1.20525 · Section 1: Grammar

Articles and determiners in all cases

Key learnings

•
The four cases and the definite article
German marks a noun's job with four cases, shown by the article:
- Nominative — subject: der Mann.
- Accusative — direct object: den Mann.
- Dative — indirect object; after mit/nach/von/zu: dem Mann.
- Genitive — possession: des Mannes.
Only the masculine changes across all four (der → den → dem → des); feminine, neuter and plural shift far less, so learn the masculine column first. The full four-case table stays in the note.
•
Two families: der-words vs ein-words
Every other determiner joins one of two families, each with one ending pattern:
- Der-words — dieser, jener, welcher, jeder, mancher, solcher — take the same endings as der/die/das on their own stem.
- Ein-words — ein, kein and the possessives mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr — have NO ending in three slots (nom masc sg; nom/acc neut sg), so mein Bruder and mein Auto are correctly bare.
Full tables stay in the note.

Common mistakes

Drawn from real examiner reports.

Nominative article after a dative preposition

mit, nach, von, bei, aus, seit, zu always force the dative — but candidates leave the article in its default form:

✗ mit der Bus → mit dem Bus (der Bus → dem after mit)
✗ mit ihr Freundin → mit ihrer Freundin (dative feminine -er)

Learn the dative prepositions as a fixed list: preposition seen → dative ending.

(s22 P42/43 Q3a Task 1: "the dative was rarely used after mit")

Possessive stem: sein for a female owner

The possessive stem tracks the OWNER, not the thing owned. Shifting to the third person for a female owner needs ihr (her), not sein (his):

✗ Sein Bruder heißt Tom (owner female) → Ihr Bruder heißt Tom

Pick the stem for the owner first: sein = his/its, ihr = her/their; then add the case ending for the noun owned.

(w23 P22 Q4 "Marion": sein used for a female antecedent instead of ihr)

Possessive with no case ending as an object

The chosen stem still needs the case ending for the noun that follows. A masculine direct object is accusative, so the ein-word takes -en — the bare stem is wrong:

✗ Ich habe sein Bruder gesehen → Ich habe seinen Bruder gesehen (acc masc → -en)

The bare form is correct ONLY in nom masc sg and nom/acc neut sg — never for an accusative object.

(s22 P22 Q6h: accusative "seinen Bruder" required; "sein Bruder" scored no mark)

English apostrophe-s instead of von + dative

Standard German has no apostrophe-s for common nouns; possession uses von + dative:

✗ meine Schwester's Zimmer → das Zimmer von meiner Schwester

Because von is a dative preposition, the possessor's ending must be dative: von meiner Schwester, von unserem Onkel. Those who remember von often still drop its dative ending.

(w22 & w23 P42 Accuracy: advise "das Zimmer von meiner Schwester", not an apostrophe)

euer drops its middle -e- before an ending

euer (your, pl) drops its middle -e- when an ending is added, becoming eur-:

✗ eueren Bruder → euren Bruder (acc masc)
✗ euere Schwester → eure Schwester (nom fem)

Forms: eure, euren, eurem, eures — never euere/eueren. It stays euer only where there is no ending: euer Auto.

(general FL trap)

Two-way preposition: motion vs location case

Nine prepositions (in, an, auf, über, …) take the accusative for motion (movement to a place) but the dative for location (being somewhere):

Motion → Ich gehe in den Park (acc)
Location → Ich bin in dem Park (dat)

Ask "moving to a new place, or staying put?" — the preposition alone does not decide the case.

(general FL trap)

Using nicht ein instead of kein

German negates an indefinite or article-less noun with kein (declined like an ein-word), not nicht ein:

✗ Ich habe nicht ein Auto → Ich habe kein Auto
✗ Das ist nicht ein Problem → Das ist kein Problem

nicht negates a specific/definite noun or a verb (Ich mag den Film nicht); kein replaces ein and covers plurals (keine Bücher).

(general FL trap)

Owner sets the stem, the noun sets the ending

Students conflate two facts about a possessive:

The stem (mein, dein, sein, ihr…) depends on who owns the thing.
The ending depends on the case, gender and number of the thing owned.

So a female owner needs ihr (not sein); as an accusative object ihr still needs -en: ihren Bruder. Owner picks the stem, the noun the ending.

(w23 P22 Q4 "Marion" + s22 P22 Q6h "seinen Bruder": the two halves of this confusion)

Exam tips

Ask gender, then case, then family
For any noun phrase, ask three things in order: Gender? (learn each noun with its article); Case? (subject → nom, object → acc, dative preposition → dat, possession → gen); Family? (der-word vs ein-word endings, with the ein-word zero-ending slots).
Possessive: owner first, then ending
Treat a possessive as two decisions: first pick the stem for the OWNER (mein/dein/sein/ihr…), then add the ending for the thing owned. Examiners report candidates shifting the person but leaving the ending unchanged — do both steps every time.
Decide motion vs location for in/an/auf
With a two-way preposition (in, an, auf, über…), ask whether the verb shows movement to a place (accusative) or being there (dative): in den Park (going) vs in dem Park (staying). This choice changes the article ending, so decide the sense first.

Revision notes