German Cases - Get the big picture for a CLEARER understanding | German with Laura

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(👆 UPDATED VERSION of 'English Grammar for German Learners')
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This German grammar video shows you how to dissect and understand German cases so you can know who is who and what is what, every time!
In this ‘German for beginners’ video, you’ll learn about the CORE German grammar topic of THE CASE SYSTEM.
This video simplifies this aspect of German grammar by showing you the LOGIC behind how the case system impacts nouns and other words:
1. All nouns must have a case.
2. The determiners & adjectives coming IN FRONT OF nouns take slight changes (called ‘declensions’).
3. The correct declensions to use are determined by the noun’s gender (see video #3), the noun’s case (this video) and the declension pattern (coming up!)
The Case System uses slight changes on the ends of particular words in order to communicate how the who’s and what’s in a sentence relate to each other: Did I bake a cake for my friend or did I bake a friend for my cake? CASE makes all the difference here!
You MUST MUST MUST know how to use the German case system if you want to actually speak German. But the way this topic is conventionally taught makes students wail and gnash their teeth.
The good news is that learning this German grammar topic can be SO much easier!!! In this video, I introduce you to the ‘All-In-One’ German Declensions Chart that REPLACES 10+ charts!
Instead of being bogged down by charts that do the work for you (and that you then use as a crutch), this video will explain HOW the case system works (principles and patterns, my friends! That’s my shtick!).
When you connect-the-dots on the German case system, you will be empowered to actually use it for yourself. And THAT’S when you’ll be able to actually speak German! Ready?!
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Sharing or using this video (or any of the content within) publicly or commercially is prohibited.
Contact me for permission for commercial use (e.g. teaching).
Feel free to link to this entire video and help spread the word!
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[@williambudd2850]

The other language learning you tube videos are pretty useless from my experience. Laura is different. She is a very gifted teacher and her videos are priceless. Thank you Laura.

[@GermanwithLaura]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@ScorpionMA]

I've been living in Germany for 8 years and started learning German about 1 year ago. I found it almost impossible to understand this part of their grammer, simply because they try to teach German by only speaking in German. For someone like me, who only knows English, explaining these grammer rules in English is really the only way for me to comprehend how they work, how and when to use them. Thanks for taking the time to make these videos. Hopefully I'll be able to pass this B1 test in a couple of months.

[@Germanlanguage-of4kv]

I can totally understand where you are coming from. I live in Turkey and all my Turkish lessons were in Turkish when it was my first year living in Turkey and I didn't know nothing about the language. I don't know why they teach like that worldwide. They could have just explained in English as most students, including me, could speak English as a second language anyway. And that's how we were and are actually still communicating among each other. Seriously attending these lessons was horrible 😂💔 so glad I'm over with them.

[@lernedeutsch2423]

Sweetest most genuine lady i have come across over KZbin who's teaching german. Thanks laura.

[@iancrawford7997]

Yes. German grammar is challenging and I am going to have to invest time into really grasping what Laura has presented. However, the explanation that she has given encourages me to believe that I have been provided with a sound basis on which to get to where I need to be. As others have said below, Laura really knows how to teach effectively. What has surprised me is that I have not only bought into Laura's mantra that 'You must begin with German grammar when trying to learn the language' but I am enjoying that journey into the language because of Laura's imaginative explanations.

[@GermanwithLaura]

Thank you for your kind comment. So glad you are enjoying the journey!

[@user-jy2ig3vw2s]

An amazing teacher. Lara really resolved the issue I was facing for almost 1 year. Thank you very much for making this video :)

[@GermanwithLaura]

So thrilled to hear this video was helpful!

[@frankiecollins9150]

youre a queen for this Laura! You really made it 'click' for me finally. I hope you're having a nice day, you deserve it

[@lixmarine3077]

I can't tell you how absolutely helpful this is. Thank you!

[@GermanwithLaura]

My pleasure. Glad it was beneficial!

[@factbeaglesarebest]

Danke! Ich lerne Deutsch, and I’m struggling with grammar. This helps so much with accusitivendative object indirect object etc

[@lonezeditz]

This has got to be THE most helpful and informative video I've found on this topic. I've struggled with this for years, which has made translating German to English (and vice versa) very difficult for me. But now I feel like I can finally understand one of the most important grammatical aspects of German, and thus have an immensely better understanding of the rest of the language! I definitely just found the most helpful, and easy to digest resources on the Internet! Thank you so so much 🙏🙏

[@GermanwithLaura]

So wonderful to hear. Thanks for checking out my content and for your kind words!

