The accusative case

Lesson 3: Family. Profession. Activity 4

From this activity you will know how to:

• say where you were born
• say when you were born
• ask your interlocutor’s name and surname
• fill in the registration form

Learn the words and expressions for the dialogue

Pay attention to the form and the usage of the words

1. wen “whom” is a question word to the noun in the accusative case denoting an animate object:

   Wen stellen Sie vor? – Who(m) are you introducing?

2. German expression geboren sein corresponds to “be born” in English. The verb in the sentence agrees with the subject, and geboren comes at the end of the sentence. This German expression does not necessarily need the past tense here:

   Wann sind Sie geboren? – Ich bin im (= in dem) Jahre 2005 geboren.
   When were you born? – I was born in (the year) 2005.

3. Unlike simple numerals (see lesson 3, activity 1), reading the numerals denoting dates has its own peculiarities, namely: first we read the hundreds (two-digit number, for years until 2000), then the units and the tens (as usual):

   1924 – cardinal numeral:
   (ein)tausendneunhundertvierundzwanzig
   1924 – data:
   neunzehnhundertvierundzwanzig
   2005 – data and numeral:
   zweitausend(und)fünf

Remember the following way of word-formation (1)

a. Combining words without any connecting elements

die Reise journey + der Pass passport = der Reisepass
wohn(en) + der Ort = der Wohnort

b. With the help of connecting elements -(e)s, -(e)n

die Geburt + der Tag = der Geburtstag
die Geburt + das Datum = das Geburtsdatum
die Familie + der Name = der Familienname (surname)

Practise in reading the words

Wie fülle ich das Formular aus?

Unterschrift

* Der Meldeschein (das Anmeldeformular) the registration form
die Beherbergungsstätte the accommodation facility (hotel etc.)

Grammar points

1. A characteristic feature of German is its ability to create verbs with new meanings through the addition of prefixes. There are a number of verbs where the first element can be separated – separable prefix. The stress of these verbs always falls on the prefix. Their peculiarity is that in a number of cases – particularly, in present tense and in imperative mood – the prefix is detached from the verb root and placed at the end of the sentence:

   ausfüllen: Ich fülle das Formular aus. Füllen Sie es aus!
   vorstellen: Ich stelle Dieter vor. Stellen Sie Dieter vor!

2. In German, many words change their form or add different endings according to their function in a sentence. For example, they change depending on whether the word is the subject or the object of the sentence. These changes and different endings are called ‘cases’:

    

   Nominativ
   Genitiv
   Dativ
   Akkusativ

   (N)
   (G)
   (D)
   (А)

   nominative
   genitive
   dative
   accusative

You are already familiar with nouns and articles in the nominative case (see lesson 3, activity 3). Now compare the articles in nominative and accusative cases:

As you can see, the only difference comes in masculine gender. Nouns themselves, generally, do not take any endings, except for:

den Namen, den Kollegen, den Studenten, den Herrn и др.

The accusative case answers the questions wen? “whom?”, was? “what?” and is usually expressed by a direct object (that is an object without a preposition):

Ich verstehe den Freund nicht. — Wen verstehen Sie nicht?
Ich fülle das Formular aus. — Was füllen Sie aus?

Forms of nominative and accusative cases

1. You are asked when a person was born. Answer the question. Ask the same question.

2. The interlocutor says how many years old he (his brother etc.) is. Specify the year he was born. What would you say if you were him?

3. You only caught the first (second) part of the compound word. What could be the second (first) part? (The number in brackets shows the number of options.)

4. Explain to your partner how the following questions are formulated in the registration form.

5. Fill in the gaps with the appropriate words from the dialogue.

1. Verstehen Sie ? 2. Bitte, Sie! 3. Wann sind Sie ? 4. Wie ist Ihr ? Frank. 5. Wie ist Ihr ? Ich bin ledig. 6. Herr Dürr ist im 1979 geboren. 7. Mein ist Wolgograd.

6. Reconstruct the dialogue by filling in the gaps with the appropriate words.

7. Try to reproduce the dialogue “Wie fülle ich das Formular aus?” by memory.

Check yourself!

What expressions will you use if you want to:

say where you were born
say when you were born
ask your interlocutor’s name and surname
fill in the registration form