Nominative and accusative
The nominative is the form you meet in the dictionary: der Tisch, die Lampe, das Buch. It is the subject, the thing that does the verb.
The accusative is the thing the verb acts on. Only the masculine article changes.
- Ich kaufe den Tisch. Masculine: der → den.
- Ich kaufe die Lampe. Feminine stays die.
- Ich kaufe das Buch. Neuter stays das.
ein follows the same split: einen Tisch, eine Lampe, ein Buch. If you are unsure of the gender, the article dictionary is the list. Guessing masculine and writing den on a feminine noun is the usual exam slip.
Dative is the next case, for the person you give something to, and for prepositions such as mit and von. This page does not pretend one table replaces that lesson. Learn accusative on real nouns first.
Open the accusative lesson · Look up the article · Two-way prepositions, which need both cases
Verb position · Two-way prepositions · Separable verbs · Plurals
Author: Fahrplan Deutsch. Last reviewed 2026-10-27. reviewed: false. A native-speaker review is still open.
Questions
Does every German article change in the accusative?
No. In the singular accusative, only the masculine changes: der becomes den, ein becomes einen. die and das stay.
Which verbs need the accusative?
The thing you have, buy, need or see is usually accusative: haben, brauchen, kaufen, sehen. The lesson in the app lists them next to the table.