German case cheat sheets

First find what governs the phrase: a verb, a preposition, or its role in the sentence. Then choose gender and number.

Remember: English word order does not decide German case. Learn a verb or preposition together with the case it requires.

Use these with a specific or identifiable noun.

Remember: Dative plural usually adds -n to the noun too: mit den Kindern. No extra -n after plural -n or -s: den Frauen, den Autos.

Ein has no plural. An indefinite plural can have no article: Ich kaufe Bücher.

Kein negates nouns with an indefinite article or no article: ein Auto → kein Auto; Bücher → keine Bücher.

Choose the stem from the owner; choose the ending from the possessed noun's case, gender and number.

Remember: The owner does not determine the ending: Anna hilft ihrem Bruder. Euer normally loses its second e before an ending: euren, eurem, eurer, eures.

Replace mein- with the appropriate possessive stem. These also show the ein-word ending pattern.

Remember: Example: Ich spreche mit meiner neuen Lehrerin. Possessive endings describe Lehrerin, not the speaker.

Standalone possessives need an ending even where mein before a noun has none. Genitive forms are rare in ordinary conversation.

Remember: Ist das dein Stift? — Nein, meiner ist blau. Ist das dein Buch? — Ja, das ist meins.

Genitive personal pronouns are formal or literary. They are not the everyday possessive articles mein, dein, etc.

Remember: Ich sehe ihn. Ich helfe ihm. Formal/literary: Wir gedenken ihrer. Everyday possession: Das ist ihr Buch.

Reflexive objects are usually accusative or dative. There is no nominative reflexive object; genitive reflexives occur only in formal constructions.

Remember: Ich wasche mich. Ich wasche mir die Hände (die Hände is accusative). Reciprocal: Wir helfen einander; wir sprechen miteinander. Einander itself does not change.

Dies- and jen- take these endings. Welch- uses the same pattern: welcher, welche, welches. Jeder is normally singular; use alle for ‘all’ in the plural.

Remember: Standalone der/die/das demonstratives use the relative-pronoun forms below (including denen and dessen/deren); genitive plural derer also occurs, especially before a following relative clause.

Gender and number come from the noun referred to. Case comes from the pronoun's role inside the relative clause.

Remember: Der Mann, dem ich helfe, ist nett. Die Frau, deren Sohn hier wohnt, kommt morgen. A preposition stays with its case: das Kind, mit dem ich spreche.

Not every pronoun has a normal form in every case. Dashes mark forms that are not used as an ordinary paradigm.

Remember: Prefer the explicit endings jemanden/jemandem when learning. For things after a preposition use wo(r)-: womit? woran? For people: mit wem? an wen? Etwas and nichts do not decline: mit etwas Glück; nichts Neues.

After der/die/das and declined dieser/welcher: weak declension. Add the ending to the adjective stem.

Remember: der kleine Hund; die kleine Katze; das kleine Kind; mit den kleinen Kindern

After ein, kein and possessives: mixed declension. The plural applies to keine/meine, because ein has no plural.

Remember: ein kleiner Hund; ein kleines Kind; meine kleinen Kinder; mit einem kleinen Kind

With no article carrying the case ending: strong declension. Masculine and neuter genitive adjectives normally end in -en, not -es.

Remember: frischer Tee; kaltes Wasser; mit frischem Brot; wegen schlechten Wetters. Predicate/adverbial adjectives do not decline: Der Tee ist heiß. Sie läuft schnell.

The article carries much of the case information. Nouns have additional endings, especially in the genitive and dative plural.

Remember: Most masculine/neuter nouns take genitive -(e)s. Names commonly take -s: Annas Buch. After a name ending in an s-sound, use an apostrophe: Max’ Buch.

Many masculine person/animal nouns add -(e)n outside nominative singular. Learn the noun with its pattern; not every masculine noun is weak.

Remember: Also: der Junge → dem Jungen; der Mensch → des Menschen; der Herr → den Herrn. Nominalized adjectives and participles keep adjective endings and use a capital letter: eine Bekannte, mit den Reisenden.

Prepositions govern a case; they do not themselves decline. No ordinary German preposition governs the nominative.

Remember: Additional prepositions have register-dependent patterns (e.g. dank, laut, zufolge). Check their individual entry rather than extending a mnemonic to every use. Entlang before a noun can take genitive: entlang des Flusses.

For spatial uses of the nine two-way prepositions, ask whether a new spatial relationship is established. Movement alone does not mean accusative.

Remember: Fixed verb-preposition combinations follow their own case: warten auf + Akkusativ, teilnehmen an + Dativ. Do not apply wo/wohin to them.

The contracted article still carries its original case. Use the full article when it is deliberately stressed or demonstrative.

Remember: Zu always takes dative, even for a destination: Ich gehe zum Arzt. Direction is not a universal accusative rule.

These are high-frequency patterns, not an exhaustive verb dictionary. Learn the complete construction, not just an English translation.

Remember: With two unstressed personal-pronoun objects, accusative usually precedes dative: Ich gebe es ihr. With two noun objects, dative commonly comes first: Ich gebe der Frau das Buch. Case stays the same when emphasis changes word order.

Case also appears without prepositions. These patterns help explain forms that do not look like ordinary objects.

Remember: Tenses, verb conjugation, conjunctions and sentence order are separate grammar systems. Use the Grammar lessons for those; four-case tables apply to declension and case government.