GermanFluent

A1 · Personal pronouns

Ich gebe es dir.

When both objects are pronouns, the accusative comes first

FormSubjekt + Verb + Akkusativpronomen + Dativpronomen

Meaning and usage

When a sentence has two objects and both are personal pronouns, the accusative pronoun comes before the dative pronoun. For example, Ich gebe es ihm means I give it to him. The accusative pronoun es refers to the thing, and the dative pronoun ihm refers to the person. This order is fixed when both objects are pronouns.

Learners often put the dative first, as in Ich gebe ihm es, but that sounds wrong in German. The correct order is always accusative then dative when both are pronouns. Remember that the dative pronoun shows who receives something, and the accusative pronoun shows what is given or said.

Examples 6

Test yourself

  1. 1 Sprachbausteine

    Das Foto ist schön. Ich schenke dir.

    Show answer

    Correct answer: es

    The thing given is das Foto, neuter, so the accusative pronoun is es. It comes before the dative pronoun dir.

    • mir is dative, and the sentence already has the dative dir.
    • ihn would stand for a masculine thing, but Foto is neuter.
    • ihm is dative, and the sentence already has the dative dir.

In this topic: Personal pronouns

  1. ich, du, er, sie, es, wir, ihr, sie I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they
  2. du / Sie Polite you, capitalised Sie with the verb in the -en form
  3. der Tisch → er er, sie, es replace a thing by its gender
  4. mich, dich, ihn me, you, him as the one acted on
  5. mir, dir, ihm to me, to you, to him: the person who gets something
  6. helfen, gefallen + Dativ help, please, belong to, taste, thank, answer + dative
  7. es gibt + Akkusativ there is, there are
  8. Ich gebe es dir. When both objects are pronouns, the accusative comes first

Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.