Dativpronomen

Dativpronomen are personal pronouns used in the dative case to indicate the indirect object of a sentence in German. They replace a noun phrase that receives the action indirectly, and they appear after verbs that govern a dative object or after prepositions that require the dative case.

Forms

Singular: ich – mir; du – dir; er – ihm; sie – ihr; es – ihm.

Plural: wir – uns; ihr – euch; sie – ihnen; Sie (formal) – Ihnen.

Notes: The formal pronoun Sie takes the dative form Ihnen and the accusative form Sie (capitalized). The other forms follow the standard dative endings for personal pronouns.

Usage

Dativpronomen replace indirect objects in sentences such as helfen, danken, gefallen, gehören, passen, and ähnlicher Verben. They can also accompany prepositions that govern the dative, e.g., mit mir, bei dir, von Ihnen.

Examples

Ich helfe dir. (I help you.)

Kannst du mir helfen? (Can you help me?)

Gib mir das Buch. (Give me the book.)

Ich gebe es dir. (I give it to you.)

Word order

When both a direct object and an indirect object are present and both are pronouns, the accusative (direct object) pronoun typically precedes the dative pronoun: Ich gebe es dir. If a noun serves as the direct object, the dative pronoun still usually comes after the accusative pronoun: Ich gebe das Buch ihm.

Relation to other pronouns

Dativpronomen are the dative forms of personal pronouns and differ from nominative and accusative forms. They are distinct from possessive or reflexive pronouns and do not replace entire noun phrases beyond the indirect object.