The Accusative Case (der Akkusativ)

Other Related Topics

Noun Genders + Plurals

Nominative

Dative

Genitive

Adjectival Nouns

Adjective Endings

Prepositions

Suffixes

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Dartmouth German
    Studies Department

In English:

In standard English, either certain forms of personal pronoun (I/me, we/us, he/him, she/her, and they/them) or else word order distinguish the nominative subject from the accusative object. The differentiation is between "I see her" and "She sees me," or between "The dog bites the man" and "The man bites the dog." If both direct and indirect objects are present, word order distinguishes them: "She gives me it"; "He gives the house a good cleaning."

	Some things you can't explain in two or three sentences. Up to 15 hours of phone time. The new Gigaset C340.

In German:

In German, a direct object is normally in the accusative, but the case can also have several other functions. It is marked in a variety of ways, with word order being the least important. The accusative personal pronouns are:

mich = me	uns = us
dich = you	euch = y'all
	Sie = you
ihn = him  sie = her  es = it	sie =them

There are accusative forms for other pronouns: man becomes einen, keiner → keinen, and wer → wen. In colloquial speech, jemand is usually the same in both the nominative and the accusative, but jemanden is possible. The reflexive pronoun "sich" can indicate either the accusative or dative form of er, sie (= she), es, Sie, or sie (= they).

Articles and adjective endings also mark the accusative case. Note that the adjective endings depend not only on gender, but also on whether they follow a "der-word", an "ein-word", or no article at all:¹

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Plural

den roten Stuhl	die neue Lampe	das alte Buch	die roten Stühle
keinen roten Stuhl	keine neue Lampe	kein altes Buch	keine neuen Lampen
roten Stuhl	neue Lampe	altes Buch	alte Bücher

	Please keep this area open for arriving and departing hotel guests. Many thanks.

There is also a class of so-called weak masculine nouns that take an "-n" in the accusative case (as well as in the dative and genitive cases):

der Mensch  den Menschen  [human]

der Nachbar  den Nachbarn  [neighbor]

der Herr  den Herrn  [lord; gentleman]

der Held  den Helden  [hero]

Among these nouns are those masculine nouns that end in "-e" (except Käse [cheese]):

der Name  den Namen  [name]	der Kunde  den Kunden  [customer]	der Junge  den Jungen  [boy]	der Experte  den Experten  [expert]
der Glaube  den Glauben  [belief]	der Wille  den Willen  [will]	der Gedanke  den Gedanken  [thought]	der Türke  den Türken  [Turk]
der Jude  den Juden  [Jew]	der Russe  den Russen  [Russian]	der Kollege  den Kollegen  [colleague]	der Riese  den Riesen  [giant]

Other endings of weak nouns are "-ant," "-arch," "-ege," "-ent," "-ist," "-oge," "-om," "-oph," and "-ot." Some examples:

der Buddist  [Buddhist]	der Katholik  [Catholic]	der Protestant  [Protestant]	der Pilot  [pilot]
der Student  [student]	der Komödiant  [comedian]	der Astronom  [astronomer]	der Patriarch  [patriarch]
der Philosoph  [philosopher]	der Fotograf  [photographer]	der Enthusiast  [enthusiast]	der Anthropologe  [anthropologist]

Again: note that all of these nouns are masculine. Furthermore, their plural forms are the same as their accusative forms: e.g., the singular accusative den Studenten becomes the plural die Studenten. ("Herr" is an exception: den Herrn → die Herren).

Typically, dictionaries identify weak nouns by giving not only the plural but also the weak ending: "der Junge (-n, -n) boy." This first ending cited is actually that of the genitive case, but with weak nouns the accusative and the genitive are usually identical. There are, however, a few exceptions

Nominative  Accusative  Genitive  Plural

der Gedanke  den Gedanken  des Gedankens  die Gedanken

der Glaube  den Glauben  des Glaubens  die Glauben

der Name  den Namen  des Namens  die Namen

der Wille  den Willen  des Willens  die Willen

	Do you know all of our pharmacy's services? We have a telephone service for our customers. Support hose made to measure. Devices for caring for the sick at home. We measure your blood pressure. We rent out electric breast pumps. We rent out baby scales.

Uses of the accusative case:

1) To designate the direct object of a verb. This includes the expression es gibt:

Es gibt noch eine Menge zu tun.	There's still a lot to do.
Sie sucht einen reichen Mann.	She's looking for a rich husband.
Arbeit macht das Leben süß.	Work makes life sweet.
Er schreibt ihr einen langen Brief.	He writes her a long letter.
Er trifft den Nagel auf den Kopf.	He hits the nail on the head.
Denn wen der Herr liebt, den züchtigt er wie ein Vater den Sohn, den er gern hat.	For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, even as the father the son in whom he delighteth.

2) A great many verbs distinguish their direct and indirect objects through a combination of the accusative and dative: "Sie gibt es mir"; "Er schenkt seiner Mutter ein Buch." One would expect fragen, kosten, and lehren to follow the same pattern, but they do not; both objects are accusative:

Darf ich dich etwas Persönliches fragen?	May I ask you something personal?
Das hat mich eine Menge Geld gekostet.	That cost me a bunch of money.
Sie lehrt mich die deutsche Sprache.	She's teaching me the German language.

