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The Accusative Case for Direct Objects Page 61 German 1 Online: Reading Guide for Pages 61-67: The Accusative Case for Direct Objects By now you should be familiar with the navigation of the e-Text on the Connect website, so future reading guides will assume you can find your way to the correct pages. For this assignment, click on the menu of “Book Contents”, choose “Kapitel 2”, and then select “Grammatik im Kontext” from the “Kapitel 2 Sections” menu on the right side — you will start on page 61. Page 61: Grammatik im Kontext This grammar section is perhaps one of the most important all semester, and certainly the first truly challenging grammar of the semester. Please read the entire section very carefully: if you have been skating through the semester so far, you will need to slow down and learn the ACCUSATIVE CASE for DIRECT OBJECTS very thoroughly, as all of your future success in German depends on it! The Verb haben The verb ‘to have’ in German (“haben”) is SLIGHTLY irregular. Please note: • haben has the same endings as the other verbs you have already learned! ich -e, du -st, er -t, wir -en, ihr -t, sie -en. Those endings will never change for 99% of the present tense verbs in German! However, haben has a SPELLING IRREGULARITY: the -b- in the stem disappears in the DU and ER/SIE/ES forms. • You probably remember the Rammstein song “DU HAST”. If you remember that title, it can help you to remember the forms of haben. Please read the chart on page 61 carefully, and memorize: ich habe (regular) wir haben (regular) du hast (no -b- in the stem) ihr habt (regular, HAS the -b- in the stem) er hat (no -b- in the stem) Sie haben (regular) Übung 2 You will complete exercise 2 as part of your Connect Aufgabe, so you can ignore the textbook page for now until you complete that assignment. Exercise 1 is not assigned. Page 62 - 65 The Nominative and Accusative Cases This section must be read carefully. We do not have an English equivalent for the “accusative case” and neither does Spanish or French, so unless you know Latin, Russian, or a few other languages, this will be completely new information for you. I will explain this section in my own way, with the same outcome but a different way of describing the new information. I suggest that you read my explanation below FIRST, although you are free to read either the textbook or this reading guide in either order. I hope that my explanation below will help, but you will need to return to the book and read pages 62, 63, 64 and 65 thoroughly, to make sure you understand the new information. The Accusative Case, Important Guidelines: • The DEFINITE ARTICLE is simply the word “the” in any gender: der, die, das. • The INDEFINITE ARTICLE is the word “a” or “an” in any gender: ein, eine. • Do you know the difference between the SUBJECT and the DIRECT OBJECT in a sentence? Consider: • “The man sees the boy.” The man is the subject, the boy is the direct object. • “My mother baked a cake.” My mother is the subject, the cake is the direct object. • “Do you love your brother?” You is the subject, brother is the direct object. • “The car hit the tree.” The car is the subject, the tree is the direct object. • The SUBJECT of a sentence is the agent who is DOING the action of the verb. The verb matches the subject in its ending, both in English and in German. “The man has a book” = “Der Mann hat ein Buch” — the man is the subject of the sentence. • The DIRECT OBJECT of a sentence is the object or person who is AFFECTED by the action of the verb. Usually the direct object comes AFTER the verb, both in English and (usually) in German. “The man has a book” = “Der Mann hat ein Buch” — a book is the direct object. • Remember than a direct object could be a person: “The dog bites the man” = “Der Hund beißt den Mann” — the man is the direct object, and the dog is the subject because it is doing the biting. • In German, SUBJECTS ARE IN THE NOMINATIVE CASE. What this means is that they use the original, standard forms of DER, DIE or DAS for the word ‘the’, and EIN or EINE for ‘a’. You have already learned many nouns in the nominative case: der Mann, ein Buch, eine Frau, das Jahr, die Studenten. You will always learn the normal nominative article (der/die/das) with each new noun. • In German, DIRECT OBJECTS ARE IN THE ACCUSATIVE CASE. This means, simply put, that the nominative article “DER” for masculine nouns will change into “DEN”. “I see the man” = “Ich sehe den Mann”. Similarly, the indefinite article “EIN” will change into “EINEN”. “I see a man” = “Ich sehe einen Mann.” • ONLY THE MASCULINE ARTICLES CHANGE in the accusative case. The other genders (feminine, neuter and plural) do not show any difference in forms between the subject (nominative) and direct object (accusative). “I see the woman” = “Ich sehe die Frau.” • As you continue reading on pages 62 to 65, notice how every MASCULINE DIRECT OBJECT will have either “EINEN” or “DEN” as the article. “DER” is reserved for the SUBJECT of a sentence, never the direct object. Things that might trick you: • When you ask a question like “Where is the man?”, the man is still the subject of the sentence, even though he is after the verb. The verb is “is” and the man is the subject of “is”. In German, you will say “Wo ist der Mann?” using the nominative case. There is no direct object in that sentence, and no accusative case! • The verb ‘to be’ does not take a direct object. If you say “The man is the professor” — the professor and the man are the same person. The verb is acting like an equals sign, it is not acting on a different object! Therefore with the verb ‘to be’ in German, you will continue to use only the nominative case: “Der Mann ist der Professor.” You cannot use “DEN” after the verb “to be” since it does not use a direct object. Please make sure you read pages 62-65 in the eBook as well as the explanation I have provided above. Übung 3, 5, 6 und 8 You will complete exercises 3, 5, 6 and 8 as part of your Connect Aufgabe, so you can gloss over the textbook activities for now until you complete that assignment. Exercises 4 and 7 are not assigned. Page 66 - 67 The der-Words dieser and welcher This section SHOULD be self-explanatory if you read carefully. Just remember these guidelines: DIESER, DIESEN, DIESES, and DIESE all mean “this” or “these”. The -R, -N, -S, or -E ending simply show the same form as the original gender article. DER MANN = DIESER MANN DEN MANN = DIESEN MANN DIE FRAU = DIESE FRAU DIE SOFAS = DIESE SOFAS. The same is true of WELCHER and its alternative forms (WELCHE, WELCHES, WELCHEN) — if you would say “der Tisch” then you should ask “welcher Tisch?” for ‘which table’. Remember that if the noun is the direct object, you must use the accusative case. To ask “Which table are you buying?” — You is the subject who is buying, the table is the direct object. So in German you need to ask: “Welchen Tisch kaufst du?” to show the masculine accusative -en ending on ‘welchen’. Übung 9 und 10 You will complete exercises 9 and 10 as part of your Connect Aufgabe, so you can gloss over the textbook activities for now until you complete that assignment. Now that you have learned the important information about THE ACCUSATIVE CASE for DIRECT OBJECTS, you should complete the Aufgabe on the Connect website. After you have completed those exercises, move on to the last reading guide (pages 68-69), where we learn how to say the negative ‘not’ or ‘none’ in sentences..
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