Challenges of Learning German Cases (Der, Die, Das) Among Undergraduate Students in Southeast Nigeria

This study investigates the specific challenges that undergraduate students in South East Nigeria encounter when learning the German nominal case system, with a particular focus on grammatical gender and the use of definite articles. The German three-gender system, which assigns masculine, feminine, and neuter designations to nouns in ways that are not always predictable from surface form, is widely regarded as one of the most structurally demanding aspects of the language for speakers of languages without grammatical gender. The study is situated at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, and collects data from 90 first-year German language students through a diagnostic grammar test, error analysis of written compositions, and a structured questionnaire assessing learning strategies and self-efficacy. Findings reveal that errors in article selection account for approximately 35 percent of all grammatical errors in the student corpus, with neuter gender assignment being the source of greatest difficulty. Students report relying heavily on memorisation of noun-article pairs but express low confidence in applying this knowledge consistently under timed conditions. The study recommends the use of colour-coded noun learning systems and pattern-recognition exercises as evidence-based strategies to reduce article assignment errors. Keywords: German nominal cases, articles, grammatical gender, South East Nigeria, interlanguage.