Verbs with Accusative and Dative Case
There are many German verbs that require accusative case (direct object) as well as dative case (indirect object). Whenever there are two objects in a sentence, the person is always dative and the thing is always accusative.
An important point to remember is that the dative object precedes the accusative object. Only when the accusative object is a pronoun, it is placed before the dative object.
German | English |
beantworten | to answer / reply to |
beweisen | to prove |
borgen | to borrow |
bringen | to bring |
empfehlen | to recommend |
erzählen | to tell / narrate |
geben | to give |
leihen | to lend |
liefern | to deliver |
mitteilen | to inform |
reichen | to pass / hand |
sagen | to say / tell |
schenken | to gift |
schicken / senden | to send |
schreiben | to write |
verschweigen | to keep secret / withhold |
versprechen | to promise |
wegnehmen | to take away |
zeigen | to show |
- Kannst du mir etwas Geld leihen? (Can you lend me some money?)
- Sie erzählen uns die Geschichte des Films. (They are telling us the story of the movie.)
- Dieses Buch ist wunderbar. Ich schenke es meinem Vater. (This book is wonderful. I am gifting it to my father.)