Nouns
In German all nouns begin with a capital letter. The plural forms
vary from noun to noun - there is no universal plural as in
English (cat - cats, dog - dogs):
|
singular
|
plural
|
|
Mann
|
Männer
|
|
Frau
|
Frauen
|
|
Tisch
|
Tische
|
(In the dictionary, plural forms appear where they may be useful.)
German nouns are masculine (m), feminine (f) or neuter (nt), and
this is shown by the words for the and a(n) used before them:
|
|
masculine
|
feminine
|
neuter
|
|
the
|
der Mann
|
die Frau
|
das Licht
|
|
a, an
|
ein Mann
|
eine Frau
|
ein
Licht
|
The plural for the for all forms is
die:
die Männer die Frauen die
Lichter
There is no plural for the ein form.
The plural noun is used on its own.
From the phrases in this book you will see that the endings for
the word for the vary according to what part the noun plays in the
sentence:
If the noun is the subject of the sentence, i.e. carrying out the
action, then it is in the nominative case (the one found in
dictionaries), e.g. der Mann steht auf
(the man stands up). The subject der
Mann comes before the verb.
If the noun is the direct object of the sentence, i.e. the action
of the verb is being carried on the noun, then the noun is in the
accusative case, e.g. ich sehe den Mann
(I see the man). Note how the ending of
der has changed to
den. The same applies to
ein, e.g. ich sehe
einen Mann (I see a man).
If you see in front of the English noun &endash; of, 's, or s',
then the noun is in the genitive case (i.e. it belongs to someone or
something), e.g. das Haus der Frau (the
woman's house). Note how the ending of
die (Frau) has changed to
der. The same applies to
ein, e.g. das Haus
einer Frau (a woman's house).
If you see to the or to a in front of the English noun, then the
noun is in the dative case, e.g. ich gebe es
der Frau (I give it to the woman). Note how the ending of
die (Frau) has changed to
der. The same applies to
ein, e.g. ich gebe
es einer Frau (I give it to a woman).
Several other words used before nouns have similar endings to
der and
ein.
Those like der are:
dieser this ;
jener that ; jeder
each ; welcher which
Those like ein are:
mein my ;
dein your (familiar sing.) ;
Ihr your (polite sing. and plural) ;
sein his ;
ihr her ;
unser our ;
euer your (familiar plural);
ihr their
Here are the cases for der:
|
|
masculine
|
feminine
|
neuter
|
plural
|
|
Nominative
|
der Mann
|
die Frau
|
das Licht
|
die Frauen
|
|
Accusative
|
den Mann
|
die Frau
|
das Licht
|
die Frauen
|
|
Genitive
|
des Mannes
|
der Frau
|
des Lichtes
|
der Frauen
|
|
Dative
|
dem Mann
|
der Frau
|
dem Licht
|
den Frauen
|
Here are the cases for ein:
|
|
masculine
|
feminine
|
neuter
|
|
Nominative
|
ein Mann
|
eine Frau
|
ein Licht
|
|
Accusative
|
einen Mann
|
eine Frau
|
ein Licht
|
|
Genitive
|
eines Mannes
|
einer Frau
|
eines Lichtes
|
|
Dative
|
einem Mann
|
einer Frau
|
einem Licht
|
The word kein (no, not any) also has
the same endings as for ein, except that
it can be used in the plural:
|
Nominative
|
keine Männer
|
|
Accusative
|
keine Männer
|
|
Genitive
|
keiner Männer
|
|
Dative
|
keinen Männern
|
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