Hello everyone,
and welcome to a new episode of… uh… the German Show!
Hooray.
Now, we’re in the middle of Summer, Sun, Vocab Fun Season, but today, I actually want to mix in something different and take a look with you at a case chart. A case chart that I have come up with that is … well… it’s quite crazy.
Actually, it’s been already a few years that I first had the idea, and I did talk about it on the site back then. Some of you might remember it – the “German Case Fidget Spinner”, as I used to call it.
But I didn’t really introduce it properly back then and didn’t explain what’s what, which made it kind of confusing. And then I kind of forgot about it myself until recently, and I was like “Hmmm… I still really like this concept”
So I decided to talk about it again, but this time with a proper explanation. And also much better graphics :)
So, today I will introduce to you my absolutely incredible, mind blowing
German Case Triangle
The Standard German Case Charts
(and why it’s not ideal)
Most of you are familiar with charts for German case endings, and pretty much all of them look something like this:
| m | f | n | pl | |
| Nominative | der | die | das | die |
| Accusative | den | die | das | die |
| Dative | dem | der | dem | den |
| Genitive | des | der | des | der |
There are some differences in the details, like the order of articles being switched or some clever use of colors to highlight the similarities. But at their core, all the German case charts out there are the same thing: a table.
Now, tables aren’t a bad choice. They’re the “natural” way to organize this kind of information and they do work for a lot of learners.
The thing is, using tables for German cases has become SUCH a consensus that we don’t even think about representing the information in a different way, more creative way. And I don’t mean just tables with some flowers or creative background pictures or cartoons. I mean a completely new way of organizing the information.
Because there’s ALWAYS more than one way to present or convey information. Heck, there are dozens of ways to present information. And I always felt like there are at least a few ways of doing case charts that are NOT tables but something completely different.
Now, we all know that learners are all different. Some remember things well based on hearing, for others, colors are a great help. Again others work best with real world images and some do need the orderly fashion of tables.
That’s why I think it’s worth exploring the various ways to present overviews for German case endings. Not to find THE best solution. But to have different options for different people. Free market. Competition!! Adam Smith, I call on thee – this German case chart communism has to end.
Seriously though… I’ve spent quite some time experimenting with different ways to do a visual chart and there was one that I really like because I think it’s very memorable:
The German Case Triangle
And instead of me giving you the full thing right away, let’s build it step by step, because it really is kind of confusing if you’re used to tables.
Step 1 – The Nominative
The core idea of this chart was to order things “in space” rather than in a sequence of columns and rows. I for one can retain spatial information really well, even if I just look at it for a very short time, and that’s exactly the idea of this chart … that you can look at it, and then kind of recall it from memory without having to really “learn” it.
So… I have spaced out the three articles der, die and das to a triangle. That’s the Nominative form, basically. And the die is valid for both, feminine and plural.
It doesn’t really matter which article is in which corner but this made for the most elegant overall chart as you’ll see soon.
Cool. On to step 2.
Schritt 2 – Accusative
In this step, we’re adding the Accusative form. The key thing about Accusative is that it is IDENTICAL with Nominative, except for der, where it becomes den.
I have placed the Accusative as little “satellites” , so to speak and except for der, the arrow just points back to the form that’s already there.
Oh and die is of course again for feminine AND plural. That’s why there are two little arrows.
Cool.
So far, this is REALLY easy to keep in memory, I think, just as an image. And maybe you can also retain that one little weird den.
So now, let’s bring in the Dative
Step 3 – Dative
The Dative forms are all different from the Nominative so I have placed them in the center, in order to REALLY separate them visually from the Nominative/Accusative corners.
The Dative for der and das are the same, so they both point to the same box.
And interestingly, the Dative der for feminine changed to den in the plural. Which is kind of a parallel to the Nominative->Accusative of masculine der that also changes to den. I didn’t capture that visually, but that might be worth thinking about adding.
Anyway, here it is:
And that’s it :)!
That’s the case triangle.
Here’s a high resolution version, if you want to print it:
German Case Triangle – der, die, das
(pdf)
I know that it is REALLY unusual and for many of you, your brains are probably acting up a little like “What the hell is this supposed to be. This is so confusing.”
But try to look at it merely as an image for a second – are the groups visually clear? Can you recall the image or at least part of it in your mind?
If yes, well great – THAT’S the goal.
This is meant to be a quick reference in your head that you can check if you’re unsure, and you can rely on your sense of space rather than the more conscious understanding of a table.
Now, a lot of you, especially the more advanced learners are probably wondering “Where is the Genitive?”
And I left it out on purpose, not because it is disappearing like some sources say. The Genitive is not going anywhere.
But the Genitive is NOT a case that you need all that much in daily life and I have decided to not include it because it would just add some more clutter. You could easily spin it of from the Dative center, from going from dem to des and from der and den to der.
But I think that the Genitive is actually something you can learn later on, on the side. When the other three cases are already solid.
Still, if you want me to include it I can totally do that.
Oh and of course we can make the same kind of chart for the indefinite articles or the possessives and so on. And I can make a general chart that shows the changes in principle and you have to make minor adjustments depending on what type of article it is.
