Cases and gender

Each entry uses short German examples with translations. Tables show the forms that matter. The entries do not ask you to memorise whole declension charts.

Start with the overview entry, then go to the one that matches your problem: article guessing, noun patterns, the four cases, or prepositions.

Entries in this topic

• How can I learn der, die and das through listening? — Learn each noun with its article and a short phrase, then notice the phrase in context. The article can change with case, so an unfamiliar form does not necessarily mean the noun has a different gender.
• Which German noun endings help predict gender? — Some noun endings are useful clues: nouns ending in -ung, -heit and -keit are feminine, and diminutives ending in -chen are neuter. Learn the article with each noun instead of treating a sound or meaning as a universal rule.
• What do the four German cases do in a sentence? — Cases help mark the role of a noun phrase. Nominative often marks the subject, accusative a direct object, dative an indirect object or a preposition's object, and genitive often expresses possession.
• How can I hear the dative after German prepositions? — Listen for a preposition and the whole noun phrase that follows it. For example, mit and bei take the dative, so their articles can differ from the noun's base article.