Accusative case

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The accusative case (abbreviated Template:Sc) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. The same case is used in many languages for the objects of (some or all) prepositions. It is a noun that is having something done to it, usually joined (such as in Latin) with the nominative case, making it an indirect object.

The accusative case existed in Proto-Indo-European and is present in some Indo-European languages (including Latin, Sanskrit, Greek, German, Polish, Swedish, Romanian, Russian, Ukrainian), in the Uralic languages, in Altaic languages, and in Semitic languages (such as Classical Arabic). Finnic languages, such as Finnish and Estonian, have two cases to mark objects, the accusative and the partitive case. In morphosyntactic alignment terms, both perform the accusative function, but the accusative object is telic, while the partitive is not.

Modern English, which almost entirely lacks declension in its nouns, does not have an explicitly marked accusative case even in the pronouns. Such forms as whom, them, and her derive rather from the old Germanic dative forms, of which the -m and -r endings are characteristic. These words can arguably be classified in the oblique case instead. Most modern English grammarians feel that due to the lack of declension, except in a few pronouns where accusative and dative have been merged, that making case distinctions in English is no longer relevant, and frequently employ the term "objective case" instead (see Declension in English). Hine, a true accusative masculine third person singular pronoun, is attested in some northern English dialects as late as the 19th century.<ref>Oxford University Press. Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed..Oxford, 1989</ref>



The English name "accusative (case)" is an Anglicisation of the Latin accūsātīvus (cāsus),<ref>accusativus|accūsātīvus</ref> which was translated from Ancient Greek (ptôsis) aitiatikḗ.<ref>ai)tiatikh/|αἰτιατική</ref> The Greek term can mean either "(inflection) for something caused" or "for an accusation".<ref>accusative</ref> The intended meaning was likely the first, which would be translated as Latin causātīvus<ref>Template:OEtymD</ref> or effectīvus,<ref>Herbert Weir Smyth. A Greek grammar for colleges. p. 353, sect. 1551.a.: name of the accusative.</ref> but the Latin term was a translation of the second. Compare Russian вини́тельный vinítel’nyj, from винить vinít’ "to blame".


In the sentence I see the car, the noun phrase the car is the direct object of the verb "see". In English, which has mostly lost the case system, the definite article and noun – "the car" – remain in the same form regardless of the grammatical role played by the words. One can correctly use "the car" as the subject of a sentence also: "The car is parked here."

In a declined language, the morphology of the article or noun changes in some way according to the grammatical role played by the noun in a given sentence. For example, in German, one possible translation of "the car" is der Wagen. This is the form in the nominative case, used for the subject of a sentence. If this article/noun pair is used as the object of a verb, it (usually) changes to the accusative case, which entails an article shift in German – Ich sehe den Wagen. In German, masculine nouns change their definite article from der to den in the accusative case.


Indo-European languages



  • as a direct object.

For the accusative endings, see Latin declension.


German uses the accusative to mark direct objects and objects of certain prepositions, or adverbs relating to time. The accusative is marked for masculine articles, pronouns, and adjectives.

German articles

The masculine forms for German articles, e.g., 'the', 'a/an', 'my', etc., change in the accusative case: they always end in -en. The feminine, neutral and plural forms do not change.

Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Definite article (the) den die das die
Indefinite article (a/an) einen eine ein

For example, "Hund" (dog) is a masculine (der) word, so the article changes when used in the accusative case:

  • Ich habe einen Hund. (lit., I have a dog.) In the sentence "a dog" is in the accusative case as it is the second idea (the object) of the sentence.
German pronouns

Some German pronouns also change in the accusative case.

German prepositions


German adjectives


Masculine Feminine Neuter Plural
Definite article -en -e -e -en
Indefinite Article -en -e -es -en
No article -en -e -es -e
German adverbial use







While the Armenian dialects both have a de facto accusative case, Eastern Armenian uses an accusative marker for transitive verbs<ref></ref>


գիրք - girkh - book (Nominative)
ուսուցիչ - usuchičh - teacher (Nominative)

Արամը վերցրեց գիրքը:
Aramë verchrech girkhë
Aram took the book.

Արամը սիրում է իր ուսուցչին:
Aramë sirum ē ir usuchičhin
Aram loves his teacher.

Constructed languages


Esperanto grammar involves only two cases, a nominative and an accusative. The accusative is formed by the addition of -n to the nominative form, and is the case used for direct objects. Other objective functions, including dative functions are achieved with prepositions, all of which normally take the nominative case. Direction of motion can be expressed either by the accusative case, or by the preposition al (to) with the nominative.


In Ido the -n suffix is optional, as subject–verb–object order is assumed when it is not present. Note that this is sometimes done in Esperanto, especially by beginners, but it is considered incorrect while in Ido it is the norm.

Uralic languages


According to traditional Finnish grammars, the accusative is the case of a total object, while the case of a partial object is the partitive. The accusative is identical either to the nominative or the genitive, except for personal pronouns and the personal interrogative pronoun kuka/ken, which have a special accusative form ending in -t.

The major new Finnish grammar, Iso suomen kielioppi, breaks with the traditional classification to limit the accusative case to the special case of the personal pronouns and kuka/ken. The new grammar considers other total objects as being in the nominative or genitive case.



Accusative is formed by the suffix -t. In many cases, -t is preceded by a suffix-initial vowel, primarily based on specific vowel harmony, resulting in -at, -et, -ot, or -öt. The rules are complex, also involve consonants, and have exceptions. Thus: kertet (garden), kéket (blue); falat (wall), hatot (six); polcot (shelf), nyolcat (eight); ködöt (fog), könyvet (book).


Nominative Accusative
first-person singular (I) én engem(et)
second-person singular (you) te téged(et)
first-person plural (we) mi minket
second-person plural (you) ti titeket
third-person plural (they) ők őket

Semitic languages

Accusative case marking existed in Proto-Semitic, Akkadian, and Ugaritic. It is preserved today only in literary Arabic and Ge'ez.


Nominative: awīlum (a/the man)
Accusative: apaqqid awīlam (I trust a/the man)

Classical Arabic

Nominative: rajulun (a man)
Accusative: as'alu rajulan (I ask a man) as'alu ar-rajula (I ask the man)

The accusative case is called in Arabic النصب an-naṣb, and it has many other uses in addition to marking the object of a verb.

See also


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