A1-50 · Give something to someone
Gifts and festivals
Use dative articles for recipients and accusative objects for gifts.
About 5 minutes to read · 12 quiz questions
01
Name the recipient
With geben and schenken, the recipient takes the dative. Der Vater becomes dem Vater; die Mutter becomes der Mutter; das Kind becomes dem Kind. The gift takes the accusative.
Ich schenke dem Vater einen Schal.
I give the father a scarf as a present.
Mara schenkt der Mutter Blumen.
Mara gives the mother flowers as a present.
Ben gibt dem Kind ein Buch.
Ben gives the child a book.
Ich schenke dem Vater einen Schal.
I give the father a scarf as a present.
Schenken means give as a present. In Ich schenke dem Vater einen Schal, dem Vater is the recipient and einen Schal is the gift.
02
Give to several people
Plural recipients use den. Most plural nouns add -n in the dative: die Kinder → den Kindern, die Freunde → den Freunden. Nouns already ending in -n need no extra n.
Ich gebe den Kindern Bücher.
I give the children books.
Wir schenken den Freunden Schokolade.
We give the friends chocolate as a present.
Mara gibt den Freunden Geschenke.
Mara gives the friends presents.
Wem schenkst du das Buch?
To whom are you giving the book as a present?
The gift still takes the accusative. Ask Wem? for the recipient and Was? for the gift.
03
Celebrate in different ways
Weihnachten means Christmas and Ostern Easter. Das Geschenk means present. Describe what you give and to whom without assuming everyone celebrates the same festivals.
Zu Weihnachten schenken wir Bücher.
At Christmas we give books as presents.
Zu Ostern gibt es Eier.
At Easter there are eggs.
Ich gebe dem Nachbarn ein Geschenk.
I give the male neighbor a present.
Das Geschenk ist für dich.
The present is for you.
Der Nachbar has the dative form dem Nachbarn. Learn this common recipient phrase alongside dem Vater and der Mutter.
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