The position of a noun in an English sentence tells its function. For example, in
 

Mary is the subject or doer of the action because Mary precedes met in the sentence. Similarly, Jim is the object or thing acted upon because Jim follows the verb met. Assigning the roles of subject and object is essential for understanding who met whom.

In German, the endings on the articles normally signal these roles. These endings are called case endings. The four cases in German are: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive.

Subject Forms of German Personal Pronouns

Here are the nominative (subject) forms of the German personal pronouns.

Singular
 

Plural
 

In German, third person subject pronouns reflect the gender of the noun referred to, even if it is a thing.
 

German Case Functions

English pronouns have case forms, and they can help us understand German cases. Because of case, we can often shift pronouns more freely in the sentence and still determine their function.

Nominative Case
 

Accusative Case
 

Dative Case
 

Genitive Case
 

Examples of Case

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