Today, we are going to explore dative and accusative cases and their position in German sentences. Understanding of this topic is key to constructing accurate and meaningful sentences in German.
As you probably already know, the dative and accusative cases help us answer two essential questions in a sentence:
- Dative Case: To whom or for whom?
- Accusative Case: Who or what?
Hat der Arzt dem Patienten das Medikament verschrieben? Nein, er hat es ihm nicht verschrieben.
The position of dative and accusative objects in German sentences varies. Let’s have a look at the following cases:
Case 1: Noun (dative) + noun (accusative)
Dative object comes shortly after the finite verb, accusative object comes after dative.
Ich bringe meinem Vater die Tasche. – I’ll bring the bag to my father.
If one object is a pronoun and the other a noun, the pronoun always precedes:
Case 2: Pronoun (dative) + noun (accusative)
Ich bringe ihm die Tasche. – I’ll bring him the bag
Case 3: Pronoun (accusative) + noun (dative)
Ich bringe sie meinem Vater. – I’ll take it to my father.
Case 4: Pronoun (accusative) + pronoun (dative)
If the accusative and dative are both pronouns, the accusative precedes:
Ich bringe sie ihm. – I’ll bring it to him.
As you could notice, pronouns are placed directly after the subject and verb:
Ich habe es ihm gestern gegeben. – I gave it to him yesterday.
Gestern hat der Lehrer es ihm gegeben. – The teacher gave it to him yesterday.
The same goes for reflexive pronouns: I washed my hair.
Great job!
Now you are ready for the test.