A1.2 · 23 of 36

mir, dir, Ihnen — Dativ-Pronomen

Lesson · 4 rules · about 5 min

Ask how someone is, offer help, thank them and say what you like: mir, dir and Ihnen make it all work.

  1. 1The dative pronouns
  2. 2The verbs that want them
  3. 3gefallen turns the sentence round
  4. 4mir/dir for how you are, mich/dich for what is seen
Why this matters

Wie geht es dir? — how are you? — is one of the first questions you learn, and the dir in it is a dative pronoun. For now you need exactly this much dative: the pronouns mir, dir, ihm, ihr, uns, euch, ihnen, Ihnen after a handful of verbs that always take them — helfen (help), danken (thank), gehören (belong to), gefallen (please, i.e. 'like'), and the phrase es geht. The full dative — articles, nouns, prepositions — comes later in the course. For now these are chunks: Kannst du mir helfen? Das gehört mir. Gefällt dir das? Ich danke Ihnen. Notice that ihr is now 'to her' and ihnen 'to them', and Ihnen with a capital is the formal you.

Question 1 of 10 · eins
eins1zwei2drei3vier4fünf5sechs6sieben7acht8neun9zehn10

Dativ

Wie geht es dir? – geht es gut, danke. (ich)

How are you? – I'm fine, thanks.