The accusative case is used to mark the direct object, that is, the person or thing receiving the action of the verb.
Understanding German cases is extremely important. The German accusative case is typically the second of the German Cases learned by students. German accusative case: mainly used for direct objects and objects of accusative prepositions (durch, für, gegen, ohne, um). A direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb (i.e. they are acted upon).
Example:
Die Frau füttert den Hund. / The woman feeds the dog.
The direct object can be identified by asking, “Who or what is being ‘verbed’?” For the above example we can ask: Who or what is being fed? The answer is “the dog”. Hence, the dog is the direct object of the sentence. It is in the accusative case.
Among the articles, only the masculine forms change in the accusative: the definite article changes from “der” to “den.” The indefinite article “ein” (masculine) changes to “einen.” Feminine, neuter and plural articles do not change. Personal pronouns do change (see below).
Examples:
Ich rieche den Kuchen. I smell the cake.
(“der Kuchen” is a masculine noun. In the accusative, “der” becomes “den”.)
Ich rieche die Blume. I smell the flower.
(“die Blume” is a feminine noun. In the accusative it does not change.)
When a person is the direct object of a sentence, or when we use a personal pronoun to refer to a noun (ex.: I smell the cake. -> I smell it.), then we need to use the accusative pronouns.
Examples:
Ich rufe ihn an. I call him. (“er” in the accusative changes to “ihn”.)
Wir lieben es. We love it. (“es” in the accusative remains “es”.)
Du nervst mich. You annoy me. (“ich” in the accusative changes to “mich”.)