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Let's talk about the third case in the German language. We already saw that Nominative is used for a subject in the sentence. Accusative is used for an object, or to be more precise, it is used for a direct object. Dative is used for an indirect object.
What is the difference between direct and indirect object in a sentence? Let us look at a few examples.
| Ich gebe der Mutter einen Hund. | I give a dog to the mother. |
| Ich gehe mit dem Kind spazieren. | I am going for a walk with the child. |
| Wir gehen zum Strand nach dem Frühstück. | We are going to the beach after the breakfast. |
The first example shows a sentence with three elements complementing the verb "gebe" (give). First element is the subject (Ich - who is performing the action), the second element is the direct object (Hund - what am I giving?), and the third element is the indirect object (Mutter - to whom am I giving the object). This is a typical scenario where we can see the subject, the direct object (accusative) and the indirect object (dative). Even though "Mutter" is a feminine noun, the definite article is "der" because we use the noun as the indirect object. "Hund" is the direct object so it uses indefinite article in accusative.
But you can use dative in a sentence that does not have a direct object. Let us look at the second example. Here we are using the preposition "mit" (with). Some prepositions require that dative noun is used.
In the third example we use two nouns in dative case. Both nouns are used with dative prepositions: zu (to) and nach (after).
Here is the table of definite articles in nominative, accusative and dative:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
| N | der | die | das | die |
| A | den | die | das | die |
| D | dem | der | dem | den |
Here is also the table for indefinite articles.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
| N | ein | eine | ein | - |
| A | einen | eine | ein | - |
| D | einem | einer | einem | - |
Here is the table for negation article "kein".
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | |
| N | kein | keine | kein | keine |
| A | keinen | keine | kein | keine |
| D | keinem | keiner | keinem | keinen |
Very important thing about dative is that the noun in plural changes as well. If it is not already ending on "n", the noun itself gets "n" at the end.
Some prepositions are used exclusively with the dative. Here is the list of dative prepositions: aus (from), bei (at, near), mit (with), nach (after, to), seit (since), von (from, of), zu (to).
In some cases you can combine the preposition with the definite article so "zu dem" is shortened to "zum". You will see in future lessons more such contractions.
We will talk about that more in future lessons, just remember for now that dative is used to indicate position. If you want to say that something is located somewhere, you will use dative.
Quick tip on word order:
In German language dative always comes before accusative unless one of the two elements is a pronoun. In that case the pronoun goes before the noun. If both elements are pronouns, the pronoun in accusative goes before the pronoun in dative.
Here are few examples:
Now that we know about nominative, accusative and dative cases for nouns, let us look at personal pronouns declension.
Personal pronouns are declined in English as well. "He" for example becomes "him", and "she" can become "her". Remember, you will use accusative with direct object, and dative with indirect object. Also, some prepositions require certain case. Here is the table of personal pronouns in three cases that we have met so far:
| Nom | Acc | Dat |
| ich | mich | mir |
| du | dich | dir |
| er | ihn | ihm |
| sie | sie | ihr |
| es | es | ihm |
| wir | uns | uns |
| ihr | euch | euch |
| sie | sie | ihnen |
| Sie | Sie | Ihnen |
Modal verbs are "special". They are used very often and they often require another verb to form a sentence. Let us look at the modal verbs and their conjugations:
Notice how all these verbs have the same form for "Ich" and "er/sie/es". This is different from the way regular verbs behave. Also notice how the umlaut (the two dots above a letter) is lost in singular, except for "möchten".
The verb müssen means "must" or "have to". For example, "Ich muss arbeiten" means "I have to work". Notice how two verbs are used in this sentence, "müssen" and "arbeiten".
The verb können means "can" or "be able to". For example, "Ich kann nicht schlafen" means "I can't sleep". When additional verb is used, the second verb goes at the end of the sentence.
The verb wollen means "want". For example, "Ich will mehr Geld" means "I want more money". As you can see, there is no second verb in this sentence. We can use modal verbs without the second verb. Don't confuse German "will" (want) with "will" in English, which is used to form Future tense.
The verb dürfen means "may" or "be allowed to". For example, "Wir dürfen hier nicht rauchen" mean "We are not allowed to smoke here".
The verb sollen means "should" or "be supposed to". For example, "Ich soll mehr Zeit mit meiner Mutter verbringen" means "I should spend more time with my mother".
The verb mögen means "like". For example, "Ich mag Hunde" means "I like dogs".
The verb möchten means "would like". The verb "möchten" is actually a subjunctive form of "mögen" but is used so often that it is often regarded as a separate verb. We won't discuss subjunctive right now. Just think of "möchten" as a separate verb for now. For example, "Ich möchte bitte ein Bier" means "I would like a beer please".