Accusative

The accusative case is a grammatical case used to indicate the direct object of a verb, usually marking the entity that is affected by the action expressed by the verb. In various languages, including Latin, German, and Russian, the accusative case is distinguished by specific inflections or articles.

Accusative meaning with examples

• In the sentence 'I see the car,' 'the car' is in the accusative case, as it is the direct object of the action of seeing. Understanding case usage helps clarify the relationship between verbs and their objects in English and other languages.
• In Latin, nouns in the accusative case often change form. For example, the noun 'puella' (girl) becomes 'puellam' when used as the object of a verb, illustrating the structural role of grammatical cases in conveying meaning.
• German employs the accusative case for direct objects, as seen in the phrase 'Ich sehe den Hund' (I see the dog). Here, 'den Hund' is in the accusative case, marking it as the recipient of the action performed by the subject.
• In Russian, the accusative case can denote both the direct object and certain prepositional phrases. For instance, the word 'книгу' (book) changes form from 'книга' when used as the object in a sentence like 'Я читаю книгу' (I am reading a book).