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

Masculine:

NOM:Ein brauner Hund. A brown dog.
ACC: Einen braunen Hund.
DAT : Einem braunen Hund.
GEN : Eines braunen Hund(e)s

Feminine:

NOM: Eine schmale Hand. A narrow - maybe "slim" is better - hand.
ACC: Eine schmale Hand.
DAT: Einer schmalen Hand.
GEN: Einer schmalen Hand.

Neuter

NOM: Ein dickes Buch - A large/fat/thick/bulky book.
ACC: Ein dickes Buch
DAT: Einem dicken Buch
GEN: Eines dicken Buches.

That's the table.

Now for some explanations:


Masculine:

NOM:Ein brauner Hund. A brown dog.
The dog is doing what?
Ein brauner Hund trank aus der Pfütze. A brown dog drunk out of the puddle.

ACC: Einen braunen Hund.
Meine letzte Freundin hatte einen braunen Hund.
My last girlfriend had a brown dog.
"To have" is one of the most common verbs which will take an accusative object.

DAT : Einem braunen Hund.
Die Kinder spielten mit einem braunen Hund.
The children were playing with a brown dog. We will look into the tenses at a much
later date, and see how the word 'spielten' becomes were playing.
The preposition "mit" has already been used once or twice to illustrate a dative case.
It is ALWAYS ALWAYS followed by the dative. Later I will post a list of prepositions
which always take the dative. As I have promised before!

GEN : Eines braunen Hund(e)s
Er hob seinen Kopf und schaute in die Augen eines braunen Hundes.
He lifted his head and looked straight into the eyes of a brown dog.
We could elaborate even more here - in die Augen eines kleinen braunen Hundes.
All adjectives decline in the same way when referring to the same noun.

Feminine:

NOM: Eine schmale Hand. A narrow - maybe "slim" is better - hand.
Eine schmale Hand kam durchs Fenster.
A slim hand reached/came through the window.

ACC: Eine schmale Hand.
Sie bot ihm eine schmale Hand.
She offered him her hand (for a handshake or a kiss - we shall never know)

DAT: Einer schmalen Hand.
Sie winkte mit einer schmalen Hand.
She waved with a slim hand.

GEN: Einer schmalen Hand.
Die Finger einer schmalen Hand schlüpften aus dem Handschuh.
The fingers of a slim hand slipped out of the glove.

Neuter

NOM: Ein dickes Buch -

In this case, the book must be doing whatever the verb is talking about.
Ein dickes Buch liegt auf dem Tisch (a large book is lying on the table)

ACC: Ein dickes Buch

For the accusative, the book must be directly involved with what the verb is referring
to.
Der Lehrer holte ein dickes Buch aus seiner Tasche. The teacher took a large book
out of his bag.

DAT: Einem dicken Buch

In the dative case, the book is the indirect object, and is on the receiving end of the
verb, but does not actually carry out the action.
Er las Geschichten aus einem dicken Buch. He read stories from a large book.
Can you guess what the "Geschichten" are? This is the accusative case in this
sentence.

GEN: Eines dicken Buches.

The genitive case is easy to identify. Something must belong to the book.
Unter dem Gewicht eines dicken Buches lassen sich Blätter aus dem Wald gut
pressen.
(Literally: ) Under the weight of a heavy/large book leaves from the woods can be
well pressed.

*****


We still have to deal with plurals, and with adjectives and nouns with no article. Not to
mention the possessive pronouns (although these are the same as the indefinite
article to a great extent)

Don't despair. Ask questions.

Also try out these links - perhaps the explaining is more suited to your way of thinking:

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/german/begin_grmn/
http://www.wm.edu/CAS/modlang/gasmit/grammar/nounmnu.htm