Akkusativ — Wen? Was? (direct object)
A1 German grammar — Grammar. In German, the **Akkusativ** marks the **direct object**: the person or thing that is *affected* by the action of the ve…
Rule explained
In German, the **Akkusativ** marks the **direct object**: the person or thing that is *affected* by the action of the verb. It answers the questions **Wen?** (whom — for people) or **Was?** (what — for things). **Nominativ** = *who* or *what* is doing the action (subject): *Der Mann* kauft. **Akkusativ** = *whom* or *what* receives the action: *Der Mann kauft **den Apfel***. The article and sometimes the noun ending change when the noun is not the subject. English word order often shows object position (*I buy the apple*). German keeps more freedom in word order, so **case endings** (especially on articles) show you which noun is the object. If the object is a **person**, *Wen?* — *Ich sehe **meinen Bruder***. If it is a **thing**, *Was?* — *Ich sehe **den Film***. At A1, most verbs you meet take a **single accusative object** (*haben*, *kaufen*, *essen*, *trinken*, *mögen*, *finden*, *sehen*, *brauchen*). Some verbs take **two objects** later (dative + accusative); here we focus on **one** accusative object or none.
Examples
Use these mini-pairs as templates:
- Ich kaufe den Käse. — I'm buying the cheese.
- Sie trinkt eine Cola. — She is drinking a cola.
- Wir brauchen noch Brot. — We still need bread.
- Er findet den Markt teuer. — He finds the market expensive.
Common mistakes
Watch out for these learner errors:
- After the verb, the object is **not** still nominative: *Ich sehe **den** Hund*, not *Ich sehe der Hund*.
- *Was?* is for things; for people in the same slot you still use accusative, but the question is *Wen?* — same endings on the article.
- Do not rely on English: *I have a car* → *Ich habe **ein** Auto* (neuter accusative same as nominative for *ein*), but *I have the car* → *Ich habe **das** Auto* — the article still marks the object.