h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Before we start putting words together, we must revise some basic grammar.

There is no way about around this, and most of our readers should cope.

Let's take it in small steps. We are going to define the concepts nominative/accusative/dative/genitive.

In the sentence "I gave him the book" there are three persons or objects involved. (Object not in the grammatival sense here)

There is the person doing the action ("I")
There is the object to which the action is being done (the book)
There is the person (in this case it is a person) on the receiving end of the action.

The verb is clear, right? To give.

In any sentence or clause, the person or thing executing the action described by the verb is the NOMINATIVE.

The article or person who is directly affected by this verb is the ACCUSATIVE case. (Direct object in old money)

The person or thing who is on the receiving end and who is not doing the doing is the DATIVE case, the indirect object. In the example above, it is "him". In most cases, at least in English, this is expressed by use of a preposition. In German this is expressed by a different ending of the article (declension), or, in the case of our example, by declining the personal pronoun:

Ich gab ihm das Buch.


The GENITIVE is used when something belongs to someone. Das Buch des Mannes. (see below for declensions, i.e. how the word changes to fit the case)

Slightly more advanced stuff

The definite article declines as follows:

Masculine:

Nom: Der
Acc: Den
Dat: Dem (occasionally the accompanying noun will gain an "e" or "en")
Gen.: Des (the accompanying noun usually gains an "s", but there are exceptions)

Feminine:

Nom: Die
Acc: Die
Dat: Der
Gen.: Der

Neuter

Nom: Das
Acc: Das
Dat: Dem (occasionally the accompanying noun will gain an "e" or "en")
Gen.: Des (the accompanying noun usually gains an "s", but there are exceptions)

Even more advanced

In German, no two phrases are ever written without being separated by a comma. You will find two verbs occasionally together on the same side of the comma, but this is when a modal verb is involved, such as can/must, or a particiiple - e.g. I have seen. Thus, however, the sentence *I knew it would rain today* is separated into two clauses in German -: *Ich wußte, daß es heute regnen würde*, because there are two nominatives carrying out two actions: I/know and it/rain.

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bookmarking

I think my English teachers glossed over this terminology. I may take a while to get the hang of the nominative/dative/accusative/genitive thing. So sorry if I come out with some stupid questions

, or ... catching up.

No. Go ahead. I was lucky in that I had at least two good English teachers who had drummed this in in English before we went on to foreign languages, so I never had trouble with it. The examples given are easy to understand, but later on it gets complicated. What's the Haiku Challenge? Would I like it?

I always knew that the grammar was an important part of German, it just never got explained to me before, and I think it's going to take me a while to sort it out in English. But no matter. I'll get there.

And I hope you'd like it: basically what the Challenge is about, is that the person before you posts a topic, and you write a haiku on that topic, and then post a topic for the next person to haiku-ise. Please drop in and come play!

, or

So: I went to the shop: I am the nominative, went is the verb, shop is the accusative?

(Probably an even more basic example)

The dative can often be recognised (in English) because it is preceded by "to". There is no accusative in this sentence, as went is, in this case an intransitive verb - which means a verb that cannot take an accusative object. When you are going to the shop, you are not actually doing anything that will affect the shop itself. Grammatically speaking, I mean. If you're going to rob the shop (that was a transitive verb!), you are directly doing something that involves the shop, both dramatically and literally!

This is hard to explain and there are lots of cases which seem borderline until you get the hang of it.

In German, as you may find later on, this is somewhat simplified by liberal use of prepositions (zu, auf, um, an.... etc.) as each preposition always takes a certain case. This is only possible by rote learning, unfortunately, but I will cut it up into digestible portions for you.

In the case of your sentence "I went to the shop", the German would also use "zu" for "to" - Ich ging zum Laden. So, once we have covered that subject you will be clear in your mind that this can only be the dative. The nominative and verb are correct as you give them.