[@SHITONASTICK1100]

For the first time in my life the cases make a small amount of sense, you actually managed to put them into a coherent lesson - bravo. Completely amazing. Thankyou.

[@timtam.skates]

thank you so much for making these videos! i've been learning german solo and been struggling - but your videos are so enlightening i really appreciate them

[@fatimahelhady1934]

I have been struggling with Grammer my entire life, I had watched a lot of videos to different people, but yours are different and easy to understand, Don't stop making videos and enlighteneing us with your knowledge 😍 Love from Egypt 😍

[@jackburton9214]

This just blew my mind. Amazing explanation.

[@maamriabassem3818]

You’re one of a kind… as a polyglot myself struggling with german, the way you teach German is just genius… I wish you much success…. You deserve it 🥰🥰🥰🌹🌹🌹👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@jackpigeon1174]

I am not learning German, but I am trying to learn more English grammar rules/terminology as an Italian student. You are so lovely! Love your energy as a teacher :-)

[@gregoryeze9329]

Tedesco......molto dificile!

[@fernandofariajunior]

Thank you for making this video! Your explanation is very clear and helpful!

[@YiboJi]

Thanks Laura so much for such a useful tutorial~ it is super clear in explaining german case system. It gives me confidence to learn german.

[@victorakandu9419]

Finally I can make some sense out of this! And I thank you Laura for your goodness!

[@Motherof6pack]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! For the first time in months I think it's finally getting in to my brain! I have THREE different courses in German that I'm doing because every time I get to this part I'm hitting my head against the wall! I switch courses hoping that maybe it'll be explained differently in a way that makes sense. I guess I just needed to hear it from an English speaker! I feel like I finally have a handle on it! Thanks so much!

[@johnhblaubachea5156]

Part of the problem for those of us in the United States is that they stopped teaching grammar in English classes after the third grade. Then when they finally permitted us to learn a foreign language in seventh grade, the teacher had to teach us the English grammar first, as Laura is doing (slightly different than I was taught), in order to first learn the concept in English.

[@avagross4879]

it FINALLY makes sense i’ve been so confused for MONTHS

[@Pretzull]

You're a star, thank you so much for this quality when it's for free!

[@johnkelenna3194]

Laura, you are a blessing.. Thank you for making this quite lucid

[@jidhinjames6820]

Thank you Mam. Got to understand the concepts clearly. Very well taught Mam.

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

Thank you , Laura. You are doing a great and useful work for helping world community. German is a fascinating language. Danke schön, Laura. 🥇🏆🥇🏆🥇🏆🥇🏆🥇🏆⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@iasminmelo6223]

Laura, your videos are so useful and the way you explain is always so clear. I am taking my time with the foundations and your videos are so useful. Thank you so much for your entire channel!

[@GermanwithLaura]

So glad the videos are helpful and thanks for studying with me!

[@MR-yk8lo]

I loveeee this… I am soooo happy to find your video thank you so much ☺️❤️

[@DverOtZila]

This video surprised me so much. I mean, in despite my native language has own case system, I've never thought deeply how it actually works;) and here I just realized how HARD it should seem to native English speakers... brilliant explanation!

[@GermanwithLaura]

Thanks for checking out my content! Glad it was helpful!

[@Sigma-23553]

Thank you, Laura. Your videos are quite helping me in my journey of learning German.

[@GermanwithLaura]

I'm so glad!

[@Babka113]

Awesome teacher. Thank you

[@OBXDewey]

This is the explanation I needed the most.

[@lyzamanito8195]

Hi Laura. Love your platform. You execute and explained it very well. I love how you speak so gently 😍

[@GermanwithLaura]

Vielen Dank, Lyza! Glad you found me. :-)

[@sreejith319]

Wow i love the way tou explain.i would like to take a class of yours.

[@miguelguerreiro5280]

Finally this makes sense to me! Thanks!

[@maryb.9463]

It was really good, thank you very much.

[@peterkirktenor]

I have been plugging away at this for the last few weeks and this is the first time I have actually understood the accusative and dative cases. Wonderful teaching, thank you!

[@abrahambankhead359]

Wow I am riveted. This is the best grammatical cases video I ever saw!

