The object in German sentences

Not all sentences are complete when they consist of a predicate and a subject. Many verbs require another complement to the sentence. We call this the object (Objekt).

Objects can be composed of multiple words and different types of words.

For example:

In the sentence "Der Schüler sucht." it is not stated what (was) the student is looking for. That "what" is the object that receives the action.

The sentence could be completed as "Der Schüler sucht den Bleistift." which would give us the following structure:

• Der Schüler: subject (Subjekt)
• sucht: predicate (Prädikat)
• den Bleistift: object (Objekt)

The verb determines how many and which objects it needs to form a meaningful sentence.

There are different types of objects, which are found in different cases (i.e., they are declined) that you can identify with certain interrogative pronouns:

The accusative object (Akkusativobjekt)

It is the complement in the accusative case. It answers the question wen? (whom) or was? (what)

• Die Katze kratzt den Baum.
• Was kratzt die Katze? Den Baum.

When the object is a person:

• Thomas ruft Jan.
• Wen ruft Thomas? Jan.

The dative object (Dativobjekt)

The dative object is the complement in the dative case. It answers the question wem? (to whom)

• Das Auto gehört mir.
• Wem gehört das Auto? Mir.

The dative object and the accusative object can also be used together in a sentence. This depends on the respective predicate.

For example:

• Der Großvater erzählt seinen Enkeln (dative object) eine spannende Geschichte (accusative object).

The genitive object (Genitivobjekt)

The genitive object is the complement in the genitive case. It answers the question wessen? or von wem/was? (synonyms for "whose")

The genitive object is required by few verbs and is rarely used nowadays.

For example:

• Er rühmt sich seiner Erfolge.
• Wessen rühmt er sich? Seiner Erfolge.