: "Wo sind meine Socken?" A: "Schau in der Schublade" vs "Schau in die Schublade" As a Swiss German speaker not very adept at proper German grammar I feel that both are somehow ...
RafiK's user avatar
  • 343
11 votes
3 answers
9k views

Accusative or dative for verbs of movement

My doubt is with respect to this sentence (in perfect) Er ist zum Büro gegangen. My teacher taught me that we have to use the verb sein as helping verb whenever there is a movement. However, why ...
thandasoru's user avatar
10 votes
2 answers
8k views

Why Akkusativ in "dieses Jahr", "diesen Sommer"?

"Dieses Jahr", "diese Woche", "diesen Sommer" are all answers to the question "When?". According to the rules one should use dative to answer (for example "diesER Woche"), however accusative is used. ...
Roman Byshko's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
886 views

Why do some German dictionaries list the genitive case ending?

I recently read that some German dictionaries list the genitive case ending for an entry but no explanation was given as to why some publishers choose to do this. Anyone happen to know?
Lisa's user avatar
  • 557
32 votes
5 answers
31k views

Why it is “Eines Tages” and not simply “ein Tag”?

In a story I read recently, there was a sentence: Eines Tages fand Peter eine Schatzkarte! And I wonder why it is eines Tages and not ein Tag, because ein Tag is what I would say normally. Is ...
Gigili's user avatar
  • 2,146
23 votes
5 answers
21k views

Why is 'Guten Tag' accusative?

Is it just an idiom, or is it a general rule? I'm wishing a good day to someone, so I guess there is some kind of metaphorical motion involved. Would it be similar if I wanted to say "vielen Spaß"?
StrixVaria's user avatar
  • 2,119
18 votes
5 answers
38k views

Why isn't "Ich danke dir" "Ich danke dich?"

I believe that in the sentence Ich danke 'du/dir/dich' that: ich = subject danke = verb du = direct object. Wouldn't that mean that it would be "Ich danke dich"? I hear people say "Ich ...
Darkenor's user avatar
  • 397
17 votes
2 answers
883 views

Numbering cases

Sometimes I see a case referred to by number instead of by name. Now that's fine if there's an official, definite order. But while I see in tables mostly the order Nominativ Akkusativ ...
stevenvh's user avatar
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