Dative Case
மூன்றாம் வேற்றுமை (-க்கு)
The dative case marks the indirect object — the person something is given, told, or shown to. This is one of the closest matches between German and Tamil case marking you'll find.
Grammar Comparison
இலக்கண ஒப்பீடு
dem/der/dem vs. -க்கு
Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch. (der → dem, dative masculine — 'I give the book to the man')
நான் மனிதனுக்கு புத்தகத்தை கொடுக்கிறேன். (மனிதன் → மனிதனுக்கு, -க்கு suffix)
Tamil's dative suffix -க்கு ('to/for') marks the receiver of an action — exactly the job German's dative case does by changing the article (der→dem, die→der, das→dem). A German sentence with a dative and an accusative object side by side (giving X to Y) maps almost word-for-word onto Tamil's own doubly-marked sentence: the receiver takes -க்கு/dem-der-dem, and the thing given takes -ஐ/den-die-das.
Some German verbs demand dative where you'd expect accusative
Ich helfe dir. (helfen + dative, not accusative — literally 'I help to-you')
நான் உனக்கு உதவுகிறேன். (உதவு also naturally pairs with -க்கு)
Handy news: Tamil already treats 'help' as something you do 'to/for' someone (உனக்கு உதவுகிறேன், not உன்னை), so the instinct behind helfen taking dative instead of accusative isn't foreign at all — the two languages agree here, even though English 'I help you' looks like a plain direct object. A handful of German verbs (helfen, danken, gefallen) always take dative objects for reasons that don't always translate logically from English — treat the list as memorization, but lean on your Tamil dative instinct as a guide.
Vocabulary
சொற்கள்
| German | Pronunciation | Tamil | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| dem Mann | daym mahn | மனிதனுக்குmanithanukku | to the man |
| der Frau | dair frow | பெண்ணுக்குpeṇṇukku | to the woman |
| dem Kind | daym kint | குழந்தைக்குkuḻandhaikku | to the child |
| den Kindern | dayn KIN-dern | குழந்தைகளுக்குkuḻandhaigaḷukku | to the children |
| geben | GAY-ben | கொடுக்கkoḍukka | to give |
| zeigen | TSY-gen | காட்டkāṭṭa | to show |
| helfen | HEL-fen | உதவudhava | to help |