Rule
Noun
A1.1 · RecapA noun names a person, thing, place, or concept. In German every noun is capitalised — even mid-sentence: «der Mann», «die Frau», «das Kind». Every noun has a fixed grammatical gender — masculine, feminine, or neuter. Always learn the article with the word: not «Mann» but «der Mann».
Possessive pronouns
A1.1 · RecapPossessive pronouns show ownership: mein (my father), dein (your brother), sein (his sister — when the owner is er/es), ihr (her mother — when the owner is sie), unser, euer. The ending matches the gender of the noun that follows — feminine: «meine Mutter», masculine: «mein Vater».
Read more →Grammatical case
A1.2 · RecapCase shows a word's role in the sentence. German has four: Nominative (who? what? — subject), Accusative (whom? what? — direct object), Dative (to whom? — recipient), Genitive (whose? — possession, rare in speech). Case shows on the article: «der Mann (nom)» → «den Mann (acc)» → «dem Mann (dat)».