1. Cases:

In German, there are four cases: nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Each case has a specific function in a sentence and is indicated by the ending of the noun or pronoun.

 

Nominative case: The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence. For example: "Der Hund bellt." (The dog is barking.) "Der Hund" is the subject of the sentence and is in the nominative case.

 

Accusative case: The accusative case is used for the direct object of a verb. For example: "Ich gebe einen Knochen dem Hund." (I give a bone to the dog.) Here, "einen Knochen" is in the accusative case as the direct object, and "dem Hund" in the dative case as the indirect object.

Dative case: The dative case is used for the indirect object of a verb. For example: "Ich gebe dem Hund den Knochen." (I am giving the bone to the dog.) "dem Hund" is the indirect object of the verb "gebe" and is in the dative case.

 

Genitive case: The genitive case is used to show possession or to indicate a relationship between two nouns. For example: "Das ist der Hund meines Freundes." (This is my friend's dog.) "meines Freundes" is in the genitive case and indicates possession.

 

2. Verb conjugation:

In German, verbs are conjugated to match the subject of the sentence. For example:

 

"Ich laufe." (I am running.)

"Du läufst." (You are running.)

"Er läuft." (He is running.)