One big struggle for German learners is knowing when to use dative and when to use accusative — especially with certain verbs.
Let me make it a bit easier for you
There’s a simple rule that helps in many cases:
Some verbs take two objects. With these verbs, someone usually receives something.
For example:
- Ich sage der Polizei die Wahrheit.
(I tell the police the truth.)
→ The police receive the truth.
- Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch.
(I give the book to the man.)
→ The man receives the book.
Here’s the key rule:
- The receiver is always in dative.
- The thing is in accusative.
That’s it. As simple as that.
Many verbs work like this, for example:
geben, sagen, erklären, verraten, schicken, zeigen, bringen and many more.
You can find more examples (with meanings and sample sentences) in the file below.
Verbs with two objects
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