But for now, that’s it and I am SUPER curious for your feedback.
Quick test again… can you recall the chart from memory right now?
How much can you recall? Just visually. Don’t try to conceptualize it too much like “the bottom right corner is Accusative Masculine”. Your brain can do that for you, and spelling it out actually makes it LESS intuitive.
But now I’m just talking from my perspective because I’m such a type of learner.
So yeah, please let me know ALL your thoughts in the comments. Do you like it? Do you find it helpful? Do you find it confusing? Do you have any changes you’d suggest?
And of course, if you have a new and innovative way for case charts, I’d love to hear about it and I’m sure the other readers would too.
So yeah… I hope to see many of you in the comment section and I hope you enjoyed this episode. Have a great week und bis zum nächsten Mal :)!
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I really like this idea. I hope you can make a genitive version (or I can in ms paint later). It’s a lot nicer to understand than a matrix with abstract relations. arrows arrows point me directly to the transformation please
Brilliant! i like the graph, the tables always makes me forgetful and sometimes shuffled in my memory, but with this visual, i can memorize it better with my logic. Vielen Dank!
Awesome, happy to hear it!
try drawing them from memory a few times and you probably have the hard wired in :)
When I started learning German I found a chart like this very helpful…
As a very visual learner, I find the triangle very intuitive! It will definitely come in handy. Even if I have to look back at it again to refresh my memory, I think I’ll need to do that way less frequently than I would a table.
Great to hear that. Maybe try and draw it yourself once. That might help it stick even better.
Hallo. Vielen Dank für die Schirmherrschaft meiner Mitgliedschaft
Thank you! It’s brilliant.
Hello, I just wanted to show my appreciation for the few members of the amazing website “yourdailygerman” who paid a little extra to help out people who can’t pay for the subscription as I am one of them.
After showing my situation to Emanuel, he used that little extra money to help me become a member.
Thank you Emanuel for making this possible
Sher gheerter Emmanuel, I mag sher…Danke schön..Es ist sher operative…Danke
Dankeschön :).
Früher, habe ich die adjektivdeklinationen mit “German with Laura” Webseit gelernt. Ihre Tabelle ist sehr einfach, aber diese Karte ist sogar noch einfacher. Ich habe beide kombiniert und jetzt habe ich zwei Karten mit Determinanten und Adjektiven, zum Beispiel:
Eine Große -> Einer Großen
Ein(en) Große(n)->Einem Großen
Ein Großes->Einem Großen
Das müsste aber dann “ein Großer” sein in der zweiten Zeile :)
Hi Manuel,
Kudos for trying to present this bedevilling set of 6 little words in 16 spots in a new way! Still, leaving out the genitive is cheating since one does indeed use it in any kind of reasonably educated German, and I bet you use it umgangsprächlich with your friends from time to time. So it would be great to see what you do with it in the triangle.
For me, the penny dropped when I realised that the errors I was making related to this:
There are only two columns, not four.
One column is “der, das” in the nominative, and the other is “die”.
the only thing to remember is that
in the accusative, there’s a difference in the der/das column (den vs. das) and
in the dative, there’s a difference in the “die” column (sing “der” pl “den”)
but in the genitive, there are no differences–it’s des in one der in the other.
The way the columns are usually arranged–in the order of der, die, das, pl–disguises this.
If they were arranged der, das, die, pl, it would reveal it instead.
But I look forward to seeing how you add the genitive to the triangle.
I grew up speaking Croatian, a language with 7 cases (nom, gen, dat, acc, vocative, locative, and instrumental) and I feel sorry for anyone struggling with that while I struggle with German. My grandmother, who came to Croatia from Austria as an adult in her 20s, a university-educated woman, by the time I knew her in her 70s, was still making declension errors in every sentence, much to the derisive delight of my bro and me.
Thanks for a totally inspirational blog–I discovered it maybe 5 years ago and I love everything you’ve written!
I feel like some textbooks at least actually did switch the order around just how you suggested.
It just makes perfect sense to group them by similarity.
Same with the cases. As Germans, in school, we learn the order Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, but for a learner it makes way more sense to switch those up and most textbooks have caught on to this.
That anecdote about your grandmother is very very not encouraging, I gotta say :D.
Or encouraging… like… if someone still makes mistakes after half a century, then it’s DEFINITELY okay to make mistakes after a year or two.
Since you have the same cases in Croatian, at least on paper… what aspect of them are you having trouble with? Is it the endings? Or is the “when to apply which case” paradigm significantly different?
Thanks! This is super useful to visualise in a different way the information.
One of my teachers came up with another interesting way of remembering the Akk & Dat changes….
(A)kkusativ –> A is the 1st letter of the alphabet –> 1 change (Der –> Den)
(D)ativ –> D is the 4th letter of the alphabet –> 4 changes (Der, Die, Das, Die (pl) –> Dem, Der, Dem, Den)
I’ll definitely add your triangle to my flashcards.
Oh, great little mnemonic :)! Thanks for sharing that and also thanks for the nice feedback!
