by Lea Hauke
Updated on October 7, 2024
The 20 most common verbs with accusative in German
Many languages, including English, don’t feature a distinction between the accusative and dative case. But German is an exception, and learners must master these cases in order to describe the direct (accusative) or indirect (dative) object in a sentence.
To make your life easier, some verbs in German are almost always accompanied by nouns in the accusative case. Learning to spot these so-called “accusative verbs” can help you determine the word order in German sentences and add the correct declension to nouns.
Let’s dig deeper into the accusative case in German and how it differs from the dative case. We’ll then learn 20 common German verbs that take the accusative.
The accusative is one of the four German cases; the others are the nominative, dative and genitive.
While the task of remembering four grammatical cases can be intimidating for German learners, these cases are actually pretty helpful. Each case clarifies the specific relationship of a noun to the other components of a sentence.
So, if you can identify the case, you can more easily navigate complex German sentences that feature more than one noun. Here’s a simple outline of each case and what it typically indicates:
1. The nominative indicates who or what is doing something.
Example: Ich trinke aus der Tasse. (I am drinking out of the mug.)
2. The genitive indicates who is the owner of something.
Example: Das ist Simons Tasse. (This is Simon’s mug.)
3. The dative indicates to or for whom something is performed.
Example: Die Tasse gehört Simon. (The mug belongs to Simon.)
4. The accusative indicates who or what receives the action of a verb.
Example: Ich spüle die Tasse ab. (I clean the mug.)
The accusative is used to identify the direct object of a sentence. As you might have already noticed, the dative and the accusative are closely related, as both are used to indicate that a noun is the object of a sentence.
As there is no distinction between these two cases in English, many German learners struggle to tell them apart. While it can be confusing at first, it gets easier once you’ve seen the accusative case in action a few times:
Mein Bruder stört mich beim Kochen. (My brother interrupts me during cooking.)
Ich besuche meine Familie. (I am visiting my family.)
Er leiht mir seinen Stift aus. (He is lending his pen to me.)
As you can see in the above examples, the noun in the accusative case is always the one receiving an action (interrupting, visiting, lending).
Accusative verbs are a group of German verbs that can help you identify the accusative case. We call them accusative verbs because they usually appear in combination with a noun in the accusative case.
While many German verbs can be used without an object to form a complete sentence, accusative verbs generally must be paired with an accusative object. Otherwise, they don’t make sense.
While “Ich gehe” (I go) can be a complete German sentence, the accusative verb kennen (to know) requires the addition of an object to form a complete sentence. For example: “Ich kenne ihn.” (I know him.)
The same goes for the following verbs with accusative objects:
Most German verbs that are accompanied by an object are accusative verbs.
The probability of encountering a dative verb is much smaller, as there are simply not as many. Our list of German dative verbs can help you memorize the ones that are most commonly used.
| German | English | Example |
| lieben | to love | Sie liebt Brokkoli. (She loves broccoli.) |
| schreiben | to write | Er schreibt einen Brief. (He writes a letter.) |
| auswählen | to choose | Ich wähle ein Lied aus. (I choose a song.) |
| feiern | to celebrate | Sie feiern ihren Hochzeitstag.(They celebrate their wedding day.) |
| verlieren | to lose | Wir verlieren unser Erbe.(We lose our inheritance.) |
| schicken | to send | Ihr schickt eine Botschaft.(You send a message.) |
| aufmachen | to open | Sie macht das Fenster auf. (She opens the window.) |
| schließen | to close | Sie schließt das Fenster.(She closes the window.) |
| spielen | to play | Du spielst Schlagzeug.(You play the drums.) |
| machen | to make | Er macht seine Hausaufgaben.(He does his homework.) |
| legen | to put | Ich lege den Brief auf den Tisch.(I put the letter on the table.) |
| fragen | to ask | Er fragt seine Mutter.(He asks his mother.) |
| haben | to have | Er hat keine Ahnung.(He has no idea.) |
| essen | to eat | Wir essen Brot.(We eat bread.) |
| trinken | to drink | Wir trinken Champagner.(We drink champagne.) |
| mögen | to like | Sie mag deinen Freund.(She likes your friend.) |
| verkaufen | to sell | Sie verkaufen ihr Auto. (They sell their car.) |
| besuchen | to visit | Ihr besucht eure Freunde.(You visit your friends.) |
| bekommen | to receive | Du bekommst deine Bezahlung. (You receive your pay.) |
| brauchen | to need | Ich brauche meine Medizin.(I need my medicine.) |
The accusative case is used for direct objects in a sentence and indicates that a noun is the receiver of an action. Some German verbs always occur with an object in the accusative case; we call these accusative verbs. While there is a relatively small number of dative verbs in German, the majority of verbs that require an object are accusative verbs.
Knowing accusative verbs can be a great help for German learners, as they make it easier to decline German nouns and determine the correct word order of a sentence. So, the next time you spot one of these verbs in a German sentence, you’ll immediately know that you’re dealing with the accusative case.
