Everyone learns differently, but here is what worked for me in similar situations when I was learning foreign languages: First, you learn the flexion tables by heart. Yes, it's work, you just have to sit down and do it, and practise it a little every day. Second, you learn the patterns that governs the use of cases. In German, that means verb patterns. So you don't memorize "abfinden", you memorize "sich mit etwas (Dat) abfinden". (BTW, it's the same in English, students have to memorize "to put up with s.th."). A good dictionary should contain these patterns (the OED does for English). Third, you practise picking the right article and ending in examples, until it becomes natural and a subconcious thing. Do a little every day, e.g. pick 5 (or more) verbs every day and some nouns and turn them into example sentences. If you want, do a notebook entry here. As I said, everyone learns differently. The above worked for me; if it doesn't work for you, try to find out how you learn best. And yes, German children learn this differently, of course. They don't learn the rules explicitely, they just make a lot of mistakes and get corrected by their parents a lot. But they are kids, and learn fast this way. For adults or even older kids, it's a lot faster and easier to just learn the rules.

Hello, Yes, you will have to learn basic structures, because otherwise, you won't be able to speak the language ... In my example, I will be dealing with nominative singular : masculine: der Mann - ein Mann feminine: die Frau - eine Frau neuter : das Kind - ein Kind NOTE: masculine, feminine, neuter = grammatical gender of a noun der /die / das = definite article : masculine / feminine / neuter - English: the ein /eine / ein = indefinite article : masculine / feminien / neuter You can use this structure with any other noun: die Katze - eine Katze der Hund - ein Hund das Haus - ein Haus - ect It is important to learn the definite article with every new noun you learn. There are certain rules so that you can find the gender of the nouns - I won't go into detail here, bcause that's too much .. To learn the endings, you should choose one sample noun for each gender and write down the singular and plural forms so that you can get used to different endings.

I would personally approach a mix, have the tables at hand to know what declension goes with each gender and number, but at the same time try to let the concept for each case sink in you so it becomes natural which case to use. After many times you'll get used to make certain structures and patterns. Once it becomes natural for you use Dativ, Genitiv, Akkusativ and when to use each case, the specific form of the declension is just a matter of a little memory, and a great deal of it will be already covered by the habit of saying certain sentences.

The best way is to learn standard sentences by heart. It is similar to the method you are using to learn German. The tables of declinations should be used a reference. This way you will learn the correct sentence first and analyze these later rather than to learn rules first and try to make your own sentences which will confuse you. You must have learnt this sentence. Ich habe einen Hund. Ich habe eine Katze. Now you know that you will never say "Ich habe einen Katze" becasue you did not learn it that way. And if someone says, "ich habe eine Hund", you will also notice the mistake. Children also learn a language by first listening to sentences and then imitating these and then building their own sentences. They learn the rules unconsciously, but they cannot explain the rules.

Unfortunately I can't give you any advise, because I'm struggling with this problem as well :( But maybe I can make your mood better this way: threre're languages with more difficult declension. In German there're only four cases. In Polish there are seven... Anyway, good luck with learning German :)