German Cases Practice: Nominativ, Akkusativ, Dativ, Genitiv
Read each phrase and name the case it is in. Recognising a case in something you are reading comes before producing one, and it is the faster half to learn. No signup required.
dem Wetter
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Build my study planWhat actually trips people up
A German case is not a property of a noun. It is a job the noun is doing in that particular sentence, handed to it by the verb or by a preposition. The same noun takes a different article in every case, which is why German looks like it is changing words at random until the idea clicks.
The verb or the preposition decides, not the noun
"Der Mann" is the one doing something; "den Mann" is the one it is being done to. Nothing about the man changed. Look at what the sentence is doing with him — and with a preposition, look the preposition up once and it is settled for good.
The article is the visible half of the case
Most of the time the case is not marked on the noun at all — it is marked on the little word in front of it. So "which case is this?" and "why is it den and not der?" are the same question, asked from two ends.
Recognising comes before producing
This page asks you to name the case in a phrase you are reading, which is deliberately the easier direction. It is also the one that transfers: once you can hear that a phrase is Dativ, choosing the ending when you speak stops being a guess.
Where to look the forms up
The case shows up in the article, so the article forms across all four cases are the table worth having open: the German article forms.