"He gives the apple to a lady."
Translation:Er gibt einer Dame den Apfel.
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In this sentence, the Dame and the apple are reversed in order. I'm used to seeing it the other way around.."Er gibt den Apfel einer Dame. Why is it sometimes reversed? If they had said in English "He gives the lady an apple", would the order in German be the same?
einer is used before feminine nouns, einem before masculine or neuter ones.
Would "Er gibt den Apfel einer Dame" be just as correct, or is this way just better to use?
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Dative object tends to be before accusative object, therefore the 'natural' phrase would be "Er gibt einer Dame den Apfel." However, "Er gibt den Apfel einer Dame" is grammatically correct as well; the emphasis is placed more on the lady than on the apple in this case.
Why is it den Apfel instead of dem Apfel?
The apple is the direct object (the thing that "suffers" or undergoes the act of giving), so it stands in the accusative case in the German sentence.
The lady is the indirect object (the recipient of the giving), so she stands in the dative case in the German sentence.
Thus Er gibt einer Dame den Apfel / Er gibt den Apfel einer Dame, with masculine accusative den Apfel and feminine dative einer Frau.
dem would be masculine dative -- wrong case, since the apple is not the recipient.
Ok why is the sentence structure occasionaly flipped some times.. An apple to a lady VS to a lady the apple
- 1150
The answer key puts the dative before the accusative. I did the other way around and it was accepted. Some other questions do not accept that. Should this question have rejected my answer?
Because "the apple" here, as a direct object, is a masculine noun in accusative case, and "den" is used for masculine accusative. If you were giving a lady to the apple, then you'd say "Ich gebe dem Apfel eine Dame"
Could someone please explain this sentence is "Dame" dative? And "apfel" akusativ? There is no need to say "to"?
The direct object of a sentence is whom or what the verb is applied. In this case, it is den Apfel that is being given. The indirect object is to/for whom/what the direct object is applied. In this case, it is einer Dame that the apple is being given to.
https://writingexplained.org/grammar-dictionary/indirect-object
There is no need to say "to" because it is implied by the dative case.
I put "Er gibt den Apfel zu einer Dame", and it was marked as incorrect. However, is it really?
Yes, it's incorrect. Don't use zu with geben like that -- just use the dative case.
And in general, put the dative object before the accusative object if both are noun phrases.
Yes. The "to" (zu) is unnecessary because its implicit when dative is used.
In this context einer Dame is genitive and means to a lady? I thought genitive was more like.. Of the lady?
Including "an" is wrong. I was taught that "an" either means "touching a vertical surface" or "at". One does not give an apple "at" someone. The dative case already implies the "to" (einer Dame = "to a lady") so no additional preposition (an, zu, ...) is needed.
Also, for what all is the dativ 'den' used for . It's like an unknown 4th sibling of dir, Das und Der.
Two questions!! 1. is it acceptable (as long as I use the correct forms of the cases Der/den/dem etc) to say either "Er gibt einer Dame den Apfel" and/or "er gibt den Apfel einer Dame"? 2. in English we have "give...to" is the "to" implied in German when using the dative case when talking about "a" lady (in this case by saying "einer" in "gibt...einer")?
- Correct, yes. But maybe a little bit weird/unexpected. :)
- Yes, the "to" is implied with the case.
Hi! 'He gives the apple to a lady.' Why is the subject and object flipped? Thanks!
"He gives a lady the apple" is just as good. In English, your example focuses on the apple, and my example maybe puts more focus on the fact that he gives it to a lady. In German it's the other way around - so the 'standard' sentence is the one in the lesson. Hope that makes sense!
i was playing with word order and came up with 'Den Apfel gibt er einer Frau.' Is this grammatical?
I think it is grammatically correct - that's the beauty of cases. :) But it sounds weird: "The apple he gives to a woman" as a stand-alone sentence is a bit off. Not for any particular reason other than we do not say it like that.
Apple is masc. In dativ, der -> deM. Correct? So why deN Apfel and not deM Apfel?
Because apple is not in dative here, it's in accusative as a direct object
Why is the translation not "he gives a lady an apple"? Seems much more simple and the same thing.
In my point of view, since Apple is aimed as singular, the dative article should be “dem”. But in the answer they are using “Den” as apple is for plural. If they want to use “Den” they should put “s” behind the apple. So it should be “Apples”. If not some of the beginner will be confused.
Apple is a direct object here, it's not in dative. It's in accusative case, hence the use of "den" as a singular accusative is absolutely correct. The word in dative in this sentence is the lady as an indirect object.
' einer Dame = dative ' and ' den Apfel = accusative '. The dative ( IO ), comes before the accusative ( DO ). Only the masculine in the accusative changes ( eg. der = den, etc. ) However, all three genders change in the dative ( eg. der = dem, etc., die = der etc., das = dem, etc. ).
He gives THE apple to a lady, is einen Apfel?
No.
einen Apfel - an apple
den Apfel - the apple