An interesting idea. Not sure it’s easier to memorize than the table representation but it’s always good to look at the same information from a different point of view. I’d like to see more triangles for adjectives endings etc.
I’ll definitely do those. I already made them on paper and they’re shockingly basic :)
Wonderful episode! I really like the triangular idea. It reminds me of that form used in paintings and drawings, which I find fascinating. The case triangle is really easy to re.ember, but I will still need to practice doing ii on paper from memory. If it is not too much trouble, please include an example of the genitive one. I have my own idea but would love to see yours. If ever I teach German or tutor someone in it, I will use the triangle. Oh, by the way, when you wrote “Das Fall Driecke, why did you not use a hyphen or write the expression as one word?
Thanks for the great feedback :)!! I’ll play around and post an updated version soon with Genitive.
And you’re totally right, I should have used a hyphen to connect the two nouns in the newsletter :)
I really appreciate your response. Thanks! As far as the hyphen goes, I just wondered about it and wanted to know for sure. That’s all.
All of the ‘dative, nominative, accusative’, etc. is what I can’t seem to remember. Is there a chart for what each means?
Not really, but I have never thought about putting in visual form. Nice challenge.
Have you read my articles on them by any chance?
I really like this! Can it be done for adjectives and noun endings too?
Adjective endings for sure, but noun endings are a different topic. I don’t think I can make a similarly simple chart for those, but I never thought about it either. I’ll have to give it a try.
I like your way to present German cases a lot! I can recall the picture easily. Thank you very much!
Thanks for the great feedback, I’m happy it works for you :)
I use silly little mnemonics to remember the dative and genitive –
Dat mermen
Gesreser
In the nominative order der die das die:
Dative: dem der dem den
Genitive: des der des der
They don’t mean anything, but sound a bit like real words and are pronounceable. Just a few repetitions and they were stuck in my head, and ready to be recalled if I needed a more solid confirmation on the articles that “sounded right” in sentences
I do really like the spatial organization of das Dreieck! I think I might not have developed the mnemonics if I had had this to lay out the transitions in such a simplistic, minimal way
Awesome, that’d probably work for me as well.
But shouldn’t the second one be “gesereser”?
I love it. Can I suggest a stronger colour for the dative? I was looking at it for a while before I realised that the faint yellow was the key to the dative.
I think I could make it a bit more pronounced, but I wouldn’t want it to be too strong, as that’d draw too much attention to the center, which already has attention by default (by being the center).
But yeah… it’s quite faint, for sure.
Huh. Interesting. My not-very-good-with-diagrams brain would never have guessed that. I found a way to make the triangle work for me and it just uses the outside. I draw it in the air and say the words out loud or in my head as I add them to the triangle. “Der” is on top, “die” is bottom left, “das” is bottom right. Then I go back and add the other cases on the legs. So it would look kind of like this:
[Edit: there were words in the shape of a triangle here, but the formatting got eaten. Der-die-das makes one big triangle, and there’s a smaller triangle around each point (der-den-dem, die-die-der, das-das-dem).]
All that’s missing is “den” (plural dative). I would probably squeeze it in the middle of the “die” triangle, but you could put it wherever.
I forget diagrams really fast, but sound and movement stick with me. Written words too. I have a list I want to remember (der, den, dem) and nothing to write with? Take a finger and write it in the air or on my hand.
Nice!! Great to hear from a “motion”-learner :).
I also like your version of the triangle – the core idea is that different information is visually separated while in a table, it’s all one mush, kind of.
My secondary goal was to have as little repetition as possible, So have “dem” only once on the page and so on.
But really, anything goes. There’s no “right” way to do this, and if this encourages some of the readers to “break free” and make their own drawings, then perfect.
It’s a pretty well established fact in memory research that visual memory is the most powerful form of memory that we have – and there has yet to be found an upper limit to visual memory. So I whole-heartedly applaud your efforts! Another proven memory technique is ‘chunking’, whereby one breaks harder or longer things into more accessible ‘chunks’ (the way we do with telephone numbers or social security numbers). And, of course, there’s always the old stand-by technique of mnemonics.
Anything that you can do to apply such techniques to learning German would be of GREAT value – it would really be an innovation in language acquisition . Thanks for your efforts in this regard – I was so pleased to see the ‘triangle’!
Thanks for this comment!! This actually motivated me to keep exploring and maybe come up with something new for a different aspect of grammar as well.
I love doing this kind of brainstorming!
I think I need a PDF file so I can save it and not have to have access to the internet to look at it.
You should be able to simply “option-click” (or “alt-click”) on the link to the png file Emanuel provided above and that file will download onto your machine, rather than appear in the browser window. Double-clicking it on your machine should open an image viewer, or an image editor, both of which should show the picture. You could also open it in the web browser [[ File => Open File… => (navigate to downloaded png) ]]
Thanks for this!
I have changed it to a pdf now, though. I think that’s the easier solution, all things considered :). Shouldaddun it right away.
I’ve changed it to pdf. You can find it here:
https://yourdailygerman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/german-case-chart-definite.pdf