Nominative or accusative? Finding the subject and object in German

In German, the nominative marks the subject, the person or thing that does the action, and the accusative marks the direct object, the person or thing the action is done to. To tell them apart, ask wer? or was? for the subject and wen? or was? for the object. Only masculine nouns show the difference in the article: der becomes den and ein becomes einen. Feminine, neuter and plural nouns look the same in both cases.

#What is the difference between nominative and accusative?

Almost every complete German sentence has a subject in the nominative. Many also have a direct object in the accusative. These are the first two of the four German cases, and the two you use most.

In the first sentence, der Techniker does the repairing, so he is the subject. die Heizung is what gets repaired, so it is the object. You cannot see the accusative there, because a feminine article does not change. In the second sentence you can: einen Hund is a masculine noun in the accusative.

#How do you find the subject of a German sentence?

Two quick tests settle it almost every time.

1. Ask wer or was before the verb. Wer hat einen Hund? Meine Nachbarin. The answer is the subject.
2. Check what the verb agrees with. The verb ending matches the subject: das Kind spielt, die Kinder spielen. If you change a noun to the plural and the verb has to change too, that noun is the subject.

The subject is not always first. German puts the verb in second place, and the subject often comes straight after it.

To find the object, ask the second question, wen? or was?, together with the subject and the verb.

#Why does only der change in the accusative?

Feminine, neuter and plural forms are identical in the nominative and the accusative. Only the masculine has its own accusative form, and the sign is always an -n ending.

So the real work is with der words. This is one more reason to learn every noun with its article: if you know it is der Termin, you know it will be einen Termin as an object.

Some masculine nouns also change their own ending in the accusative: der Kollege becomes den Kollegen. These are the weak nouns of the n-declension.

The personal pronouns change more than the articles do: ich becomes mich, du becomes dich, er becomes ihn, wir becomes uns and ihr becomes euch. sie, es and Sie stay the same. The full table is in German pronouns in every case.

#Does word order tell you which noun is the subject?

Not on its own. Almost anything can stand at the start of a German sentence, often the thing you want to stress or the thing you were just talking about. The case tells you who does what.

When the articles do not show the case, as with two feminine or neuter nouns, the first noun is normally read as the subject, and context does the rest.

#Which verbs and phrases take the accusative?

Most German verbs that have an object take the accusative: haben, brauchen, suchen, kaufen, bestellen, sehen, kennen, finden, nehmen, besuchen and many more. A few patterns are worth knowing on top:

• Es gibt always takes the accusative.
• The prepositions durch, für, gegen, ohne and um are always followed by the accusative. They have their own guide in the accusative prepositions.
• Time phrases without a preposition are accusative: jeden Morgen, nächsten Freitag, den ganzen Tag.
• Greetings and wishes are accusative, because they are short for "I wish you a good ...": Guten Morgen, Guten Abend, Einen schönen Tag noch.

#When does a sentence have two nominatives?

The verbs sein, werden and bleiben do not take an object. The noun after them describes the subject, so it is in the nominative too. heißen works the same way.

#How does Linota help with the accusative?

In Linota every noun you save keeps its article, so you always know whether it is one of the der words that change. When you tap a word in a text, it appears in the sentence you found it in, which is where you see einen and den doing their job. Missions then put you in real situations, such as returning a broken kettle, and give feedback on every reply you type or say, so a missing einen is pointed out while the sentence is still fresh.

#The short version

• Nominative is the subject: ask wer? or was?
• Accusative is the direct object: ask wen? or was?
• Only the masculine changes: der to den, ein to einen, kein to keinen, mein to meinen.
• Pronouns change more: mich, dich, ihn, uns, euch.
• After sein, werden and bleiben, both nouns stay in the nominative.

Once the accusative feels safe, the next case to meet is the German dative.