A1.14 - Calendar dates and holidays

Personal pronouns - dative (mir, dir, etc.)

Personalpronomen - Dativ (mir, dir, etc.)

Formen und Gebrauch der Dativpronomen

(Forms and use of dative pronouns)

Dative personal pronouns: what they do

Use a dative pronoun when the person is the receiver (often like “to/for someone” in English).

  • Key question: Wem? = To whom? / For whom?
  • Typical meaning: I give something to him → Ich gebe es ihm.

Quick decision: dative or accusative?

Many mistakes come from choosing the wrong case.

Ask… Case Typical role Mini example
Wem? Dative receiver / beneficiary Ich helfe dir.
Wen? / Was? Accusative direct object Ich sehe dich.

The forms you need (and what learners mix up)

Focus on the high-frequency pairs that are easy to confuse.

Meaning Nominative Dative Often confused with…
me ich mir mich (accusative)
you (informal) du dir dich (accusative)
him / it er / es ihm ihn (accusative)
her sie ihr sie (accusative)
us wir uns (same form in accusative)
you (plural) ihr euch (same form in accusative)
them sie ihnen sie (accusative)

Polite form: “Ihnen” vs “ihnen”

  • Ihnen = to/for you (formal). Always capitalized.
  • ihnen = to/for them (lowercase).

Same sound, different meaning: watch the capital letter.

  • Ich schicke Ihnen die Unterlagen. (to you, formal)
  • Ich schicke ihnen die Unterlagen. (to them)

Common A1 pattern: two objects (thing + person)

Very often you have:

  • Thing = accusative
  • Person (receiver) = dative

Think: someone gets something.

Structure Example
Subject + verb + dative (person) + accusative (thing) Der Chef gibt ihr den Plan.
Subject + verb + accusative (thing) + dative (person) (also possible) Der Chef gibt den Plan ihr.

Tip: If you use a pronoun, it often comes earlier: Er gibt ihr den Plan.

Verbs that typically take dative (learn as chunks)

With these verbs, the person is usually in the dative. Learn them with one short model sentence.

  • helfen: Kannst du mir helfen?
  • danken: Ich danke Ihnen.
  • gehören: Das gehört mir.
  • schmecken: Das schmeckt mir.

Self-check: choose the right pronoun in 3 steps

  1. Find the receiver: Who gets it? Who is it for?
  2. Ask Wem? → that word must be dative.
  3. Match person + number: I/you/he… → mir/dir/ihm…

If you can answer clearly “to whom?”, the form is usually straightforward.

  1. The personal pronoun changes according to person and number.
  2. The dative answers the question “To whom?”
Person (person)Singular (singular)Person (person)Plural (plural)
Ich (I)mir (to me)Wir (we)uns (to us)
Du (you)dir (to you)Ihr (you (plural))euch (to you (plural))
Er (he)ihm (to him)Sie  (they )ihnen (to them)
Sie  (she )ihr (to her)  
Es (it)ihm (to it)  

Exceptions!

  1. The polite form „Ihnen“ is always capitalized.

Exercise 1: Multiple choice

Instruction: Choose the correct answer

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1. Kannst du ___ bitte den Feiertag im Kalender zeigen?

Can you ___ please show me the holiday in the calendar?

2. Zu Weihnachten schenke ich ___ einen kleinen Tannenbaum.

At Christmas I give ___ a small fir tree as a present.

3. Frohes neues Jahr! Ich wünsche ___ einen guten Start.

Happy New Year! I wish ___ a good start.

4. Zu Ostern geben wir ___ frei, aber nur am Montag.

At Easter we give ___ time off, but only on Monday.

Exercise 2: Rewrite the phrases

Instruction: Rewrite the sentences and replace the noun or name with the appropriate dative pronoun (mir/dir/ihm/ihr/uns/euch/ihnen/Ihnen).

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Show/Hide translation Show/Hide hints
  1. Der Chef gibt Anna den Plan.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Der Chef gibt ihr den Plan.
    (The boss gives her the plan.)
  2. Ich sende dem Kollegen eine E‑Mail.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Ich sende ihm eine E‑Mail.
    (I send him an email.)
  3. Kannst du deinem Vater heute helfen?
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Kannst du ihm heute helfen?
    (Can you help him today?)
  4. Wir schreiben den Kunden morgen.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Wir schreiben ihnen morgen.
    (We write to them tomorrow.)
  5. Das Team erklärt dem neuen Kollegen die Aufgabe.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Das Team erklärt ihm die Aufgabe.
    (The team explains the task to him.)
  6. Ich gebe Frau Müller die Unterlagen.
    ⇒ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Example
    Ich gebe ihr die Unterlagen.
    (I give her the documents.)

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Sophie Schmidt

International Administration Management

Würzburger Dolmetscherschule

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Last Updated:

Thursday, 23/04/2026 00:43