Session 8 — Der Akkusativ & Possessive Articles
Friday, 3 July 2026 · with Sabahat Batool · slides: Akkusative Case.pptx
Never heard “accusative” before? It's just the object-form of the article.
Read the plain-English refresher on the cases map first if needed — then this page will feel easy.
After this lesson, continue to Session 9 (Akkusativ prepositions) and keep the
Cases & Prepositions Map open.
Part 1 · What is the accusative? (Wen? Was?)
Plain English: every simple sentence has a doer (subject → nominative) and often
a receiver of the action (direct object → accusative).
Ask Wer? (who does it?) to find the subject.
Ask Wen? (whom?) or Was? (what?) to find the accusative object.
Sara hat einen Bruder.
Sara has a brother. Sara = subject · a brother = accusative object
Wen liebt Petra? — Petra liebt ihren Opa.
Whom does Petra love? — Petra loves her grandpa. (person as object)
Was hast du? — Ich habe ein Auto.
What do you have? — I have a car. (thing as object)
Part 2 · The three tables — only masculine ever changes
The single most important insight of the whole class: going from nominative to accusative,
only the masculine column changes (adds -en sound). Feminine, neuter and plural are photocopies.
| Definite (the) | Indefinite (a) | Negative (no) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | der → den | ein → einen | kein → keinen |
| Feminine | die → die | eine → eine | keine → keine |
| Neuter | das → das | ein → ein | kein → kein |
| Plural | die → die | — | keine → keine |
The Wie-findest-du drill from class
Wie findest du den Hut? — Den Hut finde ich schön.
How do you like the hat? — I find the hat beautiful. (der → den)
Wie findest du die Hose? — Die Hose finde ich cool.
How do you like the pants? — I find the pants cool. (die stays)
Wie findest du das Kleid? — Das Kleid finde ich elegant.
How do you like the dress? — I find the dress elegant. (das stays)
Wie findest du die Schuhe? — Die Schuhe finde ich teuer.
How do you like the shoes? — I find the shoes expensive. (plural stays)
Ich esse einen Apfel. · Ich habe eine Katze. · Wir haben ein Baby.
I eat an apple (masc → einen) · I have a cat (fem) · We have a baby (neut)
Keep the sequence sacred: always recite the table in the order
masculine → feminine → neuter → plural. The teacher's warning: if you shuffle the order in your head, everything collapses in the exam.
“ist” blocks the accusative: Das ist ein Spiegel (nominative — just labelling) vs
Ich habe einen Spiegel (accusative — having acts on it). Two subjects linked by “is” = both nominative.
Part 3 · Possessivartikel — my, your, his, her…
Plain English: possessives (“my phone”, “her dog”) behave EXACTLY like ein/kein:
same endings in nominative, same masculine-only change in accusative.
| Pronoun | Possessive | + fem/plural | Accusative masc. |
|---|---|---|---|
| ich | mein my | meine | meinen |
| du | dein your | deine | deinen |
| er / es | sein his / its | seine | seinen |
| sie (she) | ihr her | ihre | ihren |
| wir | unser our | unsere | unseren |
| ihr (you all) | euer your | eure | euren |
| sie (they) | ihr their | ihre | ihren |
| Sie (polite) | Ihr your (capital!) | Ihre | Ihren |
Das ist mein Sohn. → Ich liebe meinen Sohn.
That is my son (nominative). → I love my son (accusative, masc → meinen).
Das ist meine Katze. → Ich habe meine Katze gern.
Feminine — no change, just the -e for feminine.
Your mistake in class (great catch!): for er (he) the possessive is
sein, and for sie (she) it's ihr.
Don't pair “er → ihr” by sound — the pairs are cross-wired: er→sein, sie→ihr.
Part 4 · Nouns that take NO article
Plain English: two groups of German nouns go “naked” — no der/die/das, no ein:
① professions and ② abstract/uncountable feelings.
Ich bin Pilotin. · Ich bin Ingenieur.
I am A pilot. / I am AN engineer. — English needs a/an, German drops it!
Ich habe Hunger · Durst · Zeit · Geld · Glück · Lust.
I'm hungry · thirsty · have time · money · luck · feel like it.
Why? You can't count them one-by-one (you can count Euros, but not "money" itself; you can't have "two hungers"). Uncountable → no article.
Negating them uses kein: Ich habe keine Zeit (no time — die Zeit, fem) ·
Er hat keinen Hunger (der Hunger, masc → keinen) ·
Er mag keinen Reis (he doesn't like rice — der Reis).
Part 5 · The sentence-pair drill from class
The pattern practiced: first introduce a thing with Das ist ein(e)… (indefinite, nominative),
then describe it with the definite article: Der/Die/Das … ist …
| Introduce (ein/eine) | Describe (der/die/das) | English |
|---|---|---|
| Das ist eine Vase. | Die Vase ist schön. | That's a vase. The vase is beautiful. |
| Das ist ein Bild. | Das Bild ist teuer. | That's a picture. The picture is expensive. |
| Das ist ein Laptop. | Der Laptop ist gut. | That's a laptop. The laptop is good. |
| Das sind Stifte. (plural — no ein!) | Die Stifte sind neu. | Those are pens. The pens are new. |
| Das sind Blumen. | Die Blumen sind wunderbar. | Those are flowers. The flowers are wonderful. |
| Das ist eine Uhr. | Die Uhr ist praktisch. | That's a clock. The clock is practical. |
Plural has no “ein”: Das sind Stifte — indefinite plural is just the bare noun.
To negate: Das sind keine Stifte.
Wie findest du…? with definite accusative — mixed drill
Wie findest du die Bluse? · Wie findest du den Hund? · Wie findest du das Haus?
Only the der-word became den. die/das untouched.
The teacher is sending a test on this topic — do it before the next session.
Session 8 recap
If you remember only 5 things
- Accusative = the object costume. Find it with Wen? / Was?
- Only masculine changes: der→den, ein→einen, kein→keinen, mein→meinen.
- Possessives copy ein-endings: er→sein, sie→ihr (cross-wired pairs!).
- Professions and Hunger/Durst/Zeit/Geld/Glück/Lust take NO article.
- After ist/sind — always nominative, never accusative.
Source: sessions/2026-07-03-fri — transcript, Akkusative Case.pptx.