German learners: Do you get the difference between Dativ and Akkusativ?

Question

I mean I understand there is a difference, and I know that native speakers just automatically know it, but can anyone explain how to know which to use, or do I just have to memorize it for every verb and prepostion?
(For a minute today, I thought I was catching on...but no, not really.)
(If you have any insight into "nach" and gender, while you're at it, I'm listening!)
Merci vielmal as they unhelpfully say here in Zurich.

Answer 1

What I usually tell kids: find the verb.
The subject (nominative) does the action.
The accusative (direct object) gets done to:
The dative (indiredt object ) gets the 'goodies'

The boy gave the teacher the finger.
The boy 'did it--nominative--der Junge
the finger, what 'got given' --accusative
the teacher' who 'got the goodies'--dative

A sentence is generally nom-dat-acc.
Der Mann hat seiner Frau einen Blumenstrauß gegeben.

After prepositions: We non-native speakers must memorize which group the preposition is in:
aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu, gegenüber are officially dative preps.
durch, für, gegen, ohn, um wider are officially accusative preps.

an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, zwischen and vor are two-way prepositions. They take the accustive when the verb shows directed motion (Er hängt das Bild an die Wand--imagine the picture moving towards the wall). They take dative when the verb shows location. (Jetzt hängt das Bild an der Wand.--the picture is on the wall, just hanging there.)

Some students use the memory hint, accusative, action, dative, dead.
The two-way prepositions are one of the major difficulties for English speakers, no wonder you're confused!
(nach is a dative prep, so you say nach der Schule, nach Hause with the mostly obsolete -e for dative ending. When you use nach to mean towards a country, no article is needed. Ich fliege bald nach Deutschland.)

Try checking out german.about.com--Hyde Flippo has good explanations.

Answer 2

The concept of separate cases is indeed difficult for native English speakers, since we don't have declensions except in the case of pronouns (he/him, I/me, etc.) and even then, the accusative and dative forms are the same. So don't beat yourself up about it!

For prepositions, you do have to memorize the case. Some prepositions are annoying in that they can take either accusative or dative, but the situations in which they do so are pretty clear (e.g. "in" is accusative if you're talking about the direction, INTO something, but dative if you're talking about the state of being IN something). Incidentally, I think prepositions are the hardest aspect of mastering any European language.

With verbs, there are clues. If you're familiar with the concept of direct/indirect objects, the direct objects take accusative and indirect objects take dative. (I gave him an apple = Ich gab ihm einen Apfel : "apple" is accusative, "him" is dative because the apple is TO him or FOR him.) Some verbs have the concept of "to" and "for" sort of built in, so they take the dative always. Example: "danken", "helfen", "gratulieren". You sort of "give thanks to someone" or "give help to someone" or "give congrats to someone". So you say "Ich danke dir" or "Hilf mir".

Hope this helps....btw, it's "Merci vilmal", I believe. That was one of the few Schweizerdeutsch phrases I learned when I almost moved to Zurich last year :)

Answer 3

The dativ case should be used for indirect objects (I'll assume you know direct/ indirect objects from English) and the akkusativ case should be used for direct objects. Certain verbs and prepositions take a certain case, but I know of no rule for this.

Answer 4

Yes Alpine... in latin, dative is when you have the preposition TO and accusative when not. For instance: dative: je parle à mon chien; accusative: je promène mon chien. I suppose it is the same in all lenguage. I give a gift to my sister. Dative: my sister; accusative: a gift. Hello. A French from Colombia South America. Answer.
I tried to write in french in Yahoo Canada, they didn't want my message! Is it true? You can't? I cannot believe.

Answer 5

Dative is used with indirect objects, Accusative is used with direct objects. Simple as that. It's the same in the Polish language.

Answer 6

If I remember properly, the nominative case is for the placement of the sentence, the accusative is for the item and the dative case is for the oblique merchandise - so a sentence like "I see the table in the process the window" turns into "Ich (nominative case) sehe den (accusative case) Tisch durch dem (dative case) Fenster".

Answer 7

Whom ? Whom/who to did I give the book... wem? Dativ

Who do I see? Wen? Akkusativ...

Keep this really simple....it is not that difficult. Just use the questions in your head.. it is exactly like English.... if you use whom in English it is Dativ.

Answer 8

vielmal

Answer 9

Thanks alot mam