Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(https://germanwithlaura.com)
Noun Guides:
Noun Gender
(https://germanwithlaura.com/noun-gender/)
Noun Plurals
(https://germanwithlaura.com/plurals/)
Cases:
Cases Overview
(https://germanwithlaura.com/noun-cases/)
Dative Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/dative-case/)
Nominative Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/nominative-case/)
Genitive Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/genitive-case/)
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 1/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
Accusative Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/accusative-case/)
Articles:
Articles Overview
(https://germanwithlaura.com/german-articles/)
Declensions
(https://germanwithlaura.com/declension/)
Take nouns. Seems so deceptively simple. You learn table, chair, man, woman,
ad infinitum with all the basics. Plug them into sentences. BOOM. Done.
BUT.
For example, what is with all those der, die, das everywhere? Turns out that
features of German nouns impact other words in a sentence in some
complicated, interrelated ways (that we don’t deal with in English).
You’ve got questions. I’ve got answers! Read through my guides on German
nouns (I recommend the particular order you’ll see below).
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 2/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
The skinny on der, die, das is that they are 3 different ways to say ‘the’ in
German (heads up: there are 3 additional ways, too: den, dem, and des). So,
those phrases mean simply the man, the woman, the child.
This guide to der die das (and the nominative case) will teach you how to know
when to use which version of ‘the’, why you learn nouns with these ‘the’s in
front of them, and a smarter way to commit the various German ‘the’s to
memory.
Gender
(https://germanwithlaura.com/noun-
gender/)
When we talk about a noun, there are almost always other words in front of the
noun that come along for the ride. For example, a tall tree, this small house, the
fluffy bunny, many colorful M&Ms.
In German, how exactly you say those words in front of the nouns changes
based — for one thing — on the gender of the noun. WHOA.
But that’s why German noun gender is so crucial. Ultimately, you can say
scarcely anything beyond ja or nein without needing to know noun gender!
Fortunately, there are tips & tricks that can make learning noun gender MUCH
easier … and you probably aren’t hearing about these German noun gender
shortcuts anywhere else!
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 3/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
Plurals
(https://germanwithlaura.com/plurals
After you’ve got a handle on German Noun Gender, it’s time to tackle German
Noun Plurals! Dependent on how you categorize things, there are between 5-9
different ways to form plurals in German.
Never fear! We can simplify German noun plurals such that you’re choosing
between 2 main options (with another 3 playing side gigs). It’s actually fairly
straightforward.
As with German noun gender, figuring out German noun plurals involves
learning various patterns (and they are related to the patterns of German noun
gender, so you’re building on prior knowledge — nice!).
So, don’t worry about needing to memorize thousands of isolated noun plurals.
Learn a few German noun plurals shortcuts that you can apply across the
board (with few exceptions).
Plurals, Demystified!
Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/noun-
cases/)
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 4/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
You’ve got the German noun gender & noun plurals guides under your belt.
Feelin’ pretty good. But ready for a little break. Isn’t there anything about
German that’s easier than English?
Nope, not really. And sorry … we’ve just barely gotten started!
NOW you are ready to learn why something like German noun gender even
matters in the first place (I mean, seriously, why bother with noun gender?
English proves you don’t need it, right?).
Well, all nouns play particular roles in a given sentence. In German, there are
four types of roles and they are the 4 German cases (nominative, accusative,
dative, genitive).
German nouns must be in one or another case in order for a sentence to make
sense. The way that case is indicated is by slight changes to the words (e.g.
the, a, big, blue, etc.) that might come in front of the noun (e.g. sky, lake, bees,
bears).
So, that means that both the gender of the noun AND the role it’s playing in the
sentence (i.e. its case) impact exactly how we say the other words that belong
in the noun phrase (e.g. the blue sky, a big lake, three buzzing bees, many
fuzzy bears, etc.)
And that’s a pretty big deal if you want to say anything beyond hallo!
So, that’s a glimpse into the whys of German Noun Case, but what about more
of the whats and the hows? We cover that, too, overview-style in this Guide to
German Noun Case. Then, you can read up (in depth) on the individual cases
next!
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 5/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
Nominative Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/der-
die-das/#using-nominative-case)
If you think of cases as being like ‘slots’ in a sentence, those ‘slots’ get filled up
with nouns that are playing different roles in the sentence (and therefore
relating to the other nouns in the sentence in a particular way).
The nominative ‘slot’ is the first one that usually gets filled up in any sentence.
