Accusative Case
कर्म कारक (Accusative Case)
German marks a sentence's direct object by changing the article, not the noun — an idea related to Hindi's को-marking, just applied differently.
Grammar Comparison
व्याकरण तुलना
Case marks grammatical role — Hindi already has this idea
Der Mann sieht den Hund. (The man sees the dog.)
आदमी कुत्ते को देखता है।
English relies almost entirely on word order to show who's doing what, but Hindi already often marks a definite/animate object with को ("कुत्ते को देखता है"). German takes this further: besides word order, case endings mark it explicitly. The accusative case directly marks the object — the thing the action lands on. Where Hindi adds को, German changes the article itself.
Only the masculine article changes: der → den
der Hund → den Hund (masc.) / die Frau → die Frau (fem., unchanged) / das Kind → das Kind (neut., unchanged)
कुत्ता → कुत्ते को / औरत → औरत को / बच्चा → बच्चे को
Good news: in the accusative case, only masculine nouns change their article (der → den, ein → einen). Feminine and neuter articles look identical in the nominative and accusative. So the accusative case really just means "pay attention to one word" — memorize der→den, and you have this entire case's rule.
Vocabulary
शब्दावली
| German | Pronunciation | Hindi | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ich sehe den Mann. | ikh ZAY-eh dayn mahn | मैं आदमी को देखता हूँ।maiñ ādmī ko dekhtā hūñ | I see the man. |
| Ich sehe die Frau. | ikh ZAY-eh dee frow | मैं औरत को देखता हूँ।maiñ aurat ko dekhtā hūñ | I see the woman. |
| Ich sehe das Kind. | ikh ZAY-eh dahs kint | मैं बच्चे को देखता हूँ।maiñ bacce ko dekhtā hūñ | I see the child. |
| Ich habe einen Hund. | ikh HAH-beh EYE-nen hoont | मेरे पास एक कुत्ता है।mere pās ek kuttā hai | I have a dog. |
| Ich kaufe einen Apfel. | ikh KOW-feh EYE-nen AHP-fel | मैं एक सेब खरीदता हूँ।maiñ ek seb kharīdtā hūñ | I buy an apple. |
| für den Mann | fewr dayn mahn | आदमी के लिएādmī ke lie | for the man |