This page is your single-screen reference for everything that changes when a German word shifts case. Every other case page explains the why; this one simply lays the paradigms side by side — the definite article, the indefinite article, kein, and the personal pronouns — so you can look anything up and, over time, read the forms off without thinking. Bookmark it. The goal is not to memorize these as isolated facts, but to internalize the shared patterns that run through all of them.
How to read these tables
Each article table has four columns — masculine, feminine, neuter, plural — and four rows — nominative, accusative, dative, genitive. To decline a noun phrase, find the case (the row) and the gender or number (the column), and read off the form. The example noun in each cell shows the noun's own ending too, because nouns change in two specific cases.
A few cells are worth flagging before you start, because they are the diagnostic forms — the ones that actually reveal the case in a sentence:
- Masculine accusative: den (the one masculine cell that differs from the nominative).
- Dative plural: the article is den, and the noun adds -n (e.g. den Kindern).
- Genitive masculine/neuter: the article is des, and the noun adds -(e)s (e.g. des Mannes).
- Feminine dative: der — the same word as masculine nominative, a famous trap.
The definite article: der, die, das
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | der Mann | die Frau | das Kind | die Kinder |
| Accusative | den Mann | die Frau | das Kind | die Kinder |
| Dative | dem Mann | der Frau | dem Kind | den Kindern |
| Genitive | des Mannes | der Frau | des Kindes | der Kinder |
Der Mann gibt dem Kind den Ball.
The man gives the child the ball. (nom. der Mann, dat. dem Kind, acc. den Ball)
Ich helfe den Kindern bei den Hausaufgaben.
I help the children with their homework. (dative plural den Kindern — note the added -n)
Das ist das Auto des Mannes.
That's the man's car. (genitive masculine des Mannes — article des plus noun -es)
The indefinite article: ein, eine
The ein-words follow the same case logic but have no ending in three slots (masculine nominative, neuter nominative, neuter accusative). That gap is exactly why adjectives after ein have to work harder (the mixed pattern).
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ein Mann | eine Frau | ein Kind |
| Accusative | einen Mann | eine Frau | ein Kind |
| Dative | einem Mann | einer Frau | einem Kind |
| Genitive | eines Mannes | einer Frau | eines Kindes |
There is no plural column because ein means "a/one" and has no plural. (For "some / no" in the plural, use kein, below.)
Ein Mann wartet vor der Tür.
A man is waiting at the door. (ein — no ending in masc. nom.)
Ich kenne einen Mann, der das kann.
I know a man who can do that. (accusative einen — the -en that ein adds)
Sie kommt mit einem Freund.
She's coming with a friend. (dative masculine einem after mit)
kein (and the possessives: mein, dein, sein…)
Kein ("no / not a") takes the same endings as ein, but it does have a plural, since you can negate plural nouns. All the possessives (mein, dein, sein, ihr, unser, euer, Ihr) decline identically to kein, so this one table covers a whole family of words.
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | kein Mann | keine Frau | kein Kind | keine Kinder |
| Accusative | keinen Mann | keine Frau | kein Kind | keine Kinder |
| Dative | keinem Mann | keiner Frau | keinem Kind | keinen Kindern |
| Genitive | keines Mannes | keiner Frau | keines Kindes | keiner Kinder |
Ich habe keine Zeit.
I have no time. (feminine accusative keine)
Mit keinem Wort hat er sich entschuldigt.
He didn't apologize with a single word. (dative masculine keinem)
Personal pronouns
Pronouns show case the most clearly of all, because the case is built into the word rather than into a separate article.
| Person | Nominative | Accusative | Dative |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | ich | mich | mir |
| you (informal sg.) | du | dich | dir |
| he / it (masc.) | er | ihn | ihm |
| she | sie | sie | ihr |
| it (neut.) | es | es | ihm |
| we | wir | uns | uns |
| you (informal pl.) | ihr | euch | euch |
| they | sie | sie | ihnen |
| you (formal) | Sie | Sie | Ihnen |
Ich sehe ihn, aber er sieht mich nicht.
I see him, but he doesn't see me. (acc. ihn, mich)
Gib mir bitte das Salz.
Pass me the salt, please. (dative mir)
(The genitive of personal pronouns — meiner, deiner, seiner — is rare in modern German and appears mainly with a few set verbs and prepositions, so it is omitted here.)
Reading the patterns across the tables
The real payoff of putting these paradigms together is that you start to see the same handful of endings recurring everywhere — on der-words, on ein-words, and (with one tweak) on adjectives. These five endings are the skeleton of the entire system:
| Ending | Signals | Seen in |
|---|---|---|
| -r | masc. nom. / fem.-dat. / gen. | der, einer, guter |
| -s / -es | neuter; genitive masc./neut. | das, eines, gutes; des Mannes |
| -e | fem. nom./acc.; plural | die, eine, gute |
| -n / -en | masc. acc.; dative plural | den, einen; den Kindern |
| -m / -em | masc./neut. dative | dem, einem, gutem |
Once you recognize that dem, einem, and gutem all carry the -m that means "masculine/neuter dative," you stop memorizing each table from scratch. You are really learning one set of endings that attach to whichever word in the phrase needs to carry the case. This is why the master tables are worth more than the sum of their parts: they expose the shared machinery.
Common Mistakes
Trying to memorize each paradigm as disconnected facts rather than reading them off the grid until automatic:
❌ Memorizing 'dem' for masc. dative but not noticing 'einem' and 'gutem' share the -m.
Inefficient — you relearn the same ending three times.
✅ Learn the -m = masc./neut. dative pattern once; it appears on der-words, ein-words, and adjectives alike.
Efficient: one pattern, many words.
Forgetting the dative-plural -n on the noun:
❌ Ich spiele mit den Kinder.
Incorrect — the dative plural adds -n to the noun.
✅ Ich spiele mit den Kindern.
I play with the children. (den Kindern)
Forgetting the genitive -(e)s on the masculine/neuter noun:
❌ das Auto des Mann
Incorrect — the genitive masculine noun needs -(e)s.
✅ das Auto des Mannes
The man's car. (des Mannes)
Falling for the feminine-dative trap (der looks like a nominative):
❌ Reading 'Ich gebe der Frau das Buch' as 'the woman gives…' because of der.
Incorrect — der Frau here is feminine dative, the recipient, not the subject.
✅ 'Ich gebe der Frau das Buch' = 'I give the woman the book.'
Correct: der is the feminine dative article.
Key Takeaways
- Four tables cover almost everything: der-words, ein-words, kein (and the possessives), and the personal pronouns.
- Learn them in this order: full nominative row → masculine accusative (den) → the whole dative row.
- The diagnostic cells are masc. acc. den, dative plural den …-n, genitive des …-(e)s, and feminine dative der.
- Five endings (-r, -s, -e, -n/-en, -m/-em) recur across der-words, ein-words, and adjectives — learn the pattern once.
- Use this page as a lookup until the forms become automatic; don't drill them as isolated trivia.
Now practice German
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Start learning German→Related Topics
- 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.
- 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.
- Indefinite Article Declension (ein-words)A2 — The full declension of ein, kein, and the possessives — identical to der-words except for two endingless gaps.
- How Case Marks PronounsA2 — The full personal-pronoun paradigm across nominative, accusative, and dative — where German case shows up most clearly.