[@jafarshan4887]

Wow superb Laura keep going ❤️

[@scotthjackson5651]

'a song sings the woman her little baby' actually rings true in a poetic way

[@PsychicSploob]

Thank you so much. I’ve watched a lot of videos on the case system and this one has definitely been the most enlightening for me. Literally multiple light bulb moments during this video lol

[@highlyalloyed9296]

Man this was really helpful, thank you

[@homaghezel6908]

Thanks a lot.

[@nvrfckwitme]

This is such an awesome video.. no digression from the topic and all the information is accurately relevant to the topic in hand. Thanks for this vid, you've earned my like and subscribe 😊

[@GermanwithLaura]

So glad to have you here! Thanks for the kind words. :-)

[@victorakandu9419]

Vielen Dank für Alles!

[@nishadingale5408]

Seven minutes into the video and my mind is blown! That's how you make a point! Fantastic video Laura! OR should I say: Video fantastic Laura! (Hope this still makes sense)

[@abreshigndemessie9604]

Hi, I found your video while search a good German language videos and It is really proud way of teaching that you did. I impressed all the videos that you uploaded. Thank you very much

[@GermanwithLaura]

Thanks for checking out my content!

[@amish613]

You are an angel❤️ german teaching one

[@frunefarian]

Thank you

[@DiggerWhoops]

Great video....danke!

[@sathyasview4892]

Best and explain its really worked for me

[@skulldar]

Danke schön!

[@alanwalton4190]

I have seen it explained simpler : The woman sings to her baby a song. The woman, the Normative. Find the verb - sings: sings what or whom - the song the direct object. To whom: To her baby the indirect object.

[@luvdesai5285]

You are a Legend! Danke!

[@evanmalone9611]

this was a great explanation of the first three cases, thank you. you just left out the genitive case which confuses me most.

[@GermanwithLaura]

Thanks for the feedback! The genitive case is valuable to learn later on in your journey to fluency, and I look forward to including information on that case in my future courses. :-)

[@rtcberlin5825]

Just thank you

[@mohammedelbeghdadi2285]

simply a master of your craft, many thanks, and hats off !, I think you should have a channel on twitch, or a Discord server for a more interactive sessions.

[@user-yt6ex9ww9t]

Thank you. This helps. I just need to hear it a few thousand more times lol😂

[@GermanwithLaura]

Video on repeat?! :)

[@SpiritualAdish]

Thank you very much maaam

[@monicarawat9966]

You are the best ma'am 💯

[@Seer-cw9lu]

Omg omg omg this is incredible!!!!! Ja !

[@yesimkerem3520]

Thx really

[@Nimhde]

Thank you for explaining cases so clearly. In your free course about cases, u hv stated that the noun which receives action is nominative cases or subject and noun which takes action is direct object. It got a bit confusing. Can you explain?

[@devendra1956]

Ms. You're sehr gut Lehrerin of Deutsch.

[@zacharypayne4080]

Is there a way you could simply this in laymen terms?

[@audreythecat4565]

From a Spaniard native point of view, either this is not that complicated or you made a more than excellent work explaining it. Actually in my generation we all learned Latin at school (Already a dead language, I am old but not that old), and maybe, I am wrong, but it seems German Cases is where it is rooted from.

[@sshreddderr9409]

latin has 6 grammatical cases, german has 4 of the same cases of the latin language. Its not that they derive from each other, its rather that latin and german both share a common ancestor language that had these cases and many more, I believe there are languages with 20 cases or something.

[@BasedZoomer]

Latin and German are both descended from Proto-indoeuropean. German grammar does not derive anything from Latin. After splitting off from Proto-indoeuropean, different language families were formed, most notably, in Europe, is Germanic and Italic. You can obviously tell that German is from the Germanic family. Latin is from the Italic family. Being essentially cousins, it is no surprise that similarities can be found amongst Germanic and Italic languages. Hope you find this little tidbit of linguistic history interesting :) I'm just into hobby study, so someone more learned would be much better to correct me if I'm wrong on anything.

[@dianezeck]

Is there a way to know which videos I have already seen.

[@liyamp6557]

U are awesome❤

[@Gurpreetkaur-qw1ff]

Hii Laura!! I just love your video simple yet effective..I have a question identify cases in following sentence The student gives the teacher whom he admires an apple ; here student is nominative apple accusative teacher dative, then what case whom belongs to?

[@GermanwithLaura]

This is a deeper grammar discussion to be sure but here’s the short answer. Der Schüler (nominative) schenkt dem Lehrer (dative), den er bewundert, einen Apfel (accusative). The ‘den er bewundert’ is a relative clause that has its own sentence structure. Er is nominative, bewundert the conjugated verb, and den is an accusative pronoun that is replacing the noun Lehrer in the clause. Hope this helps!

