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Need some German grammar help!



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Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:52 pm
Sumi H. Inkblot says...



I have a test coming up on nominative and accusative forms of pronouns (ich, du, er/sie/es, otherwise known as I, you, he/she/it).

According to the omniscient textbook, you change things when it's nominative or accusative or when "fuer" is used in the sentence. Linguistics help plz? I don't understand any of this stuff. @_@
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Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:23 pm
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JabberHut says...



I'm not so sure what I can help with. >_<

Let alone, what you really need help in?

Nominative case is basically the subject, so those don't ever change. They stay as ich, du, etc.

Accusative (and do you know dative yet?) case(s) do change the pronouns, but it depends on the preposition used. (Fuer is a preposition.)

Accusative prepositions:
Durch
Fuer
Gegen
Ohne
Um

Dative Prepositions: (You may not need to know these.)
Aus
Ausser
Bei
Mit
Nach
Zeit
Von
Zu

Either/Or (This depends on the verb, and I'll explain after the list.)
an
auf
hinter
in
neben
über
unter
vor
ago
zwischen

The third list depends on the verb whether it's dative or accusative. If the verb means the subject is in motion, then the object/pronoun is accusative. If the verb means the object/pronoun is not moving, then it is dative.

I'll bet you won't have to know that? But if it sounds familiar to you, then it would be best to know this. xD

Now, the accusative pronouns are up to you to know. I can't really help you with learning them? Except maybe for er and possibly es. Here's the list I think is right:

ich = mich
du = dich

er = ihn (Remember how der switches to den in Accusative case? Same thing happens here.)
sie = sie (Females are too cool to change. 8))
es = es (Stays the same, but it's keeping its eye on the other two. Which gender does it want to be? :wink:)

wir = uns
ihr = euch (I think?)
sie = sie
Sie = Sie (These two don't change either, I think.)

You might actually have a list with you, and I'm making a fool of myself. I hope you do have a list. xD

Did I help any? >_<
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Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:45 pm
Emerson says...



Hiya!

So my German isn't that great but I can explain this stuff pretty well? I'd mail you my papers on it but that would take a while.

So, you're confused about the accusative and nominative and when to use which and when things change? I'm not entirely sure on the question but I'll explain everything just in case.

Nominative: subject of a sentence. Ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, and Sie (pl/fl)* are nominative pronouns.

Ich lese.
Du hast
Wir schwimmen.

This makes sense to you, right? It's the easy stuff you learn in first year. Nominative will always be the subject of a sentence. Since you say pronouns, you're lucky. ^_^ I don't have to explain about articles changing!

*pl= plural, fl=formal

Accusative: a direct object of a verb will always be in the accusative case. (As opposed to the dative, which is the indirect object of a verb. Don't worry about this.) Accusative pronouns match with these nominative pronouns:

Ich=>Mich
Du=>Dich
Er=>ihn
Sie=>sie
Es=>Es
Wir=>Uns
Ihr=>Euch
Sie=>Sie

NOTE: The only accusative pronoun that requires capitalization is the second person formal, Sie. (I'll give an example.)

What exactly does it mean by direct object? It's kind of confusing if you don't know what they're talking about in English, so first I'll give some English examples with the D.O. underlined.

I ate the cake.
He loves her.
Do you know him?

Basically, this is the easiest way to explain it: the object of a preposition follows, and is related to the verb.

I ate what?
He loves who?
Do you know who?[/i]

BUT accusative does not address anything with the word "to" (when the verb involves "to" - not the actual preposition "to")

For example:

I gave the cake to [u]my friend
.

That's not accusative. Not to confuse you or anything. XD

So, what does it look like in German?

Ich liebe dich. - I love you
Wir brauchen Sie - We need you (Formal, as if referring to a teacher)

FUER

Basically, what you need to know, is that after the preposition fuer, you use the accusitive preposition.

I am cooking for her. - Ich kuche fuer sie.

I think that explains everything? If you're still confused or I didn't cover something, just ask away! I didn't have my German texts with me and my computer is running slow, so sorry if I misspelled anything or used words that don't really exist...haha

Viel gluck!
“It's necessary to have wished for death in order to know how good it is to live.”
― Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
  





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Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:39 pm
Sumi H. Inkblot says...



Okay, nominative is when the noun acts, and accusative is when the noun is "acted upon"?

So...

"I bought((buy...we haven't gotten to tenses yet)) books for you (all)" is "Ich kaufe Buecher fuer euch", and "We buy books for you" is "Wir kaufen Buecher fuer dich..." This makes so much more sense now! Danke shoen! ^_^
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Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:46 pm
erratik_statik says...



Nominative is the pronoun as the subject of the sentence: the pronoun doing the action
HE ran
It ran
I ran

ER lauft
ES lauft
ICH laufe

Accusative is the direct object: the direct object of the sentence

you have ME
he has HER
I found YOU

du hast MICH
er hat SIE (she doesn't change)
ich finde DICH


If you remember the what all the pronouns are, you should be pretty right :-)
I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas. . . . . .

"The Lovesong of J Alfred Prufrock" T.S Eliot
  





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Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:51 pm
Emerson says...



Okay, nominative is when the noun acts, and accusative is when the noun is "acted upon"?

So...

"I bought((buy...we haven't gotten to tenses yet)) books for you (all)" is "Ich kaufe Buecher fuer euch", and "We buy books for you" is "Wir kaufen Buecher fuer dich..." This makes so much more sense now! Danke shoen! ^_^


Ja! Sehr gut. :) Bitte schoen, anytime! Although if you get too good at German, I won't know what you're talking about! *only gets so much grammar*
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Thu Mar 19, 2009 3:08 am
JabberHut says...



Suzanne wrote:Ja! Sehr gut. :) Bitte schoen, anytime! Although if you get too good at German, I won't know what you're talking about! *only gets so much grammar*


I'd have to ditto that. xD

Glad we helped, Sumi! Good luck on your test. Du wirst wunderbar sein! =D
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