dative case is indirect object. so the boy gives the man the paper. the paper is what's being given, i.e. direct object, i.e. accusative. the man is the indirect object, the one that's receiving the direct object, so he's dative. Der Junge gibt dem Mann die Zeitung. or Der Junge gibt die Zeitung dem Mann, depending on what you want to emphasize. (They always make you wait for the most important information until the end, so in the first sentence you're emphasizing that it's the *newspaper* being given, in the second you're emphasizing that it was given to the *man.*)
sorry, i'm a huge dork when it comes to this stuff.
Ja, Ich liebe Deutsch. Always have. Now that I am a red pubic-hair from finishing my degree, in this language requirement I finally have the proper impetus to actually study the language and give my excellent pronunciation a reason to exist (besides my very well-trained ears and years of listening to Deutsch being sung).
Thanks much for your excellent description of the dative case. It's just figuring out WHAT is the indirect object in a given sentence which is troublesome fur mich. By now we've blown past that and on into genitive case and um...zu and ohne....zu constructions and such.
However, I'm gonna keep sloggin through it. I'll probably take another semester or two after I graduate simply because, having started this, I want to "finish" it and really come out the other side with more genuine knowledge. Though you don't really get there without spending about 6 months in Deutschland. I'll get to that eventually.......
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dative case is indirect object. so the boy gives the man the paper. the paper is what's being given, i.e. direct object, i.e. accusative. the man is the indirect object, the one that's receiving the direct object, so he's dative. Der Junge gibt dem Mann die Zeitung. or Der Junge gibt die Zeitung dem Mann, depending on what you want to emphasize. (They always make you wait for the most important information until the end, so in the first sentence you're emphasizing that it's the *newspaper* being given, in the second you're emphasizing that it was given to the *man.*)
sorry, i'm a huge dork when it comes to this stuff.
okay, i'm just a huge dork in general. fine.
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Thanks much for your excellent description of the dative case. It's just figuring out WHAT is the indirect object in a given sentence which is troublesome fur mich. By now we've blown past that and on into genitive case and um...zu and ohne....zu constructions and such.
However, I'm gonna keep sloggin through it. I'll probably take another semester or two after I graduate simply because, having started this, I want to "finish" it and really come out the other side with more genuine knowledge. Though you don't really get there without spending about 6 months in Deutschland. I'll get to that eventually.......
Tschüss!!
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