Grammar

Many common verbs take an accusative object: haben, kaufen, brauchen, sehen, suchen, finden, nehmen, lesen. The clearest article change is masculine: der → den; ein → einen.

Feminine die/eine, neuter das/ein and plural die remain identical to the nominative forms.

Compare Der Mann sieht den Hund: the man sees the dog. Der Hund sieht den Mann: the dog sees the man. Articles convey grammatical roles, not just decorative word endings. This is why memorising all nouns as “the X” in English is insufficient.

Pointing and choosing: before a noun, dies- means this/these and welch- asks which. In the nominative, use dieser/welcher Bus, diese/welche Tasche, dieses/welches Buch and plural diese/welche Bücher.

In the accusative, masculine becomes diesen/welchen Bus; the feminine, neuter and plural forms stay the same as in the nominative.

Welcher Bus kommt? Dieser Bus kommt. Welchen Bus nimmst du? Ich nehme diesen Bus. = Which bus is coming? This bus is coming. Which bus are you taking? I am taking this bus. Hinglish: Kaun si bus aa rahi hai? Yeh bus aa rahi hai. Tum kaun si bus le rahe ho? Main yeh bus le raha hoon.

Pointing without repeating the noun: in the nominative, der can stand for a masculine noun, die for a feminine noun or plural, and das for a neuter noun. Here the word stands alone as a pronoun. Welche Tasche möchtest du? Diese Tasche. Die ist groß. = Which bag would you like? This bag. That one is big. Hinglish: Tumhe kaun sa bag chahiye? Yeh wala bag. Woh bada hai.

Example

Ich brauche einen Stift und eine Tasche.

English

I need a pen and a bag.

Hinglish

Mujhe ek pen aur ek bag chahiye.