Herr Lehrer: Dative pronouns in German are super easy.
Once you know how to use the dative case with indirect objects, using the personal pronouns
in the dative case with indirect objects is a breeze.
Frustrated Student: Yeah, sure.
I’ll be the judge of that.
Herr Antrim: For once, Herr Lehrer might actually be right.
Last week I explained what indirect objects are, how to use them and introduced you to
the dative case in German.
Today’s lesson will expand upon that by showing you the personal pronouns that you
need to use in the dative case.
If you haven’t seen last week’s video, I strongly recommend you start there, as this
video assumes you already know everything that was taught in that video.
In case you don’t know, the pronouns you see in conjugation charts are called nominative
personal pronouns or subject pronouns.
That’s because they are used as the subject of the sentence.
Just as the nominative case definite articles were used as the baseline for all of the definite
articles in other cases, we will be using this list of pronouns to start out talk about
the dative case pronouns.
When you use a pronoun as an indirect object, you need to use one of the dative pronouns.
The one you choose depends on the noun that you are replacing.
For example: Ich kaufe meinem Vater einen Golfschläger.
- I am buying my father a golf club.
Ich kaufe ihm einen Golfschläger.
- I am buying him a golf club.
I used the masculine pronoun in the dative case “ihm” when I replaced the indirect
object “meinem Vater”.
If the noun being replaced is a feminine noun, we use “ihr”.
If it is neuter, we use “ihm” and when it is plural, we use “ihnen”.
For example:
Er gibt seiner Schwester eine Blume.
- He gives his sister a flower.
Er gibt ihr eine Blume.
- He gives her a flower.
Wir schenken unseren Kindern Kleidung.
- We are giving our children clothing as a gift.
Wir schenken ihnen Kleidung.
- We are giving them clothing as a gift.
Erzählen Sie dem Mädchen eine Geschichte?
- Are you telling the girl a story?
Erzählen Sie ihm eine Geschichte?
- Are you telling her a story?
The cool thing about these pronouns is that they always match the last letter of the article.
Since dative articles have the same endings for definite and indefinite articles, you
can always count on the dative article to tell you the correct pronoun for the situation.
Notice that when I said “meineM Vater” I replaced it with “ihM”, seineR Schwester”
with “ihR”, unsereN Kindern” with “ihnen” and “deM Mädchen” with “ihM”.
Obviously, you won’t always be able to use the third person pronouns for the indirect
object.
Occasionally you need to use second person (you) or first person (I or we) pronouns instead.
In those instances, you need to remember which pronouns mean what.
The dative “me” form is “mir”.
The dative version of “du” (you singular) is “dir”.
When “ihr” (you plural) is dative it becomes “euch”.
A: Gib mir den Dinosaurier!
- Give me the dinosaur.
B: Ich gebe dir den Dinosaurier nicht.
Der ist mein Dinosaurier.
- I’m not giving you the dinosaur.
That is my dinosaur.
C: Gib ihm den Dinosaurier!
- Give him the dinosaur.
B: Nein.
Er hat schon einen Dinosaurier.
- No.
He already has a dinosaur.
C: Dann nehme ich euch die Dinos weg.
- Then I will take the dinos away from you both.
Now that you know what the personal pronouns are in the dative case, you can make a chart
like this one, if you are one of those students who likes charts.
Nominative Accusative
Dative 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
Now that you know what the pronouns in these three cases look like, you can follow the
pronouns in these examples as I switch between nominative, accusative and dative.
Ich bin Herr Antrim.
Du kannst mich Herr Antrim nennen, bis du mir einen besseren Spitznamen gibst.
- I am Herr Antrim.
You can call me Herr Antrim, until you give me a better nickname.
Du bist schön.
Ich mag dich.
Darf ich dir einen Kaffee kaufen?
- You are beautiful.
I like you.
Can I buy you a coffee?
Er heißt Tim.
Meine Großmutter hat ihn gebastelt.
Sie hat ihm auch diese Kleidung gebastelt.
- He is called Tim.
My grandmother made him.
She also made him these clothes.
Barbie hat heute Geburtstag.
Ich habe sie heute vor drei Jahren gekauft.
Heute schenke ich ihr ein neues Kleid.
- Barbie has a birthday today.
I bought her three years ago today.
Today I am giving her a new dress.
Das ist mein Pferdchen.
Ich führe es in den Pferdestall.
Dann gebe ich ihm Heu.
- This is my little horse.
I lead it into the horse stable.
Then I give it hay.
Wir sind Dinosaurier.
Ein Meteorit hat uns getötet.
Menschen haben uns viele Museen gebaut.
- We are dinosaurs.
A meteorite killed us.
People built us many museums.
Ihr möchtet Deutsch lernen.
Ich kenne euch.
Deshalb mache ich euch ein paar YouTube Videos.
- You would like to learn German.
I know you.
Therefore I am making you a few YouTube videos.
Sie sitzen auf dem Sofa.
Der Mann im Fernsehen unterhält sie.
Ich koche ihnen Suppe zum Abendessen.
- They are sitting on the sofa.
The man on TV is entertaining them.
I am cooking them soup for dinner.
Now that you have seen a few examples of how these pronouns are used, you should try it
out for yourself in the comments.
I want to see what kinds of sentences you can make with indirect objects.
Try writing two versions, one without a dative pronoun and another version with one.
If you really want to practice this topic, you can get a worksheet with answer key on
my website germanwithantrim.com.
Don’t forget to also check out the other videos in this series about the dative case
linked over here or my dative case master class linked over here.