Just to prove that all this applies to real life, I will take your own words and point out direct objects and indirect objects in them:

*I (NOMINATIVE) always knew (VERB) that the grammar (NOMINATIVE) was an important part of German(GENITIVE), it just never got explained to me(DATIVE) before, and I(NOMINATIVE)
think it's going to take me a while (DIRECT OBJECT/ACCUSATIVE) to sort it out in English.

what the Challenge is about, is that the person (NOMINATIVE) before you (DATIVE) posts a topic (ACCUSATIVE), and
you (NOMINATIVE) write a haiku (ACCUSATIVE)on that topic, and then post a topic (ACCUSATIVE) for the next person to haiku-ise. Please drop in and come.
play!

This probably hasn't helped, but it will sort itself out later on.

Typo up the top! not "dramatically" but "grammatically"!!!!!!!!

I see it's going to take a while to get the hang of this.

I'm not very good at explaining sometimes. I'll see if I can find a book with a clear explanation. Maybe one of my kids' Latin books or one of my husband's french books.

Try looking at today's lesson. Simple neuter nouns.

Well, if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you, maybe I could work through some examples, and you could correct me? I learn better by doing. But not if it's too much trouble. I'm sure I'll muddle through

, or

OK coming up soon. In the meantime, look at today's examples regarding the indefinite article, maybe that will help a bit.

I once expressed everything in a 3D matrix: the definite, indefinite articles, and the declension of the adjectives. Actually, for the adjectives it breaks down to something much simpler. I'll see if I can reconstruct it.


Did any one mention "durch, fuer, gegen, ohne, um, entlang" yet? They always take the Akusativ.

This post has been removed.

Musk should of course read Musik
Rule 4 should say "changed from its nominative singular form".

Like I say, they worked for me, but maybe they just confuse others!
It takes a long time to develop the reflexes to apply the rules while speaking. Writing is easier - you have time to think it through.

Ausnahmsweise - I can see you're going to be a great help. Would you like to post a few lessons? The idea of doing it in the form of threads was so that others could have a go, too.

The adjectives was going to be today's lesson. And which case went with which preposition was planned for the middle distance. BI can see I shall have to write some of these things down for all to check up on.

An item that will come before the prepositions for example will be the conjugation of regular verbs and the most commen irregular verbs. That will be the next subject, once we have got the nouns and adjectives sorted out.

As to forming the adjective endings, I remember, when I was learning them, that there seemed to be a close relationship between them and the thinking behind integers, down to the use of the letters "m" and "n". I do remember it partly the way you descirbe, Ausnahmsweise, but I also need a table for reference. I shall post the table in any case when I write the lesson - maybe this morning, maybe this afternoon.

The German Class page has been slightly modified, if you'd like to check out there.

SMB's problem is still recognising which words are the accusative object and which are the dative object.

sorry about typos. I have a different resolution on my computer at work and can't see the last three words in the line when I'm typing postings without moving the window or reducing the resolution, both of which I sometimes just can't be bothered to do.

My other problem is I'm becoming rapidly overwhelmed

Random (that's your real name I assume) you're doing a great job. Sorry if I jumped ahead too far.

I can understand SMB's problem. We never have to worry about this is English. One thing I never understood - why is it "Ich gratuliere Dir"? I would think that would be the direct object.

Here's a poem.

Mir und mich verwechsele ich nicht
Das kommt bei mich nicht vor
Ich setze mir aud den Ofenbank
Und lese mir 'was vor.

Of course everything's wrong.

And,
"Wer brauchen ohne zu gebraucht, braucht brauchen gar nicht zu gebrauchen".

I am including this problem in today's lesson (had written it, offline, at work, and then the whole system crashed before I could upload it.) So go over to the adjectives to help sort this out.

Anyway, Buttercup. Don't worry. We can go at your pace. I have been asking around to see if anyone has a pat definition which will help you figure this out once and for all. I know it's hard, it took me ages, too.