Questions tagged [grammatical-case]
grammatikalischer Fall – Questions relating to the grammatical cases (nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive)
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Relative Pronouns
I am really struggling with relative pronouns (when to use which relative pronoun).
Can anyone please help me? (give me some quick ways to know when to use which relative pronoun)
I get confused ...
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Bedeutung von Genitiv + Adjektiv + werden
Aus Das Parfum von Patrick Süskind:
Grenouille wirkte damit [d. h. mit einem neuen selbstgemachten Duft] – auch wenn er unrasiert, finsterer Miene und bemantelt auftrat – wie ein armer blasser Bub, ...
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"dieses kleinen Kobolds" – Why kleinen if Genitive?
A phrase from a movie is
Der Wald ist die Urheimat dieses kleinen Kobolds.
Kobolds is Genitive case, there is an s at the end. The same for dieses. But why is it kleinen and not kleines?
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When and how do you use "Letzter" (masculin nominativ strong declension)
letzte (no predicative form, strong nominative masculine singular
letzter, not comparable)
Wiki
I am trying to figure out, as the title suggests, when you use Letzter when its not feminin or plural. ...
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Is this phrase in apposition?
Attempting to translate this sentence from Asimov's, I, Robot:
Donovan had time for one startled gasp as he felt himself lifted from the floor and carried up the stairs at a pace rather better than a ...
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keine E-Mails gab - is it singular or plural?
Ich kann mir kaum vorstellen, dass es früher keine E-Mails gab.
keine E-Mails gab - I don't understand the form of this phrase.
Is E-Mails plural? If yes, why gab instead gaben?
If it is Singular, ...
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Dative form of "mein" for "Restaurant"
Ok, I don't get this.
ich lade sie in mein Lieblingsrestaurant ein
This is what I know:
"Mein" is a possessive article.
Restaurant is "neuter" (das Restaurant)
For "...
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Da and dessen in "da bin ich mir sicher" and "Dessen bin ich mir sicher"
Today I came across 2 sentences like this "Da bin ich mir sicher" and "Dessen bin ich mir sicher"
What do "Da" and "Dessen" mean in these and please tell me if ...
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Why is the genitive case considered higher register?
It is often complained about that the genitive case is replaced more and more by the dative case (*wegen dem Wetter,*den Opfern gedacht, *wegen mir, trotz), both in speech and, more recently, in print....
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When to use "weil" and when to use "obwohl"? [closed]
Zum Wassertrinken müssen die Giraffen ihre Beine weit auseinander stellen, weil/obwohl sie so einen langen Hals haben.
Which one is correct between the sentence, weil or obwohl?
It is somehow logical ...
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sich einer Sache (Gen.) erinnern?
Ein Satz aus Dem Parfum von Patrick Süskind:
Zehntausend, hunderttausend spezifische Eigengerüche hatte er
gesammelt und hielt sie zu seiner Verfügung, so deutlich, so beliebig,
daß er sich nicht nur ...
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From a linguistic PoV, do we know why Akkusativ only changes the masculine? [closed]
From an academic/historical/linguistic perspective, is there any interesting background for why a case that only changes one gender remained in the language and did not become disused?
Pardon my ...
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uns’rer Liebe Kinder schenken, Why is it uns'rer? and What does uns'rer mean?
We are doing a lip-sync opera in the Christmas event :).
And it's good to have a place I can ask native Germans about these things and I'm grateful to people giving me answers.
In Mozart's Opera '...
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Viel(es???) Glück [duplicate]
I just don't understand the concept here. We have the noun, das Glück. It should be in akusativ form when its used with "viel". And neutral akusativ form for viel is vieles... How come we ...
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How can I tell the case of *der alten Frau* in this sentence?
I am following the book German for Reading: A Programmed Approach and on page 200 there is a question asking the case of the bold word in the following sentence:
Keiner wird der alten Frau die ...
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"guter gesundheitlicher Versorgung" why 'er'?
„Viele Menschen genießen dank finanzieller Absicherung durch das Rentensystem und guter gesundheitlicher Versorgung ihr Rentnerdasein.“
In this sentence I cannot understand why adjectives - 'guter' ...
