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Lesson 29 of 69 · A2, Unit 2: The cases

The dative case

The dative marks the person receiving something, the indirect object: Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch (I give the book to the man). The articles change: der → dem, die → der, das → dem, plural die → den (and the noun adds -n).

A group of very common prepositions always takes the dative: aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu, gegenüber. Learn them as a list — many people sing them to the tune of the Blue Danube.

By the end you can:

  • use dem, der, dem, den for the indirect object
  • use the dative prepositions aus, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu
  • use the dative pronouns mir, dir, ihm, ihr, uns, euch, ihnen

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