German accusative case

German accusative case

1. An instance where English has a complement, but German uses an accusative, is with the expression for there is or there are -- es gibt:

Es gibt keinen Ersatz dafur (There's no substitute for it.)
Es gibt doch einen Ausweg (There is a way out, however.)

2. German uses the accusative in expressions of time and in expressions of weight, value and space:

Er war einen Monat in London. ( He was in London for a month.)
Das ist keinin Pfennig wert. (That's not worth a penny.)

3. The verb kosten (to cost) and lehren (to teach) take two accusatives:

Das hat mich einen Haufen Geld gekostet. (That cost me a pile of money.)
Er lehrt sie die erste Regel. (He teaches her the first rule.)