"Ich danke dem Mann."
Translation:I thank the man.
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Why is this not an accusative case? If it were "Ich esse den Mann" (cannibal sentence, sorry), then it would've been accusative, right? Is danken an exception verb?
Some verbs in German imply a certain case. 'Danken' implies the dative. http://german.about.com/library/verbs/blverb_dativ.htm
Thanks for your help! The DuoLingo tips section said "Ich danke ihr" is correct instead of "ich danke sie," but did a terrible job explaining--it didn't even say that "danken" implies dative. Thank you!
I think it's because you "give" thanks to the man. To thank the man would mean you do something to him, whereas giving thanks to the man makes it dative.
Because the German verb is "jemandem danken", and it requires the dative object. So it would be best to memorize verbs and the case of its object.
Would be helpful to think of the translation of "danken" as "to give thanks to," which would suggest that the person you thank is actually the indirect object?
How do you say "I thank that man" ?
It would be written the same way: Ich danke dem Mann.
In pronunciation, dem would be unstressed when it means "the" but stressed when it means "that".
Because the means "der" and "that/this" means dieser. It is not a specific man in the sentence so you can't use that or this
Why is "I'm thanking the husband" wrong?
Because Mann does not mean "husband" -- except in a possessive context such as mein Mann.
There is no possession involved or implied in this sentence, so Mann can only mean "man".