I agree! I feel like Iâve read about the difference 100 times but none of it has stuck. Iâm curious if thereâs a way to have it stick in my mind, or if itâs just a matter of repeated exposure until it just âfeels rightâ for each use case.
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I feel you. I remember having such a hard time learning this, I still get it wrong sometimes. The most helpful thing that worked for me was to not try and translate it. That rarely ever made sense. I never found it particularly useful to know if itâs for an indirect or direct object, because it was too abstract to graspâŠ?
In the end, I decided to just learn which verbs and prepositions needed which case. For example, I learned that anrufen always needs accusative, because itâs âIch rufe dich an.â The preposition mit always needs dative, because itâs âIch spiele mit dem Ball.â and so on. I still use this technique when I come across a new word I didnât know.
We use direct and indirect objects, accusative and dative, in English as well (like the use of whom). English just doesnât make such a big deal out of it like German does 
Maybe someone has a trick they could share?
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Super helpful response, Antonia!
I agree with Antonia, what helped me learn them was simply memorizing structures that are super common. When those sound right or wrong in your mind, you can then, by analogy, work your way through the rest without having to really understand why. For example, âmit dirâ and not âmit dichâ, ergo: mit + dative, ergo: mit ihm, mit ihr, mit ihnen, âŠ
Here are a few of those:
- Ohne dich
- Mir ist warm
- Ich helfe dir
- Zu mir oder zu dir?
I wouldnât worry too much about declensions, though. There are many other more useful and enjoyable things to learn about German! 
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Please donât laugh: Speaking Spanish and Quichua 90% of my time, I also start to struggle with itâŠ
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Phew, Iâm glad itâs not just me! I speak more English in my daily life now than a few years ago and was afraid I was losing my touch 
There are two catchy songs that might help you remember the cases for each one of them 
Dativ
Akkusativ
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the second video is really funny and it reminded me of this video below 
It is always the case with me that if I repeat something in my head again and again, so that I do not forget it, I definitely forget it 
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I would definitely focus on the prepositions at first so you sound correct speaking it and then the logic will come as you use them more often. Unfortunately, some prepositions can be dative or accustative so those wonât be as easy and I am trying to learn them. There are venndiagrams in the internet on which prepositions are what case
Dativ: ab, aus, bei, nach, aus, seit, von, mit, zu
Akkusativ: bis, fĂŒr, durch, gegen, um
and then others that are both. I think that is the easiest approach and I spoke with another American (i am from the US) and he had said he had also focused on the prepositions to get the cases right.
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Thatâs an extremely good idea!
The use of Genitiv, Akkusativ and Dativ mostly depends on a certain verb (e.g. verbs like âgefallen, passen, geben, schenken etcâ always need Dativ, verbs like âkochen, besuchen, lesen etc.â always need Akkusativ).
Itâs also important to keep in mind which prepositions need Akkusativ or Dativ.
What helps you to learn when to use Akkusativ, Dativ or Genitiv?
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I like the âMerksĂ€tzeâ for Akkusativ and Dativ
PrÀpositionen mit Akkusativ:
Buf Dog = bis, um, fĂŒr, durch, ohne, gegen
PrÀpositionen mit Dativ:
Von Ausbeimit nach Vonseitzu
fÀhrst immer mit dem Dativ du!
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Thank you Dagmar!
That`s a very helpful âEselsbrĂŒckeâ 
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Wow! Never heard about these before!
They are great!
From now on I will use them in my lessons. 
Thank you, Dagmar!
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@Dagmar diese regel verstehe ich nicht. Könnten Sie bitte erklĂ€ren oder ins Englische ĂŒbersetzen?
Also, i vaguely remember a rule that said (I think) if you are moving towards it but not going inside, etc. Is this relevant here. Danke
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It means that the following prepositions always go with Dativ:
- von
- aus
- bei
- mit
- nach
- von
- seit
- zu
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For Two-Way Prepositions, try this rule:
âŠif you are referring to either movement or direction, you use the accusative case, whereas if you are referring to location or position, you use the dative.
âLegte es auf den Schreibtischâ (put it on the desk) refers to a movement, because something is being moved onto the desk, ergo accusative. âEs ist auf dem Schreibtischâ (It is on the desk referring to a physical location, use the dative
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Hello to you, so sorry for the late reply and thank you to @SKrausser for the answer. Yes, these prepositions are follwed by Dativ. I should have left a space between the listing of the words.
Exeption to the rule, as always there is an exeption 
:
The prepositions âauf - ĂŒber - anâ are LokalprĂ€positionen therefore they can be used with Dativ or Akkusativ, it depends on the question, if you ask, âWoâ, then Dativ follows, if you ask âWohinâ follows Akkusativ.
Wo ist das Kissen? âAuf dem Stuhlâ / Wo bist du? âIm Supermarkt.â
Wohin soll ich das Kissen legen? âAuf den Stuhlâ / Wohin gehst du? âIn den Supermarktâ
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Thank you @Dagmar âauf - ĂŒber - anâ are LokalprĂ€positionen
sind dies(e?) die einzigen LokalprĂ€positionen? Wie wĂ€re es mit âzuâ or do some preposition logically not allow for wohin vs. wo for example âzuâ seems to always be wohin but then âĂŒberâ doesnât seem to have âwoâ because you are always going somewhere ĂŒber to get wohin.
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Hello again, @Everymans.ai thank you for using the forum to ask valuable questions.
Concerning âWechselprĂ€positionenâ . I found a very good 10 minute video from âEasy Deutschâ on the internet. It would be a lengthy explanation, if I would explain it here in writing. So, please have a look at the link, it also explains âin vs zuâ und âzu vs nachâ.
Here it is: WechselprÀpositionen | Grammatik | Einfach und unkompliziert erklÀrt
Much fun listening and learning
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