The 4 cases in German are called the case. These are nominative, genitive, dative, accusative. The case shows the relationship between the noun and the other elements in the sentence. The noun, its companion (article) as well as deputies (pronouns) are adapted to the case. This is called declination. Nouns, articles and pronouns are thus declined depending on the function.
To understand the meaning and purpose of the case, it makes sense to look for a sentence whose terms are not declined. It is noticeable that the individual cases have not only a function, but are responsible for our understanding. A sentence which is dispensed with is not comprehensible.
Not declined: The wife of the brother give the daughter of the priest the hat.
Declined: The wife of the brother gives the daughter of the priest the hat.
In the first sentence, the individual members of the sentence were not declined and consequently not adapted to the respective cases. It is striking that the sentence is incomprehensible and the correct application of the 4 cases is essential to understand German. The declination thus makes it possible to illustrate the relation of the nouns to the elements of the sentence. Really declined, the whole thing is clear.
Order of the case in German
The cases in German are not subject to any fixed order. As a rule, the cases are given in the order nominative, genitive, dative and accusative. From this series the hierarchy of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cases also results. However, there are grammars that follow another system and arrange the cases differently.
Basically, the order of the case is oriented to the grammar of the Latin and is not fixed by any fixed command or is actually so rigid. This means that the nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative series are based solely on a grammatical tradition and are not necessarily arranged because it makes sense in German. That’s why there are some grammars that handle this differently.
Alternatively, the order nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive are usually suggested. Accusative and genitive, therefore, exchange their place. The justification here is that nominative and accusative are often almost identical or similar. In contrast, the genitive is very different from the nominative. This sequence of the case thus makes sense in terms of learning technology.
Note on the order: In word growth we have decided to keep the traditional order. This is not because we do not like the other ranking, but is linked to the fact that most schools use the “old” system. Since most of our visitors are pupils, they are to be picked up where they have arrived in German lessons.
Short overview: The most important to the case at a glance
In German there are 4 cases, also cases. These are nominative, genitive, dative, and accusative (in other languages, for example, the vocabulary as well as the ablative are both not common in German).
The four cases illustrate the relation of the nouns to the other elements of the sentence. A sentence whose components are not adapted to the case is mostly incomprehensible.
Nouns, their companions (articles) and their substitutes (pronouns) are adapted to the respective case. This adjustment is called declination. The endings of the individual words change as a result of an attachment to the word stem or plural stem.