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The Dative Case in Action by Jeffery Donley, Ph.D.

If you want to express that something is done for somebody or something, you use the dative case and an indirect object. Take, for example, the sentence “Ernst gives his mother a book.” The person doing the action, Ernst, is in the nominative. The recipient, or beneficiary of the action — in this case “the mother” — is in the dative case, and the direct object in this case “the book” — is in the accusative case.

There are also so-called dative prepositions, after which you must use the dative case. These prepositions are aus (“from, out of”), bei (“near, with”), nach (“to, after”), von (“from”) and zu (which, like nach, also means “to,” but indicates movement toward a place or a person). Dative prepositions are used with neuter names of cities and countries.

Exercise 45

Match the following sentences with their correct English translation.

<tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="50%" align="left" rowsep="0" colsep="0"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="50%" align="left" rowsep="0" colsep="0"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p>1. <emphasis>Jens kam aus seinem Zimmer</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>The doctor is with the patient.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>2. <emphasis>Jens arbeitet bei McDonalds</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>We'll go to the beach today.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>3. <emphasis>Der Doktor ist bei der Patientin</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>The teacher talks to him.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>4. <emphasis>Die Lehrerin spricht mit ihm</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>We'll go to Salzburg tomorrow.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>5. <emphasis>Wir fahren morgen nach Salzburg</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>Jens came from his room.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>6. <emphasis>Jens kommt gerade vom Markt zurück</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>Jens works at McDonald”s.</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>7. <emphasis>Wir fahren heute zum Strand</emphasis>.</p></td> <td><p>Jens is just returning from the market.</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <h2>Exercise 46</h2> <div class="npmo"><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/np/german-practice/track.jpg"><div class="npcp"><p>TRACK 8</p></div></div> <p>You utilize the dative case as the lone object following the so-called dative verbs, examples of which follow.</p> <p>Listen and translate the German into English and English into German.</p> <table frame="none" width="100%"> <title/> <tgroup cols="2"> <colspec colname="col1" colnum="1" colwidth="50%" align="left" rowsep="0" colsep="0"/> <colspec colname="col2" colnum="2" colwidth="50%" align="left" rowsep="0" colsep="0"/> <tbody> <tr> <td><p>1. <emphasis>antworten</emphasis></p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>2. to follow</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>3. <emphasis>gleichen</emphasis></p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>4. to meet</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>5. <emphasis>gefallen</emphasis></p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>6. to help</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>7. <emphasis>danken</emphasis></p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>8. to belong to</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>9. <emphasis>passen</emphasis></p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>10. to serve</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>11. <emphasis>gehorchen</emphasis></p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> <tr> <td><p>12. to harm</p></td> <td><p>________________</p></td> </tr> </tbody> </tgroup> </table> <!--/gc--> <div id="pagination"><ul><li class="prev"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-genitive-case-in-action.htm" title="The Genitive Case in Action">The Genitive Case in Action</a></li><li class="next"><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-accusative-case-in-action.htm" title="The Accusative Case in Action">The Accusative Case in Action</a> </li></ul></div></div> <div id="coda"> <div id="rel"><div class="n5">Related Articles</div><ul> <li><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-dative-case-in-action.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> The Dative Case in Action - German Practice </a></li> <li><a href="http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat2.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> German Dative Case with Prepositions - Dative and Dual Prepositions </a></li> <li><a href="http://german.about.com/library/weekly/aa052101a.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> Two-Way Prepositions in German - Accusative / Dative Prepositions </a></li> <li><a href="http://german.about.com/library/blcase_dat.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> The Four Cases: The Dative </a></li> <li><a href="http://german.about.com/od/grammar/a/DualPrepositions.htm" zT="18/1YL/Zn"> German Prepositions - How to Use German Prepositions </a></li> </ul></div> <div id="sec"><div class="n5">Read More The Noun</div><ul><ul class="col1"><li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-class-with-no-endings-class-i.htm">The Class with No Endings: Class I</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-class-with-e-class-ii.htm">The Class with -e: Class II</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-class-with-er-class-iii.htm">The Class with -er: Class III</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-declension-with-no-modification.htm">The Declension with No Modification</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-combo-declension-or-mixed-declension.htm">The “Combo-Declension,” or Mixed Declension</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/unclassified-nouns.htm">Unclassified Nouns</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/essential-elements-of-nouns.htm">Essential Elements of Nouns</a></li> </ul><ul class="col2"><li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/nouns-as-specific-things.htm">Nouns as Specific Things</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/masculine-feminine-and-neuter-nouns.htm">Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter Nouns</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/compound-nouns.htm">Compound Nouns</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-nominative-case-in-action.htm">The Nominative Case in Action</a></li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-genitive-case-in-action.htm">The Genitive Case in Action</a></li> <li class="btO">The Dative Case in Action</li> <li ><a href="http://www.netplaces.com/german-practice/the-noun/the-accusative-case-in-action.htm">The Accusative Case in Action</a></li> 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