The Amazing "DER/DIE/DAS" Tables!

(German noun gender and cases/adjectives endings)

Adjective endings are highlighted red

PDF versions of this table and its notes for printing: black&white (47 Kb) or colour (51 Kb)

NOMINATIVE CASE (subject of a sentence / labelling)

After the verb "sein" (to be) - e.g. Er ist ein netter Mann.

Articles, adjective endings, pronouns and relative pronouns for the Nominative case (subject of the sentence)
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
der rote Wein	die frische Milch	das deutsche Bier	die kalten Getränke
ein roter Wein	eine frische Milch	ein deutsches Bier	meine kalten Getränke
roter Wein	frische Milch	deutsches Bier	kalte Getränke
Pronoun er	Pronoun sie	Pronoun es	Pronoun sie
Relative Pronoun der	Relative Pronoun die	Relative Pronoun das	Relative Pronoun die

Practise it! Do this practice exercise on German noun gender (Nominative).

ACCUSATIVE CASE (direct object / movement)

With the prepositions: durch (see photo example below), für, gegen, ohne, um (see photo example below), bis, entlang

With 'two-way' prepositions (see Note 2)

Articles, adjective endings, pronouns and relative pronouns for the Accusative case (often direct object in the sentence)
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
den roten Wein	all same as Nominative	all same as Nominative	all same as Nominative
einen roten Wein
roten Wein
Pronoun ihn
Relative Pronoun den

Practise it! Do this practice exercise on subject (Nominative) and object (Accusative).

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Protestplakat mit Akkusativ-Beispiel] — An example of Accusative [direct object] case and a masculine noun: "Farmers need a fair price" (Germany)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Werbung mit Akkusativ-Beispiel und Präposition] — An example of an Accusative preposition and a masculine noun: "Without freezing **through** the winter" (Switzerland)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Schild mit Akkusativ-Präposition] — An example of an Accusative preposition and a feminine noun (*Ecke*): "**around** the corner [first floor]" (Germany)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Plakat mit Akkusativ-Präposition] — An example of an Accusative preposition (*für*) and a masculine noun (*Sommer*): "**for** the summer" (supermarket in Switzerland)

DATIVE CASE (indirect object / location)

With the prepositions: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu, ab, außer, gegenüber, entgegen

After the verbs: danken, helfen, folgen, drohen, glauben, gehören, begegnen

With 'two-way' prepositions (see Note 2)

Articles, adjective endings, pronouns and relative pronouns for the Dative case (including indirect object of a sentence)
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
dem roten Wein	der frischen Milch	dem deutschen Bier	den kalten Getränken
einem roten Wein	einer frischen Milch	einem deutschen Bier	meinen kalten Getränken
rotem Wein	frischer Milch	deutschem Bier	kalten Getränken
Pronoun ihm	Pronoun ihr	Pronoun ihm	Pronoun ihnen
Relative Pronoun dem	Relative Pronoun der	Relative Pronoun dem	Relative Pronoun denen

Notice: nouns in Dative plural get an -n added on if they don't already happen to have one.

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Straßenschild mit Dativ-Beispiel] — An example of a preposition with Dative case and a feminine noun: "Cyclists permitted on Station Street" (Austria)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Verpackung eines Spiels] — An example of a preposition with Dative case and plural noun: "**With** 90 new cards" (packaging box with a card game)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Wahlplakat mit Dativ-Beispiel] — Another example of a preposition with Dative case and plural noun: "In difficult times, in good hands" (an election campaign poster in Austria)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Warnschild mit Dativ-Beispiel] — Another example of a preposition with Dative case and plural noun - "Hinter den Abschrankungen...". (Jungfrau Mountain, Switzerland)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Schild mit Dativ-Beispiel] — An example of a preposition with Dative case and masculine noun (*der See* / to the lake). (Bodensee / Lake Constance, Austria)

GENITIVE CASE (possession/ownership)

With the prepositions: statt, trotz, während, wegen, innerhalb, außerhalb, an Stelle

Notice: add "es" or "s" to masculine or neuter nouns.

Articles, adjective endings and relative pronouns for the Genitive case (usually indicating possession)
Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
des roten Weines	der frischen Milch	des deutschen Bieres	der kalten Getränke
eines roten Weines	einer frischen Milch	eines deutschen Bieres	meiner kalten Getränke
roten Weines	frischer Milch	deutschen Bieres	kalter Getränke
Relative Pronoun dessen	Relative Pronoun deren	Relative Pronoun dessen	Relative Pronoun deren

Here's a document (PDF), that explains the Genitive case, with photos.

Anja's series of YouTube videos includes a video that introduces the Genitive case.

Practise using the genitive case: "Kaufen Sie dieses Haus!" - cloze reading text

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Werbung mit Genitiv-Beispiel] — An example of Genitive [possession] case and a feminine noun: "Today is the most beautiful day **of the** week" (Austria)

[Foto (copyright: D Nutting): Buchtitel mit Genitiv-Beispiel] — An example of Genitive [possession] case and a plural noun: "Pirates **of the** seas" (children's book)

Notes

NOTE 1: Same table, same patterns

a) Use the der/die/das (the) rows of the table for the following:

dies- (this), jed- (every [singular]), solch- (such), welch- ?(which?), jen- (that), alle (all [plural])

In the case of viele (many), mehrere/einige (several), wenige (fewer/less): they operate as ordinary adjectives, i.e. other adjectives coming after them have the same adjective ending.
(e.g. Nominative: dieser lustige Mann / diese lustige Frau / dieses lustige Buch / diese lustigen Clowns)

b) Use the ein/eine/ein (a/an) rows of the table for the following:

kein (no/not a), mein (my), dein (your), sein (his/its), ihr (her/its), unser (our), euer (your: referring to more than one) and Ihr (Your: polite).

NOTE 2: "Two-way" prepositions: Accusative OR Dative

vor (in front of), hinter (behind), über (over/above), unter (under, below), zwischen (between), neben (next to), in (in), an (on/against), auf (on top of)

Use the Accusative when there is movement involved

e.g. Ich stelle die Vase auf den Tisch. (Describes the process of being moved)

Ich gehe über die Brücke. (Describes movement over the bridge)

Use the Dative if no movement is implied

e.g. Die Vase steht auf dem Tisch. (Describes the location of the subject / where it is)

Ich bin/stehe auf der Brücke. (Describes where I am / no movement)

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ein bisschen Deutsch

The Amazing "DER/DIE/DAS" Tables!

Notes