Beyond marking the direct object, German has a productive habit of using the bare accusative — with no preposition at all — to express when, how long, and how much. This is the so-called adverbial accusative. English handles the same ideas with little words like "for," "this," "next," or "every," and then leaves the noun untouched ("every day," "last Friday," "for a month"). German instead drops the preposition and puts the whole phrase in the accusative. Because English speakers are wired to insert a preposition, they consistently under-use this construction — adding "für" or "an" where German wants nothing but the case. Learning the bare accusative makes your German noticeably more idiomatic.
Definite points in time
For a specific, definite point in time, German often uses the bare accusative — especially with the der-words jeder, dieser, nächster, letzter and with welcher.
Nächsten Montag fängt mein neuer Job an.
My new job starts next Monday.
Letzten Freitag waren wir im Kino.
Last Friday we were at the movies.
Diesen Sommer bleiben wir zu Hause.
This summer we're staying home.
There is no am, no im, no für. The accusative endings on nächsten, letzten, diesen do all the work that an English preposition would do. Note the masculine/neuter endings: Montag and Freitag are masculine, so the der-word takes -en (nächsten Montag); Jahr is neuter, so nächstes Jahr.
Nächstes Jahr wollen wir nach Japan reisen.
Next year we want to travel to Japan.
Frequency: how often
Repeated time expressions ("every day," "every week") use the bare accusative, again driven by the der-word jeder.
Ich gehe jeden Tag joggen.
I go jogging every day.
Sie ruft jeden Abend ihre Mutter an.
She calls her mother every evening.
Jede Woche kommt eine neue Folge raus.
A new episode comes out every week.
Duration: how long
For a stretch of time — a duration — German uses the bare accusative, frequently reinforced by lang placed after the noun. Lang is optional with longer units but very common, and it firmly signals "for the whole length of."
Wir haben einen Monat lang an dem Projekt gearbeitet.
We worked on the project for a month.
Sie hat den ganzen Tag geschlafen.
She slept the whole day / all day long.
Er war eine Woche lang krank.
He was sick for a week.
Ich habe drei Stunden gewartet.
I waited for three hours.
The masculine einen Monat lang is the diagnostic form: an English speaker is strongly tempted to write für einen Monat, but the idiomatic German for plain duration is the bare accusative. (Use für with duration only when you mean a planned, allotted span — Ich miete die Wohnung für einen Monat, "I'm renting the apartment for a month [that's the term]." For "I worked for a month," it's the bare accusative.)
Measure, dimension, and price
The same bare accusative expresses measurements, dimensions, and prices — the answer to "how much / how far / how heavy / how tall."
Das kostet einen Euro.
That costs one euro.
Der Turm ist einen Meter höher als das Haus.
The tower is one meter taller than the house.
Das Brett ist einen Zentimeter dick.
The board is one centimeter thick.
Wir sind einen Kilometer gelaufen.
We walked one kilometer.
Again, einen Euro, einen Meter, einen Kilometer show the accusative because these masculine units are the only ones that visibly change — feminine and neuter measures (eine Stunde, ein Jahr) look identical to the nominative, which is exactly why the construction is so easy to overlook.
Contrast: when you DO use a preposition
The bare accusative is not the only way to express time. German also has a rich set of prepositional time phrases, and choosing between them is partly idiomatic. The broad division:
| Idea | Construction | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Definite point (day, date, "next/last X") | bare accusative | nächsten Montag, letzten Freitag |
| Day of the week (general) | an + dative (am) | am Montag |
| Month / season / year-feel | in + dative (im) | im Sommer, im Mai |
| Clock time | um + accusative | um acht Uhr |
| Duration (plain "how long") | bare accusative (+ lang) | einen Monat lang |
| Within / over a span | in + dative | in einer Woche |
Am Montag habe ich frei, aber nächsten Montag muss ich arbeiten.
On Monday I'm off, but next Monday I have to work.
This pair captures the distinction perfectly: a generic "on Monday" uses am Montag (an + dative), while the specific, pointed-to "next Monday" uses the bare accusative nächsten Montag. The two coexist in one sentence with two different constructions.
Im Sommer fahren wir oft ans Meer, aber diesen Sommer nicht.
In summer we often go to the seaside, but not this summer.
Why English speakers under-use it
English never strips the preposition the way German does. "I worked for a month," "every day," "this summer," "it costs one euro" — English keeps a preposition (for) or a determiner (every, this) and leaves the noun in its plain form, because English nouns don't carry case anyway. The German learner's reflex is therefore to translate the English preposition word-for-word: für jeden Tag, an nächsten Montag. Both are wrong. The fix is to recognize that German encodes the relationship inside the noun phrase, via the accusative, rather than with a separate function word. Drop the preposition; let the case carry the meaning.
Common mistakes
❌ Ich gehe für jeden Tag joggen.
Incorrect — frequency uses the bare accusative, no preposition: jeden Tag.
✅ Ich gehe jeden Tag joggen.
I go jogging every day.
❌ An nächsten Montag fängt mein Job an.
Incorrect — 'next Monday' as a definite point is a bare accusative, with no 'an': Nächsten Montag.
✅ Nächsten Montag fängt mein Job an.
My job starts next Monday.
❌ Wir haben für einen Monat an dem Projekt gearbeitet.
Incorrect — plain duration ('how long') takes the bare accusative: einen Monat (lang). 'Für' implies an allotted/planned span.
✅ Wir haben einen Monat lang an dem Projekt gearbeitet.
We worked on the project for a month.
❌ Das kostet ein Euro.
Incorrect — 'Euro' is masculine and the price is an accusative of measure: einen Euro.
✅ Das kostet einen Euro.
That costs one euro.
❌ Sie hat der ganze Tag geschlafen.
Incorrect — duration is accusative: den ganzen Tag (masculine den + ganzen).
✅ Sie hat den ganzen Tag geschlafen.
She slept all day long.
Key takeaways
- German uses the bare accusative (no preposition) for definite time points (nächsten Montag, letzten Freitag, diesen Sommer), frequency (jeden Tag), duration (einen Monat lang, den ganzen Tag), and measure/price (einen Euro, einen Meter).
- The der-words jeden, nächsten, diesen, letzten carry accusative endings; masculine and neuter make the case visible.
- English forces a preposition or determiner and leaves the noun bare, so learners under-use the construction or wrongly insert für / an.
- Reserve für
- accusative for a deliberately allotted span (für einen Monat = "for a [set] month"); plain "how long" is the bare accusative.
- Contrast the bare forms with the prepositional time phrases am Montag, im Sommer, um acht Uhr — see temporal prepositions and the accusative case overview.
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- The Accusative CaseA1 — The accusative marks the direct object — and because only masculine articles visibly change, masculine 'den/einen' is the system's single biggest stumbling block.
- Prepositions That Take the AccusativeA2 — The closed set durch, für, gegen, ohne, um (plus bis, entlang, wider) always governs the accusative — no motion test, no alternation, just a memorized list.
- Prepositions of TimeA2 — The German time prepositions — am, im, um, vor, nach, seit, bis, in, für, während — organized by clock, day, month, and duration.
- Definite Article Declension Across All CasesA2 — The full 4x4 der/die/das table — the master template that also unlocks dieser, jeder, welcher, and the strong adjective endings.
- The Four Cases: An OverviewA1 — Nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive — what each case does, why German marks roles on the article instead of by word order, and why this makes word order freer.