3) The so-called "cognate accusative" marks a noun that completes or specifies the idea of the verb, even when it is not necessarily a direct object:

Wir fahren am liebsten Rad.	We prefer to bike.
Sie läuft Ski.	She skis.
Wir schliefen den Schlaf des Gerechten.	We slept the sleep of the just.
Er starb den Tod eines Helden.	He died a hero's death.
Sie fährt nur erste Klasse.	She always travels first-class.
Meine Großmutter spielt sehr gut Tennis.	My grandmother plays tennis very well.
Wir laufen Gefahr, den Zug zu verpassen.	We run the risk of missing the train.

4) To indicate specific time (when no prepositions are involved):

Was machst du nächste Woche?	What're you doing next week?
Jeden Samstag essen wir auswärts.	We eat out every Saturday.
Letztes Jahr sind wir ans Meer gefahren.	Last year we drove to the ocean.

5) To express a measurement:

Er ist zwei Meter groß.	He's two meters tall. (= 6' 6.7")
Er ist einen halben Kopf größer als ich.	He's half a head taller than me.
Das Mädchen ist ein Jahr alt.	The girl is one year old.
Er geht einen Schritt zurück.	He goes one step back.
Der Ort liegt eine Stunde von der Stadt.	The place is an hour from the city.

6) As the case for certain standard greetings and wishes. The implication is that the speaker is wishing the other something (e.g. "Gute Nacht" is short for "Ich wünsche dir eine gute Nacht." Other examples:

Guten Morgen.	Good morning.
Schönen Tag noch.	Have a nice (rest of the) day.
Herzlichen Glückwunsch!	Congratulations!
Vielen Dank.	Many thanks.
Gute Besserung.	Get well.
Guten Appetit.	Bon appetit.

With prepositions:

	On which one will you decide?

1) As the object of the following prepositions: bis, durch, für, gegen, ohne, um, and wider:

Er bleibt bis nächste Woche.	He's staying until next week.
Die Liebe geht durch den Magen.	The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.
Er tut alles für sein Kind.	He does everything for his child.
Was hast du gegen ihn?	What do you have against him?
Ohne mich!	Count me out!
Es geht mir nicht um das Geld.	For me it's not a question of the money.
Seine Handlung war wider das Gesetz.	His action was against the law.

	Decide yourself when it's a question of your health.

2) Under certain circumstances with the following "two-way" prepositions: an, auf, hinter, in, neben, entlang, über, unter, vor, and zwischen. When these prepositions delineate a spacial area, and the verb indicates movement that crosses the border into that area, the preposition takes the accusative (if the action is entirely with the area, then it takes the dative case):

Sie geht an die Tür.	She goes to the door.
Er wirft sein Buch auf den Tisch.	He throws his book onto the table.
Sie fährt hinter das Haus.	She drives behind the house (into the area behind the house).
Bringen Sie den Stuhl in die Küche	Bring the chair into the kitchen.
Er legt die Bestecke neben den Teller.	He puts the silverware next to the plate (into the area next to the plate).
Er tritt vor das Haus.	He steps out the door (in front of the house).
Der Hund läuft zwischen die Häuser.	The dog runs between the houses (through or into the area between the houses).

These prepositional phrases are often contracted (if the article is "das"):

Er geht ans Fenster.	He goes to the window.
Sie setzt sich aufs Sofa.	She sits down on the sofa.
Ein Fremder kommt ins Haus.	A stranger comes into the house.
Wir fahren heute aufs Land.	We're driving to the country.
Die Brücke führt übers Wasser.	The bridge leads across the water.

3) When these two-way prepositions define time, rather than space, they take the dative. The exceptions are auf and über:

Er geht auf (für) ein Jahr nach Mainz.	He's going to Mainz for a year.
Der Vortrag hat über eine Stunde gedauert.	The talk lasted over an hour.
Was machst du übers Wochenende?	What're you doing over the weekend?

4) These two-way prepositions take the accusative case in many idioms, as well. A few examples:

	Why think about age already now?

Sie denkt oft an ihre alte Lehrerin.	She often thinks of her old teacher.
Er glaubt an mehrere Götter.	He believes in several gods.
Wir erinnern uns gern an unsere Kindheit.	We like to remember our childhood.
Ich kann mich nicht an seine schreckliche Stimme gewöhnen.	I can't get used to his terrible voice.
Ich warte auf meine Freundin.	I'm waiting for my girlfriend.
Das geht dich nichts an.	That's none of your business.
Können Sie auf meine Frage antworten?	Can you answer my question?
Wir hoffen auf besseres Wetter.	We're hoping for better weather.
Es ist kein Wunder, dass sie auf dich böse ist.	It's no wonder that she's mad at you.
Wir haben keine Aussichten auf eine bessere Zukunft.	We have no indications of a better future.
Leider müssen wir auf den Film verzichten.	Unfortunately we'll have to do without the film.
Unsere Kinder sind verrückt auf ihren neuen Coach.	Our children are crazy about their new coach.
Er hat gar nicht auf meinen Vorschlag reagiert.	He never reacted to my suggestion.
Du kannst auf dich stolz sein.	You can be proud of yourself.
Er hat sich total in sie verliebt.	He's totally fallen in love with her.
Wir sind glücklich über das neue Haus.	We're happy about the new house.
Ich freue mich auf deinen Besuch.	I'm looking forward to your visit.
Wir sprechen gerade über die politische Situation.	We're just now talking about the political situation.

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¹ The so-called "der-words" are the articles der, die, das; dies-, jed-, jen-, manch-, solch-, welch-. The "ein-words" are ein, kein, and the possessive pronouns: mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr, ihr
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