The German dative case: when and why to use it

The German dative case marks the receiver, the person you give, send, show or explain something to: Ich gebe dem Kollegen den Schlüssel. It is also the case after the prepositions aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von and zu, after in, an and auf when they say where something is, and with verbs such as helfen and gefallen. The dative articles are dem, der, dem and, in the plural, den.

#What does the dative do in a sentence?

Of the four German cases, the dative is the one for the person at the receiving end. Its question word is wem?, to whom. When a verb has two objects, the thing is usually in the accusative and the person who gets it is in the dative.

English has the same idea in "give him the book" or "give the book to him". German shows it in the form of the word.

#What are the dative articles and pronouns?

Two things stand out. Masculine and neuter share one form, ending in -m. And in the plural the noun adds -n as well as the article: die Kinder, mit den Kindern. Plurals that already end in -n or -s stay as they are: mit den Kolleginnen, mit den Autos.

The pronouns are the forms you hear most:

More on these in German pronouns in every case.

#When do you use the dative after a preposition?

A small group of prepositions always takes the dative, whatever the sentence: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu and also gegenüber. Several of them merge with the article: zu dem becomes zum, zu der becomes zur, bei dem becomes beim and von dem becomes vom.

Each of them is explained in the dative prepositions.

When do in, an and auf take the dative?

Nine prepositions, including in, an, auf, über and unter, take the dative when they describe where something is (wo?) and the accusative when something moves there (wohin?).

The full rule, with the verb pairs that go with it, is in Wechselpräpositionen.

#Which verbs take the dative?

Some common verbs take a dative object even though they have only one object. helfen, danken, antworten, gehören, gefallen, schmecken, passen and fehlen are the ones you need first.

There is a longer list, and the trick with gefallen, in German verbs that take the dative.

#How do Germans say "I'm cold" with the dative?

Many everyday phrases about how you feel or what something means to you use a dative pronoun where English uses "I". These are best learnt as whole phrases.

#What order do the dative and accusative objects go in?

When both objects are nouns, the dative usually comes first: the person, then the thing.

When one of them is a pronoun, the pronoun comes first. When both are pronouns, the accusative comes first.

That sounds like a lot of rules, but most sentences in real life have one pronoun and one noun, and then the pronoun simply goes first.

#How does Linota help with the dative?

The dative sticks best through phrases you use, and Linota is built around those. When you tap a word in a text, its meaning appears in the sentence you found it in, so you collect mit dem Bus and beim Arzt rather than bare prepositions. In the mission where you call the doctor's practice for an appointment, you answer in your own German, typed or spoken, and get feedback on every reply, so Passt es Ihnen am Montag? stops being a grammar point and becomes something you say.

#The short version

• The dative marks the receiver: ask wem?
• Articles: dem, der, dem, den, and the plural noun adds -n.
• Always dative after aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu and gegenüber.
• In, an, auf and the other two-way prepositions take the dative for where something is.
• Verbs like helfen, danken, gefallen and gehören take the dative.
• Learn the feeling phrases whole: Mir ist kalt, Wie geht es Ihnen?

The case after this one is the one you need least in speech: see whether the German genitive is dying.