Akkusativ

The accusative case

As you may have heard before, there are 4 grammar cases in German: nominative (Nominativ), accusative (Akkusativ), dative (Dativ) ,and genitive (Genitiv).

Even though English does not have declensions, German cases have some correspondences with our English grammar features.

The accusative corresponds, in most cases, to the direct object of the sentences in English. In other words, it indicates that something or someone has been directly affected by the action of the verb. Examples:

Ich sehe das Kind. (I see the kid)

Du hast den Kuchen gegessen. (You have eaten the cake)

To recognize the Akkusativobjekt (direct object) it's convenient to ask "Wen?" (who?) or "Was?" (what?) was affected in the sentence:

Ich sehe das Kind - Wen sehe ich? Das Kind.

Du isst den Kuchen - Was isst du? Den Kuchen.

The masculine articles must be declined in the accusative. This is how they look:

Definite articles:

Kasus	Maskulin	Feminin	Neutral	Plural
Nominativ	der	die	das	die
Akkusativ	den	die	das	die
Genitiv	des	der	des	der
Dativ	dem	der	dem	den

Indefinite articles:

Kasus	Maskulin	Feminin	Neutral	Plural
Nominativ	ein	eine	ein	-
Akkusativ	einen	eine	ein	-
Genitiv	eines	einer	eines	-
Dativ	einem	einer	einem	-