[@Hitaro69]

I like german cases Sanskrit has them too: महीला(Womam in nomitive singular case) तस्याः (her) लघवे (small in dative singular) शिशवे (baby in dative singular) एकम् (one in accusative singular) गीतम् (song in accusative singular) गायति (sings in third person singular)

[@dandelions2193]

Can u do Present, perfekt, präteritum etc. pls..

[@lydiabell7108]

thank you!!! feel like i can stop crying over my homework now haha

[@that_one_person...]

I wanted to ask you where can i find word in german like i know how to learn vocabilery but i dont have the vocabilery to learn because google transleat does not seem to me so trustabale

[@GermanwithLaura]

I like the online dictionaries at dict.leo.org and linguee.com. :-)

[@silviaturco3156]

I'm interested in learning German, I've studied Latin and Greek in school so I'm pretty confident with cases and I know how they works, is it actually the same? That would be very helpful then, thanks!

[@GermanwithLaura]

I want to say that they may still have the same concepts, but I believe that Latin/Greek may have even more cases than German. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about Latin and Greek to speak with authority on the subject.

[@philipplienert3869]

Ich habe das Gefühl, ich gucke in einen Spiegel :D Als DAF-Lehrerin versuche ich genau so (inklusive Gestik und Stimmlage, hihi), das Konzept der Fälle im Großen und Ganzen zu erklären, bevor es an die Deklinationen etc. geht. Denn nicht umsonst sind alle Schüler*innen, die in ihrer Muttersprache nicht mit Fällen vertraut sind, völlig überfordert. Dabei hat dieses - zugegebenermaßen komplizierte - System durchaus seine Berechtigung und führt zum goldenen Ziel einer jeden Sprache: effiziente, klare Kommunikation mit möglichst wenig Raum für Missverständnisse ;)

[@rajendranm6660]

I am from Madurai, India, English is a foreign language and learned in the home country never been to any English speaking countries. Now I am learning German through English. I am at the A1 level. I hope

[@SHADOW-nn2yx]

u r genius♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

[@momostudies2969]

it took a less than 20 minutes video for me to understand something i couldn't comprehend in the span of 4 years that i have lived in Germany for. this is truly absurd but in a good way. i don't even know what to say

[@brendab3613]

Hi Laura, I really like the videos. I have a question about the cases. Do Germans really pay attention to the use of correct cases in their normal everyday conversations? Like younger people hanging out or kids out on the playground? I am an American English speaker and I know I don't always use correct grammer! Thanks

[@GermanwithLaura]

German speakers do not always use the correct cases when speaking, even with a case system, but it is important to LEARN the correct way! :)

[@erasmuskamurali1532]

Gutt Danke

[@Hard-Boiled-Bollock]

I wish you'd been my German teacher

[@terry1989]

1:24 Did you say English grammar for German learners

[@hanzosbm1]

Would a sentence ever skip over the accusative and go straight to the dative? For example, "The woman sings to her little baby". Are we still looking at Nominative, verb, Dative, or does something here change?

[@tiegan7158]

From what I'm aware of, yes. Since we have 'to', or 'zu' in German. The 'zu' is a dative preposition which makes it obvious that the woman sings TO the baby.

[@abnerbriones2335]

I dont understand why you dont have more suscribers

[@victorakandu9419]

What are these cases anyway? 🤔🤔🤔

[@AnamShah06]

What if it’s ‘the woman sings to her little baby’ Would her little baby be accusative or dativ then?

[@GermanwithLaura]

Dative. :-)

[@ukrainefiles8340]

In English it's called active voice and passive voice.

[@infernosm3857]

Just curious, does that accent belong to Nebraska?

[@GermanwithLaura]

I actually grew up in Iowa! Very close. :-D

[@infernosm3857]

@@GermanwithLaura i see... Actually you sounded familiar to Penny's accent (Big Bang Theory) :)

[@miltontaunoa]

What about The woman sings a song to her little baby?

[@yanmorris8953]

In Russian there are 6 cases!!!

[@SallyBunBun]

In Hungarian there are 18 (as far as I am aware, I am new to Hungarian!), but also learning German and Russian - ha ha! Lucky me!!

[@cuhloochy]

This video changed my life. I feel like my third eye has opened and I have had an epiphany. Two years of learning german and I've always felt so lost... Maybe god does exist.

