Learn German - German for Travellers

Accusative

English	German
Are these sentences complete? Claudia has ... She loves She buys No, they are missing a direct object.	Sind diese Sätze komplett? Claudia hat ... Sie liebt Sie kauft Nein, hier fehlt das direkte Objekt.
Claudia has a cat. She loves the cat. She buys a bird.	Claudia hat eine Katze. Sie liebt die Katze. Sie kauft einen Vogel.

In English as in German, there are different cases. In English, the definite ("the") and indefinite ("a") articles are the same in the nominative and the accusative case. There is a change, however, when you use personal pronouns. Say, the subject of a sentence (i.e. the nominative) is "she". When used in the accusative, it becomes "her".

The woman (=subject) is here.	She (=subject) is here.
I (=subject) see the woman (=direct object)?	I (=subject) see her (=direct object).

Is the man here?	Is he here?
Can you see the man?	Can you see him?

The difference of subject (nominative) and direct object (accusative) in English becomes clear when you look at personal pronouns (i.e. she/her; he/him)

Nominative	I	you	he	she	it	we	you	they	WHO?
Accusative	me	you	him	her	it	us	you	them	WHOM?

In German, the definite ("der") and indefinite ("ein") articles used with masculine nouns in the accusative also indicate case. They change from "der" in the nominative to "den" in the accusative.