Die Wortstellung mit Akkusativ und Dativ – Word Order with Accusative and Dative cases

The sequencing of nouns and pronouns

Accusative and dative

Good news! The only thing you have to remember vis-à-vis the placement of nouns is the sequencing of the direct and indirect objects, i.e., the dative and accusative nouns and the possible pronouns that replace them.

Maria Ich gebe meinem Freund einen Ring.
Also, ich gebe ihm einen Apfel. Ich gebe ihn meinem Freund. Ich gebe ihn ihm!

Please note:

  • if you have two nouns (one accusative, one dative), the dative noun precedes the accusative noun!
  • pronouns precede nouns
  • an accusative pronoun precedes the dative pronoun
Dative noun Accusative noun
Pronoun Noun
Accusative pronoun Dative pronoun

When you gain more confidence with German, you can experiment with the word order of nouns and pronouns, and see how mixing the elements leads to differential emphases in a sentence. Secret: you can actually switch the dative and accusative nouns around if you really want to emphasize the recipient of an action – if there is unusual placement of elements, they tend to draw extra attention to themselves!

Wortstellung

When there is more than one object in a sentence, here are some rules for word order:

If there are two nouns, dative noun comes before accusative noun.
Die Mutter gibt dem Mädchen einen Apfel.
If there is one pronoun and one noun, pronoun comes before noun.
Die Mutter gibt ihn dem Mädchen.
Die Mutter gibt ihm den Korb.
If there are two pronouns, accusative pronoun comes before dative pronoun.
Die Mutter gibt ihn                                                  ihm

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Grammar to Accompany Deutsch im Blick Copyright © by Rebecca Sibrian and Franziska Borders is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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