The Accusative Case

Subjects and direct objects

Look at the sentence Der Mann kauft den Tisch (The man buys the table). Two nouns, two different jobs. Der Mann is the subject — the person doing the buying. Den Tisch is the direct object — the thing being bought. German marks these jobs with cases: the subject stands in the nominative case, the direct object in the accusative case.

Everything you have written so far — Ich bin müde, Die Lampe ist neu — used only the nominative. That is because sein never takes an object: in Das ist ein Stuhl, both sides describe the same thing, so both stay nominative. The accusative enters the picture as soon as a verb acts on something: buying it, seeing it, drinking it.

• Der Mann kauft den Tisch.

  The man buys the table.

  der Mann = subject (nominative), den Tisch = direct object (accusative).

• Das ist ein Stuhl.

  That is a chair.

  With sein there is no object — everything stays nominative.

Only masculine changes

Here is the pleasant surprise of this lesson: in the accusative, only masculine words change. Der becomes den, and ein becomes einen. Feminine, neuter and plural forms are identical in nominative and accusative: die stays die, das stays das, eine stays eine, ein (neuter) stays ein.

So Ich trinke einen Kaffee (masculine — der Kaffee) shows the change, but Ich trinke eine Cola (feminine) and Ich trinke ein Wasser (neuter) look exactly like their nominative forms. This is why learning the gender of every noun matters so much: you cannot form the accusative of a masculine noun correctly unless you know it is masculine in the first place. One ending, -en, is doing all the work in this lesson.

• Ich trinke einen Kaffee.

  I am drinking a coffee.

  der Kaffee, so ein becomes einen.

• Ich trinke eine Cola.

  I am drinking a cola.

  Feminine — no change.

• Das Kind hat ein Buch.

  The child has a book.

  Neuter — no change.

• Er sucht die Lampe.

  He is looking for the lamp.

  Feminine — die stays die.

Verbs that take the accusative

Most everyday verbs that act on something take an accusative object. From the verbs you already know: haben, kaufen, trinken, essen, sehen, lesen, nehmen and hören all do. Add two new A1 essentials: suchen (to look for) and brauchen (to need).

A practical habit: whenever you learn a verb of this kind, practise it with one masculine noun, because the masculine object is the only place you can get the case visibly right or wrong. Ich brauche einen Stuhl, Wir sehen einen Film, Sie hat einen Bruder. Time expressions also use the accusative, which is why the very common phrase jeden Tag (every day) has that -en ending.

• Ich brauche einen Stuhl.

  I need a chair.

• Wir sehen einen Film.

  We are watching a film.

• Sie hat einen Bruder.

  She has a brother.

• Er trinkt jeden Tag Kaffee.

  He drinks coffee every day.

  jeden Tag is a fixed accusative time phrase.

A first look at accusative pronouns

Pronouns change in the accusative too, just as English I becomes me. The forms: mich (me), dich (you), ihn (him), sie (her), es (it), uns (us), euch (you plural), sie/Sie (them / formal you).

Again the familiar pattern appears: only the masculine third person visibly changes its shape in a new way — er becomes ihn, echoing der becoming den. Notice the -n in both. Sie, es, and the plural forms simply reuse forms you know. For now, recognise these pronouns when you meet them and learn the three most frequent in daily speech: mich, dich and ihn. You will use them constantly once conversations go beyond introductions.

To close, a word of reassurance about cases in general. German has four of them, but right now you only need two — the nominative you have used since lesson one, and the accusative from this lesson. A first taste of the dative comes later in the course, and the other case can comfortably wait beyond A1. And since the accusative only ever changes masculine forms, the whole topic at this level boils down to a single reflex: masculine noun as the object? Add -en. Train that reflex with the checks below and you are done.

• Ich sehe dich.

  I see you.

• Sie besucht ihn.

  She visits him.

  er becomes ihn — the same -n as der/den.

• Wir hören euch.

  We hear you (plural).