German A1 - The Dative Case

Most students encounter the dative case just a couple weeks or so into their first German course, not yet knowing what it is or how it functions. In the beginning, we take it almost for granted that “Wie geht es dir?” means “How are you doing?” We also learn to say things like “Ich komme aus den Niederlanden”, or “Wir leben in der Schweiz” — without fully learning the underlying grammar.

In this advanced A1-level handout, students will get their first nuts & bolts view of how this versatile and complex case works. Articles including possessives and ‘dieser-’ words along with their appropriate endings are shown in chart form and used in sample sentences. Also discussed are the dative personal pronouns. Students learn how to use dative prepositions and how to form contractions with prepositions and definite articles (zum, zur, beim, am, im, etc.).

Nearly 70 color-coded example sentences are provided. A summary of the entire lesson is found on page 10 of the handout. (Pages 11 and 12 contain special example sentences with detailed grammatical notes). Before starting this lesson, students should already be comfortable using the accusative case.