[@Sweepout]

I thought genitive was showing ownership? Does ihrem kleinen baby not show ownership?

[@GermanwithLaura]

Better to think of the genitive case as relating two nouns directly to each other, such as ‘the father of the bride.’ Then we also have what I would dub possessive determiners such as the her that we are using in 'her little baby.'

[@tutornotepad]

Germans must think that English word order is hard. German students of English might think, - Warum verwenden die Englischsprachigen nicht einfach Fälle und Deklinationen anstelle dieser verwirrenden Wortreihenfolge?

[@GermanwithLaura]

I'm absolutely sure they do! :-P We all think our native tongue is the easiest.

[@manishagrawal417]

A woman sings a song to her little baby. How about this sentence? How do we say in german

[@acrylicpouringdeutsch3775]

Eine Frau singt ihrem kleinen Baby ein Lied (vor).

[@tiegan7158]

It would be 'Eine Frau singt ein Lied ihrem kleinen Baby' since you can move the cases around in German. However, dative usually comes before accusative so we'd say it like how it was in the video

[@christopherholland3706]

What about this sentence? The woman sings to her baby. Is the baby accusative in this sentence? It makes sense to me as a native English speaker but based on the definition in the video, the only second noun that can be used in addition to the woman, is a song. Yes, "The woman sings a song" is fine. But so is, "The woman sings to her baby". The rule in the video for distinguishing between accusative and dative doesn't seem to apply so well. I have more faith in Laura's knowledge of grammar than mine, which begs the question, what have I missed?

[@GermanwithLaura]

The preposition 'to' (zu) is what changes everything here. 'Zu' in German is a dative preposition, so it would still be obvious that the baby is being sung TO (instead of baby vs. a song being what is sung [acc.]) and it is certainly possible to have sentence patterns that are just nominative + dative (i.e. don't include an accusative object).

[@Visian]

I have to be missing something. The German sentences also do not make sense. "Ihrem klienen Baby singt die Frau ein Leid" = "The small baby sings the Woman a song" WHAT AM I MISSING?

[@GermanwithLaura]

The declensions are the big clue here. "Ihrem kleinen Baby singt die Frau ein Leid" translates to "the woman sings a song to her little baby." German allows us to rearrange the order of the nouns (with anything proceeding them) to put emphasis on that element. The emphasis with this order is that she's singing to *her little baby*, not to the dog, or an adult, or anything else.

[@Visian]

@@GermanwithLaura There has to be a better way to explain this, I've been trying for a year in your paid course and can simply NOT understand it the way it's being presented. This is keeping me from buying your second course.

[@GermanwithLaura]

I'm so sorry for the confusion! This is a very big subject which is why I chose to wait until German Foundations 2 to really dive into sentence patterns. I would love to have you email my team at [e-mail] to discuss your ongoing concerns.

[@GermanwithLaura]

Hi there. I wanted to follow up since we haven't received an email, and am now seeing that the email autocorrected and should have said [e-mail]. I am so very sorry about this. If you tried to send an email, could you please resend to [e-mail] and I or someone on my team will get back to you? Thanks and my apologies!

[@Visian]

I worked it out, thanks.@@GermanwithLaura

[@Jimmie567]

Funny, I learned how to speak American more as a child than I do as a British adult...Yikes as a Kid, but not as an Adult. Me wonders why?

[@mx9233]

I’m want knows what happened about me in Stockholm I’m want rily

[@Callmewalter]

Watch this video before you decide to quit learning German.

[@jakehardiment8613]

Why is it called ‘Accusative Case’ and not ‘Direct Object Case’? I feel like this is unnecessary gatekeeping of language learning. Why so complicated?

[@GermanwithLaura]

I can hear you on that! Unfortunately, that is the terminology that is generally used.

[@hikgerguy1234]

Why? Why? Why? Why did humans create such complexity for language???? And it's not just German. I'm a native English speaker. I'd lose my mind trying to learn English. The letters "ou" can create different sounds: sound ("ow"), thought ("aw") and you ("ew"). I think it's worse than German, but German gender just kills me lol Again, why?? Why assign gender to words???? Why have cases. This is going to be a tough area for me while learning German. Thanks for your effort.

[@GermanwithLaura]

I can completely understand the frustration. I felt the same when I was learning German in the conventional method! I hope that you'll find my method a little less intimidating than the rest. :-)

[@annahapon5242]

i feel sorry for people whose first language doesn't have genders and cases and they're trying to learn German