The dative appears after particular verbs and prepositions, and often marks the recipient of something. Learn these patterns together with the noun phrase.

der Mann
das Buch
die Frau
das Kind
der Freund
der Bus

The idea

Helfen, danken and gehören take a dative complement. Mit also requires the dative. Masculine and neuter definite articles become dem; feminine die becomes der; plural die becomes den. Dative plural nouns usually add n unless they already end in n or s. In a giving sentence, the recipient is dative and the thing given is accusative.

Patterns to compare
NominativDativ
der / eindem / einem
die / eineder / einer
das / eindem / einem
die Kinderden Kindern

Examples

  • Ich helfe dem Mann.
  • Das Buch gehört der Frau.
  • Wir danken dem Kind.
  • Sie hilft den Freunden.
  • Er fährt mit dem Bus.
  • Ich gebe meiner Schwester den Schlüssel.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic German voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

Do not translate an English object mechanically. German helfen takes dative even though English “help” has no visible case change.

Try it yourself

  1. Ich helfe ___ Frau. (die)

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    der

    Frau is feminine. After helfen, the dative definite article is der.

  2. Wir fahren mit ___ Bus. (der)

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    dem

    Mit takes dative; masculine der Bus becomes dem Bus.

  3. Er hilft den ___. (Kinder)

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    Kindern

    The dative plural is den Kindern: the article changes and Kinder adds n.

Use it today

Make one sentence with helfen and one with mit. Then name someone you give a useful object to, using both cases.