Nouns and pronouns are inflected (take special endings) to indicate different cases. These show the role of the word in the sentence. An adjective describing a noun or pronoun must have the correct adjectival endings to indicate the same case as the (pro)noun it refers to. The cases have various uses each; here are some of the most frequent.

nominative (subject), vocative (form of address), accusative (direct object), genitive (possesor), dative (indirect object, recipient, instrument).

The case of a noun or pronoun might also depend on which preposition it is used with. Some prepositions change their meaning when used with different cases, for example afar + accusative means "after [in time]", but afar + dative means "after [in space]". in + accusative means "into", + dative "inside" or "into", and + genitive "because of".

jah láistidedun afar imma siponjos is "and followed after him disciples of-him" (his disciples followed after him" (Mk 6,1).

jah gebun imma slahins lofin "and they-gave [to-]him blows with-the-palm [of the hand]". (J 19,3).

Sometimes the case depends on which verb is used. Some verbs cause nouns and pronouns to take unexpected cases. E.g. some require the subject to take dative inflections (þugkeiþ im "they think") or accusative (jabái gredo fijand þeinana "if your enemy is hungry"). Some verbs require dative for the direct object (twáim fráujam skalkinon "to serve two masters"), or even genitive (áináizos anabusnáis beidiþ "he waits for one command"). There are also a few verbs whose direct object can be one case or another (e.g. dative or accusative) with no change in meaning, and a small number of others where the choice of case does change the meaning.

For details about which cases are used with which verbs and prepositions, see Wilhelm Streitberg's Gotisch-Griechisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch [ http://www.wulfila.be/lib/streitberg/1910/ ].