Question

Technically I dont know how to use dativ and akkusativ, I also read on the Internet and saw that Dativ use for Wo and Akkudativ use for Wohin,

Besides, I also learnt about

Nominative: ich, du, er, sie , es, wir, ihr, Sie

Akkusativ: mich , dich,ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, Sie

Dativ: mir, dir, ihm, ihm, ihnen, uns, euch, Ihnen

so could you show me the way to applied this to a sentence or something like that. I get stuck in it

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

If you're a native English speaker it can be confusing because we just have 2 cases: nominative and objective. German splits the objective into 3 cases: accusative (for direct objects, objects of accusative prepositions (after durch, fuer, gegen, ohne, um), objects of 2 eay prepositions when a change in location is meant: ich gehe in den Garten - I'm walking into the yard & with definite time expressions. Dative case is used for indirect objects, objects of dative prepositions ( aus, ausser, bei, mit , nach, seit, von, zu , gegenueber) and after 2 way prepositions when they denote location (as opposed to a change in location - Er steht auf der Strasse - He stands in the street. But... Er geht in die Strasse - he walks into the street ( accusative b/c he goes from point A to point B..) Keep in mind that native speakers don't typically think about any of this. They just say what sounds right to them. If you want to learn to speak, don't worry about any of this too much. Just try to listen to German language programs and converse with natives as much as you can. Eventually you'll know what sounds right just like you do in your own language. There is actually a third case by the way called Genitive but it's use seems to be dying out especially with younger people who commonly use dative forms where genitive were once required.

Answer 2

The accusative is used for the direct object in a sentence, that means the part of speech of a sentence that is directly effected by the action of the verb. Ex: Der Mann kauft den Kuchen. (The man buys the cake....is buying the cake) The dative is used for the indirect object, or  part of speech  that is indirectly effected by the action of the verb. Ex. Der Mann kauft der Frau den Kuchen. (The man is buying the cake for the woman.)

By asking whom (wen) or what (was) is happening to someone or something, you will find the direct object (accusative). By asking for whom (wem), you will find the indirect object (dative). Ex. Was kauft der Mann?  Den Kuchen. Wem Kauft der Mann den Kuchen? Der Frau.

The nominative is always used for the subject of the sentence:

Masculine: der (for nouns) / er (for pronouns)

Feminine: die / sie

Neuter : das / es

Plural: die / sie

Accusative: direct object noun/pronoun

M: den / ihn

F: die / sie

N: das / es

Pl: die / sie

Dative: indirect object noun/pronoun

M: dem / ihm

F: der / ihr

N: dem / ihm

Pl: den / ihnen

Pronouns:

nominative: ich (I) du (you) er, sie, es (he, she, it); wir (we), ihr (you all) sie (they) Sie (formal you)

accusative: mich, dich, ihn, sie, es; uns, euch, sie, Sie

dative: mir, dir, ihm, ihr, ihm; uns, euch, ihnen, Ihnen