German LettersGrammar AppendixUse of Casesby Eugene R. Moutoux |
| Nominative:
- subjects - predicate nominatives Genitive: - possessives - objects of prepositions (an)statt, trotz, während, wegen (among others) Dative: - indirect objects - dative objects of helfen, dienen, folgen, danken, antworten, glauben (among others) - objects of prepositions aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu - objects of two-way prepositions an, auf, in, über, unter, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen Accusative: - direct objects - expressions of definite time, e.g., jeden Tag, nächstes Jahr - expressions of extent of time, e.g., den ganzen Monat, viele Wochen - objects of prepositions durch, für, gegen, ohne, um (among others) - objects of two-way prepositions an, auf, in, über, unter, vor, hinter, neben, zwischen Two-way prepositions take an accusative object when there is motion towards the object ("where to"); on the other hand, when the prepositional phrase expresses location ("where") instead of destination, the preposition takes a dative object. When neither "where" nor "where to" is shown by the prepositional phrase, no general rule can be stated. Examples of verb-preposition combinations that take the accusative arewarten auf and sich gewöhnen an, while Angst haben vor and arbeiten an need dative objects. When the preposition über is used in the sense of "about," it always takes an accusative object, and unter needs the dative whenever it means "among." |