
The dative
Dative case
The dative case (abbreviated dat, or sometimes d when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case generally used to indicate the noun to which something is given, as in "Maria gave Jacob a drink". Here, Jacob is an indirect dative.
What do the accusative case and dative case refer to?
The nominative case refers to the subject of the sentence. The accusative case refers to the direct object of the sentence. The dative case refers to the indirect object of the sentence. Finally, the genitive case refers to the possessive. From this simple explanation itself it is quite clear that the accusative case and dative case refer ...
Is the pronoun'him'in the dative case?
The pronoun "him" is in the dative case. It has changed from "he" to "him." In English, we use the term objective case for the dative case and the accusative case. Let's look at the example above again:
What is the function of the dative case in grammar?
The dative case's main function is to show the indirect object of a verb. The indirect object of a sentence is the recipient of the direct object.
What is the direct object in the accusative case?
“Das Auto” is the direct object in the accusative case. If you are unsure, if the noun is the subject and in the nominative case or the object in the accusative case, you can ask: Wen sieht das Kind?

What is dative case with example?
The dictionary definition of dative case is that when a noun or a pronoun refers to the indirect object of the sentence, then that particular noun or a pronoun is said to be in dative case of English grammar. Example: Sam took his dog to the vet.
What is dative and accusative in German?
The accusative case is for direct objects. The direct object is the person or thing that receives the action. So in “the girl kicks the ball”, “the ball” is the direct object. The dative case is for indirect objects. The indirect object is the person or thing who “gets” the direct object.
What is an example of accusative?
Here are some examples of the accusative case with an explanation of how to find the direct object: She stroked the cat. Therefore, the direct object is "the cat." The words "the cat" are in the accusative case.
What is an accusative case?
The accusative case (abbreviated ACC) of a noun is the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb. In the English language, the only words that occur in the accusative case are pronouns: 'me,' 'him,' 'her,' 'us,' and 'them'.
How do you identify dative and accusative verbs in German?
Whenever there are two objects in a sentence, the person is always dative and the thing is always accusative. An important point to remember is that the dative object precedes the accusative object. Only when the accusative object is a pronoun, it is placed before the dative object.
What are the 4 cases in German?
There are four cases in German:nominative.accusative.genitive.dative.
How do you know if a word is accusative?
In the grammar of some languages, the accusative, or the accusative case, is the case used for a noun when it is the direct object of a verb, or the object of some prepositions. In English, only the pronouns `me,' `him,' `her,' `us,' and `them' are in the accusative.
How do you identify an accusative case?
The "accusative case" is used when the noun is the direct object in the sentence. In other words, when it's the thing being affected (or "verbed") in the sentence. And when a noun is in the accusative case, the words for "the" change a teeny tiny bit from the nominative. See if you can spot the difference.
What is accusative used for?
The accusative case, akkusativ, is the one that is used to convey the direct object of a sentence; the person or thing being affected by the action carried out by the subject. This is achieved in different ways in different languages.
What is the difference between accusative and dative case?
DATIVE AND ACCUSATIVE OBJECTS In the simplest terms, the accusative is the direct object that receives the direct impact of the verb's action, while the dative is an object that is subject to the verb's impact in an indirect or incidental manner.
Who is accusative?
The difference is one of case; “who” is the nominative or subjective case form, whereas “whom” is the accusative, or objective case form.
What is the dative case in English?
In grammar, the dative case (abbreviated dat, or sometimes d when it is a core argument) is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a drink".
What is dative in German examples?
Some German verbs always take a dative noun (or pronoun) as their object, even if the English sentence suggests a direct object. What is this? For example, helfen (“to help”) and danken (“to thank”) are two such verbs: Er kann dir nicht helfen.
What is dative in German?
German. In general, the dative (German: Dativ) is used to mark the indirect object of a German sentence. For example: Ich schickte dem Mann(e) das Buch. (literally: I sent "to the man" the book.)
What is accusative in German?
The "accusative case" is used when the noun is the direct object in the sentence. In other words, when it's the thing being affected (or "verbed") in the sentence. And when a noun is in the accusative case, the words for "the" change a teeny tiny bit from the nominative. See if you can spot the difference.
What is the accusative case in German examples?
The woman (die Frau) is the subject, the one doing the buying, and the skirt (Rock) is the direct object, the thing being bought, and is in the accusative case. Translation: She has a dog.
What is an accusative case?
So we know now: The accusative case describes the direct object of a sentence. It answers to the question “Wen?” or “whom?” .
Why do you use the accusative case as the n case?
Whenever you think of the accusative case, remember it as the n-case, because you have to add -en to the article in masculine.
Why do you use the M case in German?
Whenever you think of the dative case in German, remember it as the m-case, because you have to add -em to the article in masculine.
Why are cases important in German?
There is a concept behind the cases in German. They allow us to play around with the word order. You know by now that a normal basic sentence is structured as “Subject Verb Object”. In English the syntax (sentence structure) is important to clarify which nouns play which role in the sentence. In German the cases are taking over that job. So later on, when we are more fluent and comfortable in German, we are able to play around with the sentence structure without changing the meaning of the sentence. This works as long as we stick to the correct cases for the nouns!
When to use nominative case?
As you know, the nominative case is used for the subject in the sentence.
Can a noun be a direct object in German?
It depends if they are assigned for a subject or an object. If they are describing an object, the noun can be a direct object or an indirect object in German.
Is accusative a struggle?
Dative and accusative seem to be a struggle, especially for English speaking students. You are not alone and this blog will give you insights and a better understanding of the seemingly challenging concept of German cases. We will answer your all-important question: what is dative vs accusative in German.