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Grammatical Structure of "ins"
Lass uns ins sonnige Griechenland fahren!
What excactly is "ins" here? In + das ? We have Griechenland as feminine.
Danke!
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Accusative and dative?
Why do we use the accusative "ihn" in the following sentence:
Sie machen ihn wütend.
But the dative "ihm" in the following?
Sie machen ihm Angst.
Thanks.
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Why is the dative case used in the following sentence? : Die Leute steigen aus dem Bus aus [duplicate]
Why the dative case in the following sentence?
Die Leute steigen aus dem Bus aus
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Ambiguity in determining the owner of a genitive personal pronoun
I am new to German and am confused about the genitive personal pronoun. When considering the following sentence (from the Bible):
Er gab ihn seiner Mutter.
which is translated into
He gave him to ...
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Der Fall ist hier Akkusativ? Der ganze Satz zeigt Akkusativ?
Ich lerne momentan mit dem Buch Das Ende der Megamaschine Deutsch. Mit diesem Satz haben wir Akkusativ Maskulin?
Mit der schwindenden Fähigkeit der Megamaschine, den Menschen eine Zukunftsperspektive ...
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Why are sometimes the subject and object in the same case? [duplicate]
Er ist ein sehr lustiger Clown.
I am confused by the above sentence. Why is "lustiger Clown" in nominative case? I think it should be einen lustiger Clown because "lustiger Clown" ...
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Why the dative "ihrem" instead of the nominative "ihrer" or the accusative "ihren"?
In the following sentence, why the dative "ihrem" instead of the nominative "ihrer" or the accusative "ihren"? How do we know that we are supposed to use the dative case ...
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"auf den" or "auf dem" Weg?
Translating this sentence from Asimov's I, Robot:
And as they plunged into the ruined substation on the way back to the tunnels, Donovan said grimly:
I could not decide on either "auf den Weg&...
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Why "dieser" and not "diese"?
In the following sentence, why do we write "dieser" and not "diese"? "Kleinstadt" is a feminine noun and the verb "entkommen" suggests that we are dealing with ...
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Can't tell if "Sie" means she or they in this specific sentence [duplicate]
I've recently started learning german.
Some basic grammar and the difference between "sie" and "Sie" is sometimes confusing, especially in a weird exercise like this:
"Sie ...
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Adjektivdeklination in komplexer Nominalphrase
Mir ist nicht klar, ob es im folgenden Satz erworbenen oder erworbenem heißen muss.
Ich erhoffe mir, meine zuvor in der Industrie erlangten Kenntnisse mit dem in meiner Promotion erworbenen / ...
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Is this sentence from the Duden Grammatik saying that "von" always conveys a direction?
On page 62 of Die Duden Grammatik, it says:
Während der Dativ, wenn er eine Opposition zum Akkusativ bildet, für
die Bezeichnung der Ruhelage verwendet wird, kennzeichnen
einige Präpositionen, die ...
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adjective endings for "guten Tag"
I'm trying to make sense of article endings. In a German course I find:
Heute ist ein großer Tag!
Today is a wonderful day
But then people greet each other with
Guten Tag!
So why is it -er in the ...
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Why "brasilianischer" instead of "brasilianische"?
Why do we say:
Ihre Mutter Julia ist brasilianischer Herkunft.
I think we should say instead:
Ihre Mutter Julia ist brasilianische Herkunft.
Is that right? We say die Herkunft not der Herkunft. So,...
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When to use prepositions in German?
Consider the following two sentences, I have shown them to a native German speaker and both make sense to them:
Ich gebe dem Hund den Ball.
Ich gebe den Ball dem Hund.
The cases make it clear that ...
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Is case based on semantics or syntax?
For beginner, the way case is thought is to see what role the parts of the sentence play and choose the declension/ form of elements of the sentence based on that. However, I have seen also another ...
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Is the German language "das Deutsche" or "Deutsch"?
In the dictionary the German language is listed as
das Deutsche, however one usually hears it referred to simply as "Deutsch"
For instance, I subscribe to a German for foreigners magazine ...
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Why "Allgemeinen" and not "allgemein"?
Why is the following sentence correct?
