Lesson 14ª

 

 

 

 

 

    
LEKTION 14
Declension: Dative

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  • In German, the dative case is used to appoint the indirect object:


    • Ich danke deinem Vater  I thank your father
    Du gratulierst meiner Mutter  You congratulate my mother
    Wir helfen dem Mann We help the man


  • As with all of the other cases, the noun, article and adjective have to agree:


    • Ich danke dem kleinen Mann I help the small man
    Ich helfe deiner  Mutter  I help your mother
    Wir gratulieren deinem glücklichen Vater  We congratulate your happy father


  • When a noun appears in the dative, it doesn't usually add any ending, which is exactlly how it behaves in the nominative case. Only a few masculine nouns take the ending "-n / -en":


    • Nominative Dative  
    Der Kollege Dem Kollegen To the colleague
    Der Mensch  Dem Menschen  To the man


  • If we want to put an adjective into the dative case, we do exactly what we do with the nominative and accusative cases. Its ending depends on the actual word (article, posessive, determiner, etc) that precedes it:


    • a) If the adjective is accompanied by a definite article (dem, der, dem), the adjective ends with "-en" (masculine, feminine, neutral - singular & plural):


    Masculine Ich helfe dem kleinen Freund I help the small friend
    Feminine Ich helfe der kleinen Frau I help the small woman
    Neutral Ich helfe dem kleinen Kind I help the small boy
    Plural Ich helfe den kleinen Kindern I help the small children/ boys


    b) If it is preceded by an indefinite article (einem, einer, einem), or a posessive, the adjective ends in "-en" (masculine, feminine, neutral - singular & plural):


    Masculine Ich helfe einem kleinen Freund I help a small friend
    Feminine Ich helfe einer kleinen Frau I help a small woman
    Neutral Ich helfe einem kleinen Kind I help a small boy
    Plural Ich helfe ihren kleinen Kinder I help his/her small children/boys


    c) If the adjective is not preceded by any word, then it ends in "-em" (masculine and neutral) "-er" (feminine), and "-en" (plural):
    Masculine Kleinem Freund Small friend
    Feminine Kleiner Frau Small woman
    Neutro Kleinem Kind Small bouy
    Plural Kleinen Kinder Small boys


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    VOCABULARY
    High Hoch Small Klein
    Tall Gross Strong Stark
    Low Niedrig Weak Schwach
    Short Klein Pretty Hübsch
    Wide Breit Ugly Hässlich
    Narrow Eng Straight Gerade
    Short Kurz Twisted Krumm
    Long Lang Rich Reich
    Slow Langsam Poor Arm
    Fast Schnell Light Leicht
    Heavy Schwer Big Gross

         
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