Lesson 17: The Cases in German: Dativ
17.1 The Dativ has Two Main Uses
First, it is known as the "indirect object" case. When we work with the Akkusativ, we know exactly what we are dealing with: reading the news, drinking a coffee. When we use the Dativ, another element comes into play, the indirect object.If Gisela gives ein Eis (an ice cream) to her neighbor's child, we get this:
| Gisela gibt dem Kind ein Eis. |
Here, Gisela is the subject and the direct object, what she gives to the child is, ein Eis. That's what we have covered so far. But now we have a person to whom she gives an ice cream. That's the new p