Please help with this German grammar ';the cases';?

I understand that the accusative is used for the direct object etc. the one I am having trouble with is the Nominative.





If we look at this for example:


The teacher went to school.


This sentence is the nominative, yet the teacher is the indirect object so surely should be in the dative because the teacher is the indirect object. But then also the teacher is the subject of the sentence so could also be nominative.





Does anybody know where i'm coming from and could you explain in simple terms the difference.


ThanksPlease help with this German grammar ';the cases';?
The sentence is not in the nominative, only the subject is. ';the teacher'; is not the direct object, it's the subject of the verb!





I think you are missing a few things here. Only nouns carry case, not the sentence. In your example, there is a verb. A verb MUST have a subject, the noun that conjugates the verb. This is in the nominative case. As for ';to school';, well, it depends on the German sentence.





You can only determine the case based on the original German sentence because every verb requires a certain case for its objects and each preposition also requires certain cases.





As for direct vs. indirect object, I think you don't quite get it either. In ';I gave the girl a gift';, gift is the direct object (I gave what?) and girl is the indirect object (to whom?)Please help with this German grammar ';the cases';?
The teacher is the person who ';went';, and so is the subject of the verb ';went';. The subject takes the nominative case.


If you substitute a pronoun, you would have to say ';He went to school'; because ';He'; is the nominative form.


According to you, it would be dative case, thus: ';To him went to school';. Clearly nonsense. I wonder what made you think the teacher is the indirect object!
';The teacher'; is the subject and ONLY the subject..


There is no indirect object in that sentence.





The Teacher = subject (nominative)


went = predicate


to school = direct object (accusative)


on monday = indirect object (dative)