Accusative Case

What Is the Accusative Case? (with Examples)

The accusative case's main function is to show the direct object of a verb.

You can find the direct object by finding the verb and asking "what?" (or "whom?"). For example:

Most people encounter the term accusative case when studying a language other than English (e.g., German or Russian).

Examples of the Accusative Case

Here are some examples of the accusative case with an explanation of how to find the direct object:

• Mark saw the rat.
Step 1. Find the verb = "saw"
Step 2. Ask "What?" = "the rat"

Therefore, the direct object is the rat. The words the rat are in the accusative case. In English, nouns do not change in the accusative case. However, some pronouns do.


• Lee found him in the garden.
Step 1. Find the verb = "found"
Step 2. Ask "What?" = "him"

Therefore, the direct object is him. The pronoun him is in the accusative case. You cannot use he. You must use him.

(In English, we use the term objective case for the accusative case.)

More Examples of the Accusative Case

Here are more examples of direct objects. In the examples below, all the shaded words are in the accusative case:

• I like apples.
• President Theodore Roosevelt had a pet hyena.
• Blue whales eat half a million calories in one mouthful.
• Most Disney characters wear gloves to keep animation simple.

Remember that, in English, only some pronouns change their forms in the accusative case.

• I like him.
(The word he changes to him.)
• I like them.
(The word they changes to them.)
• I like it.
(The word it does not change.)

Here is a table showing how the pronouns change in the accusative case. (The pronouns that change are highlighted.)

Subjective Case	Accusative Case
I	me
you	you
he / she / it	him / her / it
we	us
you	you
they	them

Prepositions Can Take the Accusative Case

When studying other languages, you might also encounter a list of prepositions that take the accusative case. For example, in German, the following take the accusative case:

German Prepositions That Take the Accusative Case
bis (up to)
durch (through)
entlan (along)
für (for)
gegen (against)
ohne (without)
um (around)

In English, prepositions take the objective case. That's why we say with him (and not with he) and for whom (and not for who). In these two examples, the words him and whom are known as the object of a preposition.

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