German Grammar Reference 2

Essential Case Triggers to Memorize (Excluding Pronouns & Prepositions)

Accusative verbs (direct objects):
- Most transitive verbs take accusative objects
- Examples: kaufen, sehen, haben, finden, brauchen
Dative verbs (memorize these specifically as they’re exceptions):
- helfen (to help)
- danken (to thank)
- gefallen (to please)
- folgen (to follow)
- gratulieren (to congratulate)
- antworten (to answer)
- zuhören (to listen to)
- verzeihen (to forgive)
Genitive verbs (very rare, but good to know):
- gedenken (to commemorate)
- bedürfen (to require)

Nouns that trigger genitive (showing possession or origin):
- der Rat (advice of…)
- die Folgen/Konsequenzen (consequences of…)
- der Tipp (tip of/from…)
- der Anfang/das Ende (beginning/end of…)
- der Teil (part of…)
- die Idee (idea of…)
- die Kosten (costs of…)
- das Ergebnis (result of…)
- der Name (name of…)
- die Farbe (color of…)

Fixed genitive expressions:
- am Anfang + Gen (at the beginning of)
- am Ende + Gen (at the end of)
- im Laufe + Gen (in the course of)
- im Falle + Gen (in case of)
- auf Kosten + Gen (at the expense of)
- aufgrund + Gen (because of)
- anhand + Gen (by means of)
Fixed accusative expressions:
- jeden Tag/Monat/etc. (every day/month/etc.)
Fixed dative expressions:
- meiner Meinung nach (in my opinion)
- dem Wetter nach (according to the weather)