"I have looked for you."

Translation: Ich habe nach dir gesucht.

[sholem]

can someone explain what function "nach" has in this sentence? for instance, why wouldn't you say "ich habe dir gesucht"?

[-Herbstzeitlose-]

It has the same function as "for" in the English, but it can be omitted. In your example, that would be "Ich habe dich gesucht".

[deactivated user]

Note that the case changes if you omit "nach".

• Ich habe nach dir gesucht. dative

• Ich habe dich gesucht. accusative

[Susan799085]

I wrote "Ich habe dich gesucht" and was marked incorrect. Based on your comment, I will report it. This reminds me of "Darf ich Sie nach Ihrem Namen fragen" where I learned that to ask for something specific we should use "nach" followed by the dative. Is this the same with suchen, that looking for something specific requires "nach" and the dative? (If that is the case, my report will be ignored....which is fine). I would love some feedback on this. Thanks.

[zengator]

Remembering that "nach" has the meaning "after/towards", I would translate the sentence presented as "I have sought after you."

[Seolferwulf]

I put 'Ich habe für Sie gesucht' which was accepted, is it good German? Danke.

[iulian19]

I am not a native speaker, but I would say your translation means rather "I have searched on your behalf", as he should have done it, but you did it for him.

[Zaratustra.]

Can i say "Ich suchte nach dir"? It was marked incorrect.

[PatriciaJH]

Seems fine. They just forgot the Präteritum. Report it another time.

[thanhsonvn8x]

Ich habe für dich gesucht.
Das richtig ist.

[amuroruma]

Can i say "Ich habe dich aufgesucht"?

[Strobro3]

I thought nach was only for geographical locations? shouldn't it be zu?