What is the meaning of "dative" in English?
Note that in English both entities, the item being transferred and the receiver are just in objective case. What matters are the roles. And Dative is the receiver. That is its core. Receiving something. Dative receives. That’s also the name of a famous Goethe poem (he wrote it when he was a student of German as a Native language)
What is the main idea of the dative?
Being a receiver or audience is also the main idea of the Dative. That’s what the case expresses even if you see it outside of this transfer-structure.
What is the next best case besides nominative?
We can boil down our findings as follows. The Accusative is the next best case besides Nominative. It means nothing and it works for this pattern:
Is accusative a disappointment?
Now, Accusative has been quite a disappointment. There is no deeper secret to it, no catchy idea. This is different for Dative and to find that out it makes sense to look at another basic pattern for sentences. We already had:
Which case expresses possession for the most part?
we wasted time with an introduction and then we talked about the cases nobody really cares about. The Nominative, which is the default case that every language kind of has, and Genitive which expresses possession for the most part. By the way, in the comments on that we were talking a bit about when to use real Genitive and there are some interesting points there. I’ll add them to the post when the lazyness wears off… if. Oh will it ever.
Which case is the default case that every language kind of has?
The Nominative, which is the default case that every language kind of has, and Genitive which expresses possession for the most part. By the way, in the comments on that we were talking a bit about when to use real Genitive and there are some interesting points there.
Is a dative receiving a thing?
The Dative isn’t really receiving a thing here… it is more like an audience for something. But still I think the idea of transfer shines through. By the way… this idea of being and receiving-audience nicely explains a few very common uses of Dative without the Accusative. For example
What are accusative and dative?
The dative and accusative are two of the cases used in Latin to indicate the function of a noun or pronoun in a given sentence. They are the two objective cases; that is, they are used for nouns and pronouns that are, in some sense, objects of a verb. In the simplest terms, the accusative is the direct object that receives the direct impact of the verb's action, while the dative is an object that is subject to the verb's impact in an indirect or incidental manner. Accusative objects are used only with transitive verbs, which are, by definition, capable of taking direct objects. Dative objects may occur with transitive and intransitive verbs. Transitive verbs sometimes take accusative and dative objects simultaneously.#N#Let us see first some simple examples of accusative and dative objects in English. So long as a sentence contains only one of these objects, the syntax will be simple and consistent.
Is accusative a verb in Spanish?
As in English, accusative objects in Spanish are easily recognizable as the direct objects of transitive verbs. The use of datives, however, differs somewhat from the English usage. In Spanish the syntax of dative constructions has fewer variants than in English. The Spanish dative does have both marked and unmarked forms, and both forms sometimes appear together redundantly in the same sentence. But the marked form is usually optional except when needed for clarification. The difficulty of the Spanish dative from the English-speaker's viewpoint is the wide range of relationships and involvements that can be expressed by the same forms and the same syntax. In Spanish the dative object's involvement in the action must often be discerned from the context, whereas in English it might be clarified by syntactical or lexical means. The Spanish dative is used for a wide range of situations, some of them quite subtle and some of them involving objects which, in English, might not even be considered datives.
Introduction
The accusative, dative and genitive cases are often difficult for German learners to recognize and the difference in usage between the dative and accusative is often quite complicated. Luckily, specific verbs and prepositions tell us which case to use.
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What are nominative, accusative, dative and genitive?
Explanation: Nominative, accusative, dative and genitive are all grammatical cases. They vary in function in different languages. Here is what they look like in English: e.g.
Is money an accusative?
Here, money would be in the accusative since it is the pet that the verb is being done to- the pet is owned by the person.
Does case affect nouns?
Personal pronouns also change (e.g.he, she, it -> his, her, its). It is worth saying that cases only affect nouns in English, though in other languages they can affect adjectives.
What is a dative case?
The dative case is the case that shows the indirect object of a verb. (The indirect object of a verb is the recipient of the direct object .) For example:
What prepositions take the dative case?
For example, in German, the following take the dative case: "aus," "bei," "mit," "nach," "seit," "von," and "zu."
What is Smashing Grammar?
Written by the founder of Grammar Monster, "Smashing Grammar" includes a comprehensive A-Z glossary of essential grammar terms, a detailed punctuation section, and a chapter on easily confused words. Each entry kicks off with a simple explanation and some basic examples before giving real-life, entertaining examples.
Do nouns change to dative?
In some languages (most typically the Slavic languages), the nouns change too to show they are in the dative case.
Do definite articles change in German?
Those learning English are lucky. In English, the definite articles ("the") and the indefinite articles ("a" or "an") do not change in the oblique cases. In other languages, however, they do. Here is how they change in German in the dative case: The definite article ("the"): Case Gender.
Do nouns change in oblique cases?
Remember that, in English, our nouns do not change in the "oblique" cases (as they're called). However, our pronouns do. This is why "the presentation" hasn't changed and why "he" has become "him."
Is "who" a dative?
For native English speakers, the only real issue associated with the dative case is using "who" as an object (i.e. , a direct object, an indirect object, or an object of preposition). If it's an object, you should use "whom." For example:

Genders and Articles in German
The Noun as The Subject
The Noun as The Direct Object
Memorising Tip
The Noun as The Indirect Object
- The dative case describes an indirect object that receives an action from the direct object in the accusative case or the subject. The dative case gives you more information about an action that took place. It talks about the recipient. The question for the dative case in German would be “Wem?” or “to whom?” The articles are a little more complex t...
German Verbs in Dative Case
Verbs That Demand The Dative and The Accusative Case