3 Der Akkusativ

7/24/2019 3 Der Akkusativ

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In English:

In standard English, the direct object is marked either by wordorder or by certain forms of personal pronoun (me, us, him,

her,andthem). Thus the difference between "Dog bites man" and"Man bites dog" is clear, as is the difference between "I see her"

and "She sees me."

Some things you can't explain in two or three sentences. Up to

15 hours of phone time. The new Gigaset C340.

In German:

The accusative case has several functions in German. 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 otherpronouns: manbecomes einen,


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keinerbecomes keinen,and werbecomes wen.In colloquialspeech,jemandis usually the same in both the nominative and

the accusative, butjemandenis 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, butalso on whether they follow a "der-word", an "ein-word", or noarticle at all:1

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural

den roten Stuhl die neue Lampe das alte Buch die roten Sthle

keinen roten Stuhl keine neue Lampe kein altes Buch keine neuen Lampen

roten Stuhl neue Lampe altes Buch alte Bcher

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 andgenitive cases). Among these nouns are those that end in "-e"(except Kse[cheese]):

der Mensch

den Menschen

[human]

der Nachbar

den Nachbarn

[neighbor]

der Herr

den Herrn

[lord; gentleman]

der Held

den Helden

[hero]
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/accusative.html%23footnote1http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/accusative.html%23footnote1http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/accusative.html%23footnote1http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/accusative.html%23footnote1


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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 Trke

den Trken

[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 Komdiant

[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., den Studenten; die Studenten.("Herr" is an exception: denHerrn; die Herren).

Typically, dictionaries identify weak nouns by giving not only theplural but also the weak ending: "der Bauer (-n, -n) farmer,

peasant." This first ending cited is actually that of thegenitivecase,but with weak nouns the accusative and the genitive are

usually identical.
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/genitive.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/genitive.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/genitive.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/genitive.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/genitive.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/genitive.html


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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 s.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 zchtigt 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.

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 carriages.


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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

expectfragen, kosten,and lehrento follow the same pattern, but

they do not; both objects are accusative:Darf ich dich etwas Persnliches 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 luft 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 fhrt nur erste Klasse. She always travels first-class.

Meine Gromutter 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 nchste Woche? What're you doing next week?Jeden Samstag essen wir auswrts. 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 gro. He's two meters tall. (= 6' 6.7")

Er ist einen halben Kopf grer als ich. He's half a head taller than me.

Das Mdchen ist ein Jahr alt. The girl is one year old.

Er geht einen Schritt zurck. 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 wnsche dir eine gute Nacht." Other

examples:Guten Morgen. Good morning.

Schnen Tag noch. Have a nice (rest of the) day.

Herzlichen Glckwunsch! Congratulations!

Vielen Dank. Many thanks.


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Gute Besserung. Get well.

Guten Appetit. Bon appetit.

With prepositions:

1) As the object of the

following

prepositions: bis, durch,

fr, gegen, ohne,

um,andwider:

Er bleibt bis nchste 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 fr 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.

On which one will you decide?


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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, ber, unter, vor,andzwischen. 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 thedative case):

Sie geht an die Tr. She goes to the door.

Er wirft sein Buch auf den

Tisch.He throws his book onto the table.

Sie fhrt hinter das Haus. She drives behind the house (into the area behind the house).Bringen Sie den Stuhl in die

KcheBring 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 luft zwischen die

Huser.

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 Brcke fhrt bers 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 aufand ber:
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/dative.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/dative.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/dative.htmlhttp://www.dartmouth.edu/~german/Grammatik/Nouns/dative.html


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Er geht auf (fr) ein Jahr nach Mainz. He's going to Mainz for a year.

Der Vortrag hat ber eine Stunde gedauert. The talk lasted over an hour.

Was machst du bers Wochenende? What're you doing over the weekend?

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

Sie denkt oft an ihre alte Lehrerin. She often thinks of her old teacher.

Er glaubt an mehrere Gtter. 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 gewhnen.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.

Knnen 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 bse 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 mssen wir auf den Film verzichten.Unfortunately we'll have to do without the

ilm.

Unsere Kinder sind verrckt 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.

Why think

about agealready now?


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Er hat sich total in sie verliebt. He's totally fallen in love with her.

Wir sind glcklich ber 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 ber die politische

Situation.

We're just now talking about the political

situation.

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

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3 Der Akkusativ