FormSubjekt + Verb + Dativobjekt (Person) + Akkusativobjekt (Sache)
Meaning and usage
With verbs of giving like geben, kaufen, schreiben and erzählen, German marks two objects. The person who receives something is the dative object, and the thing that is given, bought or written is the accusative object: Ich kaufe meiner Schwester einen Hut. Ask Wem? for the receiver and Was? for the thing.
With two nouns, the dative usually comes first, so you say Er gab dem Kind ein Buch, not Er gab ein Buch dem Kind. The dative article changes: der becomes dem, die becomes der, and meine Schwester becomes meiner Schwester. A very common mistake is keeping the feminine form and saying Ich kaufe meine Schwester einen Hut, which leaves the receiver unmarked.
Examples 6
Bitte geben Sie dem Hund jeden Tag zu fressen.
Please feed the dog every day.
Was gibst du deinem Hund zu fressen?
What do you feed your dog?
Ich kaufe meiner Schwester einen neuen Hut.
I'm buying my sister a new hat.
Ich schreibe meiner Mutter einmal pro Monat einen Brief.
I write to my mother once a month.
Er kaufte seiner Tochter ein neues Kleid.
He bought his daughter a new dress.
Er erzählte seinem Sohn eine interessante Geschichte.
He told his son an interesting story.
Test yourself
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1 Sprachbausteine
Ich schreibe oft einen Brief.
Show answer
Correct answer: meiner Oma
The grandmother is the person who receives the letter, so she is the dative object: meiner Oma.
- meine Oma Accusative form, but the receiver of a letter must be dative.
- meine Omas Plural form, but the sentence talks about one grandmother.
- meiner Omas Genitive form, which is not used for the object of schreiben.
In this topic: The four cases
- den Mann, einen Mann masculine articles change in the accusative
- dem Kind ein Buch geben giving: the receiver is dative, the thing is accusative
- den Kindern, mit den Freunden dative plural: den plus noun with -n
- Wen? Wem? asking who with wen or wem
- Den Film kenne ich. Put an object first to highlight it
- Annas Buch, Toms Auto showing who something belongs to with a name
- das Auto von meinem Vater whose something is, with von + dative
Example sentences from Tatoeba, used under CC BY 2.0 FR. See sources.