Jemanden

Jemanden is the accusative form of the German indefinite pronoun jemand, meaning someone or somebody. It is used when the person referred to is the direct object of a verb—the entity that is acted upon in the sentence. For example: Ich sehe jemanden im Park. Kannst du jemanden anrufen? In questions, it answers the “whom” part: Wen siehst du? Ich sehe jemanden.

In contrast to jemanden, the nominative form is jemand (the subject of a sentence), and the dative form is jemandem (the indirect object). The accusative case, shown by jemanden, is common in everyday German whenever a person is the direct object of a transitive verb, as in kaufen, sehen, treffen, helfen, and many others. For instance: Ich treffe jemanden, den ich kenne; Er hilft jemandem, der Hilfe braucht.

Jemanden can be combined with other words to form common expressions, including the indefinite variant irgendjemanden (somebody, anyone) and phrases with prepositions that take the accusative, such as für jemanden (for someone) or um jemanden (around someone) in appropriate contexts. It is also contrasted with niemand (no one) in negative constructions.

Etymologically, jemand is an indefinite pronoun used to refer to an unspecified person, and jemanden is its default object form in German grammar. The usage of jemanden is straightforward in standard prose and conversation, and it remains the typical form whenever the person is the direct object of the action.