On this page you'll learn everything about verbs that have both an accusative and dative complement (= Verben mit Dativ und Akkusativ).
Complements are really important to help you know whether you should use the Nominative, Accusative, Dative, or Genitive case. But first, you have to know what a complement is. If you aren't sure, take a look at this page on Complements in the German language.
General Info (Verben mit Dativ und Akkusativ)
Some verbs have, along with a nominative complement, a dative and an accusative complement.
This is often the case with verbs describing giving, taking, and saying. Such verbs require three persons or things in the sentence.
Examples - Verben mit Dativ und Akkusativ
The subject is, as always, the nominative complement.
The dative complement is normally the receiver of the action (indirect object).
The accusative complement is the thing being acted upon (direct object).
- „Der Mann gibt dem Kind den Ball.“
"Der Mann" is the acting person ⇒ Nominative
The child is the receiver ⇒ Dative ⇒„dem Kind“
The ball is the direct object, the thing being acted upon ⇒ Accusative ⇒„den Ball“
- „Er schickt seinem Bruder das Geschenk per Post.“
"Er" is the acting person ⇒ Nominative
His brother is the receiver ⇒ Dative ⇒ „seinem Bruder“
The gift is the direct object, the thing being acted upon ⇒ Accusative ⇒ „das Geschenk“
"Per Post" is an adjunct (additional information that could be left out).
- „Er hat mir eine E-Mail geschrieben.“
"Er" is the acting person ⇒ Nominative
I am the receiver ⇒ Dative ⇒ „mir“ (personal pronoun in dative)
The email is the direct object, the thing being acted upon ⇒ Accusative ⇒„eine E-Mail“
Attention:
When the "receiver " is unknown or obvious, the dative complement can be removed.
- „Er hat (mir) eine E-Mail geschrieben.“
- „Er schickt (seinem Bruder) das Geschenk per Post.“
Word Order - Verben mit Dativ und Akkusativ
Sentences with nouns (no pronouns)
Sentence with an accusative pronoun or a dative pronoun (but not both)
Sentences with both an accusative pronoun and a dative pronoun
The nominative complement (subject) usually goes in position 1.
You CAN put the dative or accusative pronoun in position 1 as well but be careful! It can be quite confusing and I only recommend it when the dative or accusative complement isn‘t a pronoun.
Summary
- Some verbs require both a dative and an accusative complement.
- These verbs need 3 persons or things to make sense.
Someone to perform the action (nominative), something to be acted upon (accusative), and something to receive the action (dative). - These rules only apply if we don’t use prepositions. When prepositions are involved, they always determine the case
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Related Topics:
Entire lesson in German only: Verben mit Akkusativ und Dativ
You can find more lessons on Verbs here:
- Was sind Verben? (What are Verbs?)
- Starke Verben (Strong Verbs)
- „sein“ und „haben“ ("sein" and "haben")
- Reflexive Verben (Reflexive Verbs)
- Trennbare & Untrennbare Verben (Separable & Inseparable Verbs)
- Modalverben (Modal Verbs)
- Partizip 1 (Present Participle)
- Partizip 2 (Past Participle)
- Das Verb „werden” (Verb "werden")
- Das Verb „lassen” (Verb "lassen")
- Imperativ (Imperative)
- Konjunktiv 1 (Subjunctive 1)
- Konjunktiv 2 (Subjunctive 2)
- Das Passiv (Passive Voice)
- Vorgangspassiv (Process Passive)
- Das Passiv in allen zeitformen (Process Passive in all tenses)
- Verben ohne Passiv (Verbs without Passive voice)
- Zustandpassiv (Status Passive)
- Das unpersönliche Passiv (Impersonal Passive)
- Verben mit Ergänzungen (Verbs with Complements)
- Verben mit Nominativ (Verbs with Nominative)
- Verben mit Akkusativ (Verbs with Accusative)
- Verben mit doppeltem Akkusativ (Verbs with double Accusative)
- Verben mit Dativ (Verbs with Dative)
- Verben mit Genitiv (Verbs with Genitive)
- Verben mit Präpositionen (Verbs with Prepositions)
Lists on the topic of German verbs:
- Die 30 wichtigsten Verben mit Vokalwechsel (The 30 most important verbs with vowel change)
- Untrennbare Präfixe (Inseparable Prefixes)
- Wechselpräfixe (Two-case Prefixes)
- Unregelmäßige Partizip 2 Formen (Irregular Participle 2 forms)
- Nomen-Verb-Verbindungen (Noun-Verb compounds)
You can find an overview of all topics under German Grammar.
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