Im Allgemeinen bin ich mit meiner Arbeit sehr zufrieden.
and the following wrong?
In allgemein bin ich mit meiner Arbeit sehr zufrieden.
Why "...
user49002
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"nächsten Monat" vs. "nächster Monat"
I know that the accusative case is used in time expressions, for example:
Mein Urlaub beginnt nächsten Monat.
What I'm confused about is the following sentence:
Das Ablaufdatum für deinen Ausweis ...
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Why is it "Ich warte auf dich" and not "Ich warte auf dir"? [duplicate]
All the German rules I know for picking dative vs. accusative don't seem to apply to "Ich warte auf dich.". There's no movement or change in state so I think it should be Dative: "Ich ...
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Why do we say "Gehen Sie an der Ampel links'' and not "Gehen Sie an die Ampel link"?
I found this in the "Richtungen: nach dem Weg fragen" course.
"An" is two case prepositions right and here we are using orientation so the question is "wohin" and not &...
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Auf der Straße oder auf die Straße? [duplicate]
Was ist richtig auf Deutsch?
Wir fahren mit dem Auto auf die Straße.
Wir fahren mit dem Auto auf der Straße.
Benutzt man hier Akkusativ oder Dativ?
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Why the dative "der" and not the accusative "die"?
In the following sentence, I understand that we use the dative "der" because of the preposition "in". But I think I also remember reading that the case can also depend on the verb. ...
user49002
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weil der Begriff, ähnlich einer Markenbezeichnung, überall verstanden wird
Here's the original text:
Wie einzgartig die unterschiedlich gewürzten Fleischprodukte aus deutschen Landen sind, zeigt unter anderem die Tatsache, dass beispielsweise beim Wort "Bratwurst" ...
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Is it correct to say "der Hund meiner", meaning "the dog of me (my dog)"? Does "meiner" change depending on the gender of the modified noun?
I have been trying to understand the genitive case, particularly in the German language. I think I understand the genitive case for nouns, but I am still unsure as to its usage with pronouns. From my ...
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Dativ or Akkusativ?
I was reading book and there was this sentence:
Hanako ist die Schutzgottheit dieser Schule.
I don’t understand why is there “dieser” and not “diese”?
It seems that this is Akkusativ, because the ...
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Er, sie, es for creatures
I have been told that when using he/she/it, it's usually simple to use der/die/das to work out how to refer to the thing.
For example:
"The pen is big" becomes "Der Stift ist groß"...
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Why "Ihre" and not "Ihrer"?
Why "Ihre" and not the genitive "Ihrer" in the following sentence? I thought that we have to use the genitive case to show possession?
Ihre Katze war krank.
user49002
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Specific cases for time indications, and their origin
German uses the accusative for definite time expressions, both for durations ("Ich mache es den ganzen Tag") and points in time ("Ich mache es nächsten Samstag"), and the genitive ...
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stieß an der Ausfahrt mit Herrn H.s Auto zusammen. - What is the case for "Herrn"
This is the first time I've encountered genitive case of a compound noun with a name (H.) and noun (Herrn), since Herrn is the same for three cases except nominative, it is not possible to tell ...
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das Verständnis jener Menschen, mit denen sie leben - Why "jener"?
Previously I thought that masculine genetive of "jeder" is "jedes" (which is also shown here), and after some searching about "jener" on Duden, there isn't any ...
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Konditionalsätze mit "wüsste"
Als ich den Text der Geschichte (Klabund. "Der sterbende Soldat") analysierte, fand ich einen Satz, dessen Bedeutung mir nicht ganz klar ist:
Wenn der Wachtmeister wüßte, daß ich hier so ...
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Adding an -s to a noun
I'm reading a history book in German, and it says:
... Einig waren sich die Europäer auch im Gegensatz zum Islam, der sich
auf der Iberischen Halbinsel auf dem Rückzug befand, an der
Südostflanke ...
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Warum "Im Falle" und nicht "in der Falle"
Warum nutzt man "Im Falle eines Krieges..." und nicht "In der Falle eines Krieges..." oder "Im Fall eines Krieges..."?
Ich meine, die Falle ist weiblich und "In der ...
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