Sally is the indirect object, who is the recipient of the car (direct object) being given by Frank (subject). Here, we see the dative case at work in this give someone something setup. So, this can include verbs such as to offer, to provide, to lend, to send, to answer, to command, to advise, to assure, etc. In English, we can use the dative case with verbs that are about giving/taking or speaking, in a broad sense. In English, however, we have two options: use the dative case OR use a prepositional phrase. Well, in German it’s pretty straightforward: indirect objects are put into the dative case. German uses the dative case a lot but English uses it very rarely (because we use something else instead)…īoth German and English sentences can have people/objects to/for whom action is taken.īased on our chart above, we know that those people/objects must be the indirect object, right? This is the dative case after all! Case is what we use to ‘flag’ these roles so we know who is doing what to whom. Like all the other cases ( nominative, accusative, genitive), we can think of the dative case as being a particular ‘slot’ in any given sentence that gets filled up (in this case -pun intended– with the indirect object).Īll nouns play a role in their sentences that is relative to the other nouns in the sentence. If you want to say simple, everyday, might-be-relevant-to-your-life things such as I hurt my leg, I’m feeling cold, That’s important to me, or You can kiss my ***, then you need to learn the dative case. BUT, in German, it has many, many side gigs, too. The dative case has a standard, basic function: signaling the indirect object of the sentence. And it is therefore in Dative case.If you want to be able to say more than “ Guten Morgen! Ich möchte ein Brötchen!”, then learning the dative case is essential. The first question can obviously not be formulated, therefore question 2 is the right one. Wem gehört das Haus? (indicator question for dative case) Wen oder was gehört das Haus? (indicator question for accusative case) So if you wanna know in which case the "mir" stands, then simply ask the questions that I just gave you. So lets illustrate this with one more example:
So whenever you have a sentence, try to formulate those questions in your head and in most cases it will be pretty easy for you to pick the right answer.
So just ask yourself : Is it "WEN oder WAS miete ich?" or is it "WEM miete ich"? It is very obviously "WEN oder WAS miete ich" in this question, therefore it must be accusative.Īccusative - Question you need to ask: "Wen oder was" (who/what)ĭative - Question you need to ask " Wem" (whom) I think it is easier to stick to questions when it comes to Dativ and Akkusativ in German. I know it's ridiculous to think that way and I can't seem to stop thinking that way. For example: "I rent my house." -> "Ich miete mein Haus." I always want to make this dative because I keep thinking that house is being affected since it is being rented. Thank you! I think I get it stuck in my head that the accusative "receiver of the action" and the dativ "Person or thing being affected" mean the same thing so deciphering the two gets me mixed up so easily. In sentences where you have an indirect and a direct object, the indirect object is usually placed before the direct object. > Here you have first the indirect object "Dir" and then you got the direct object "einen Brief". There are sentences, in which you have BOTH a DIRECT and an INDIRECT object. So this is a sentence with an idirect object, without a direct object present in the sentence. > In this sentence, "Dir" is a indirect object, because you can ask "WHOM are you helping"-> I am helping YOU. The question that you have to ask to get the correct case is " WEN oder WAS schreibst du". > This is a sentence that only has a direct object ("einen Brief"). Hopefully this will help you to better understand German Grammar and Cases. In German, (as well as in other languages!!) the accusative case corresponds to DIRECT OBJECTS and dative corresponds to INDIRECT OBJECTS. Can someone clear this up for me please? Thank you! Is that correct? Everything I've learned so far are dative sentences with a subject - verb - direct object - indirect object and I have not seen examples where there is no indirect object so I get confused. Hello! Needing help understanding the dative case in simple sentences.Įxample: "Ich miete nicht meinem (meinen?) Haus." So since the house is directly affected by the verb "miete", is it an accusative or dative direct object.
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