Object Pronouns: Accusative & Dative
Object Pronouns: Accusative & Dative
English uses a single object pronoun (me, him, her) no matter its grammatical role. German splits object pronouns into an accusative set and a dative set, and fixes the order when both appear together.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
Two full sets of object pronouns
Er sieht mich. (accusative) vs. Er hilft mir. (dative)
He sees me. vs. He helps me. — English 'me' covers both
English uses a single object pronoun (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) regardless of grammatical role. German distinguishes accusative object pronouns (mich, dich, ihn, sie, es, uns, euch, sie) from dative object pronouns (mir, dir, ihm, ihr, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen) — you need to know whether the verb takes a direct object (accusative) or an indirect object (dative) to pick the right form.
Order of two pronoun objects: accusative before dative
Ich gebe es ihm. (I give it to him — accusative pronoun es comes before dative pronoun ihm)
I give it to him. — English also usually puts 'it' before 'to him'
When both objects are pronouns, German fixes the order: accusative pronoun before dative pronoun (Ich gebe es ihm) — the reverse of the noun-order rule (dative noun before accusative noun: Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch). English speakers often want to mirror the noun-phrase order and say 'ihm es'; resist that instinct — with two pronouns, accusative always leads.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
| German | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| mich | mikh | me (accusative) |
| dich | dikh | you (accusative, informal singular) |
| ihn | een | him / it (accusative, masculine) |
| sie | zee | her / it (accusative, feminine) |
| es | es | it (accusative, neuter) |
| uns | oons | us (accusative & dative) |
| euch | oykh | you all (accusative & dative, informal plural) |
| mir | meer | to me (dative) |
| dir | deer | to you (dative, informal singular) |
| ihm | eem | to him / to it (dative, masculine/neuter) |
| ihr | eer | to her (dative, feminine) |
| ihnen | EE-nen | to them (dative) |
| Ihnen | EE-nen | to you (dative, formal) |