What are the cases?

One of the most important parts of German Grammar is learning how the four cases (Nominative, Accusative, Genitive and Dative) function and how they are responsible for other important Grammar points such as the endings of adjectives, indefinite articles and when to use each personal pronoun. A brief overview: Nominative - Person/animal/thing doing the action E.g. Ich habe meiner Mutter eine Blume gegeben.  In this sentence 'ich' (I) am ther person giving the flower to my mother.  Accusative - Person/animal/thing affected by the action E.g. Ich habe meiner Mutter eine Blume gegeben.  The flower is being given and is therefore directly affected by the action. Dative - Indirect object of a verb. You can ask 'for/to whom?' to clarify the indirect object of a sentence. E.g. Ich habe meiner Mutter eine Blume gegeben. The flower is being given to the mother and therefore the mother is the indirect object.  Genitive - Used to show ownership/belonging E.g. Die Blume meiner Mutter The flower belongs to his/her mother. This sentence is translated as 'my mother's flower' or 'the flower of my mother'