German beginners’ course – 14: akkusativ and to have

Lesson 14: To have and the Akkusativ

To have is an often-used verb in German. So let’s see the conjugation:

  • ich habe
  • du hast
  • er/sie/es hat
  • wir haben
  • ihr habt
  • sie/Sie haben

Notice the ihr and the er/sie/es conjugations don’t entirely match: its habt for the former, hat for the latter.

Sometimes, the verb ‘to have’ takes the place of the verb ‘to be’, as in: I’m hungry = Ich habe Hunger.

The Akkusativ is the second case after the Nominativ. It’s used for the direct object. How do you find the direct object? Simple, ask the question ‘what/who + verb + subject?’ Let’s see an example in English:

  • I paint a painting.
  • The cat sees the nasty dog.
  • Eva meets Jorg.

So the questions are:

  • What/who do I paint?
  • What/who does the cat see?
  • What/who does Eva meet?

And the answers:

  • a painting
  • the nasty dog
  • Jorg

So these will be in the Akkusativ. This case is also used with some prepositions and adjectives, that we’ll see later, and with a number of verbs.

‘Geben’, to give, is one of those verbs. Let’s see the conjugation:

  • ich gebe
  • du gibst
  • er/sie/es gibt
  • wir geben
  • ihr gebt
  • sie/Sie geben

So if you’d say I give a cat, a cat would be in the Akkusativ. However, es gibt, an expression used very often in German, is translated ‘there is/are’. So if you translate there is/are in German, don’t use ‘da ist/sind’ (da = there). Use es gibt. Because it is translated ‘there is/are’, you may be tempted to use the Nominativ. Don’t, it’s in the Akkusativ, because geben is with Akkusativ.

So how is the Akkusativ for der, die and das? Well, you’ll be surprised, but only ‘der‘ changes into ‘den‘. The rest remains the same.

Words

Exercises
Underline the Akkusativs:

  • Wo sind die Schweizer?
    Wir entwickeln Probleme.
    Das Kind hat Probleme.
    Ihr liefert Studentinnen.
    Es gibt Ausweise da.
    Findest du das Land?

Translate the following sentences (check the previous lessons for vocabulary if you need to):

  • She has the male cat.
    I need the man.
    There are students there.
    They are hungry.
    But we need female students.

__________________________________
Solutions:

  • Wo sind die Schweizer?
    Wir entwickeln Probleme.
    Das Kind hat Probleme.
    Ihr liefert Studentinnen.
    Es gibt Ausweise da.
    Findest du das Land?
  • Sie hat den Kater.
    Ich brauche den Mann.
    Es gibt Studenten da.
    Sie haben Hunger.
    Aber wir brauchen Studentinnen.

Next lesson

Previous lesson

Overview