Because the noun that goes into the nominative ‘slot’ is the subject of the
sentence.
In other words, the little changes to the words in front of the noun (subject) will
specifically reflect 1) the gender of the subject and 2) the fact that it is
functioning as the subject in the particular sentence.
Since we have 3 genders (and then the plural, too!), there must be at least 4
different ways to put nouns into the nominative ‘slot’ as subjects of the
sentence.
Turns out, there is even a bit more that goes into this discussion, but we cover
all things relating to the nominative case here so you’ll be speaking German
properly in no time!
Accusative Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/accusative-
case/)
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 6/12
12/3/2023 ) German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
If the nominative case is making sense to you, then it’s time to move on to the
accusative case so that you can start to understand/say/write more complex
German sentences.
The accusative case is another ‘slot’ in a sentence that gets filled up with any
noun playing the role of direct object.
This pretty exhaustive guide on the accusative case tells you all the ins-and-
outs of how & when exactly to do that!
Dative Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/dative-
case/)
German learners frequently find themselves very confused about the
differences between the accusative & dative cases (<– it’s a distinction rarely
relevant in English but vital to German).
The dative case is, of course, another ‘slot’ that we can put a noun into when it
needs to play the particular role of the indirect object in a given sentence.
As always, the other words in the noun phrase (e.g. determiners such as a, the,
this, some, etc. and adjectives such as windy, sparkly, tough, green) will be
slightly changed to indicate the gender (M, F, N, or Pl) & case (dative).
You can learn in this extensive guide to the dative case about all the relevant
details about how to know when to use the dative case and then how to make
the right changes to the right words so that they’re accurately reflecting ‘hey,
I’m in the dative case!’
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 7/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
I m in the dative case!
Bonus: there are fewer differences to keep track of in the dative vs. the
nominative & accusative!
Genitive Case
(https://germanwithlaura.com/genitive-
case/)
Ooh, this tricky little menace! The genitive is the fourth (and least important)
German case or ‘slot’ that we can fill up with a noun/noun phrase.
The genitive is a case that is used to draw a connection between two nouns,
which can loosely be thought of as ‘possession’ as in the roof of the house (<–
‘of the house’ is in the genitive and you could think of the house as ‘owning’ its
roof).
How to use the genitive case is possibly even the most simple of the four cases
(e.g. there are the most similarities / the fewest different options).
But when to use the genitive case is a very emotionally charged topic (<– some
argue that the genitive case will completely die out of the German language
within the next 100 years tops).
Fortunately, you can get insider-info by reading all the whys and wherefores in
this thorough how-to / when-to guide to German genitive case!
Articles
(https://germanwithlaura.com/german
articles/)
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 8/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
articles/)
Lucky for you, I believe in using the fewest possible grammar terms to teach
you what you need to know.
And you don’t need to learn about articles. Nope! If we split hairs (but we
won’t), articles are a sub-category of words that are called determiners (<– a
truly useful term to know, promise).
In this all-you-need-to-know Guide to German Articles, you can learn all about
If you like to learn smarter, not harder, this a guide made for you!
Declensions
(https://germanwithlaura.com/declension/)
Finally! Saved the best for last. Every.Single.Guide. on German nouns is
ultimately about declensions. So, I hope you’ve read those others first before
you tackle this mountain!
Remember all those slight changes I’ve been referencing? That are made to
the words that come in front of nouns? So that the gender & case of the noun is
properly signaled?
Sweet. Well, those slight changes are called declensions (<– another grammar
term actually worth knowing).
You can’t speak German without using declensions all.the.time. So, this is a
topic worth knowing like the back of your hand (and you can, promise).
Umm. WHAT?!
I don’t think so. It’d be nice to be fluent in German sooner than 10 years from
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 10/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
do t t so t d be ce to be ue t Ge a soo e t a 0 yea s o
now.
Well, hooray, because you can use this mind-blowing Declensions Guide to
learn German smarter, not harder in much sooner than 10 years!
Turns out that you can learn ALL the declensions with just ONE chart. Doesn’t
that sound waaay better than 10? Won’t believe it ‘til you see it? Well, get
reading then!
Home
Grammar Topics
About
Contact
Article Topics
Adjectives
(https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/)
Nouns
Prepositions
Pronouns
Verb Tenses
Verb Types
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 11/12
12/3/2023 German Nouns - Your Complete Guide
https://germanwithlaura.com/nouns/ 12/12