German dative pronouns: What they are and how to use them?

Dative pronouns in German are words that we use like you might use “to/for me,” “to/for you,” or “to/for them,” in English. For example:

In this post, we’ll talk about the forms of the dative pronouns in German and learn some tips and tricks for how to remember them. Then we’ll talk through some common situations where you might use them. Ready to get started? Let’s go!

Let’s first explore the forms of dative pronouns in the highlighted column below.

Here are a few tricks to help you remember the dative pronouns:

1. Did you notice that the first two forms rhyme? If you remember mir as the dative pronoun for “to me,” then you can’t forget dir for “to you.”

2. The endings of the dative pronouns ihm (meaning to/for him), ihr (meaning to/for her), ihm (meaning to/for it), and ihnen (meaning to/for them) should remind you of the mnemonic that we’ve seen in our other post on German definite articles. Let’s have a look at it again:

   RESE

   NESE

   MRMN

   SRSR

   You say: “Ree-see, nee-see, merman, sir sir!”

   For the dative case, we always use the sequence MeRMaN. Attach these letters to the base form ih(ne) - and you will get ihM - ihR - ihM - ihNeN (The additional “n” on ihNeN represents that there is an additional “n” that is added to the end of a dative plural noun or pronoun).

3. The dative pronouns uns (meaning to/for us) and euch (meaning to/for us) have exactly the same form as the accusative pronouns. If you remember one of them, you will immediately know the other one, too.

The main use of a dative pronoun is to replace a dative noun.

• Question:

  Warum hast du deinem Bruder ein Zugticket gekauft?

  Translation: Why did you buy a train ticket for your brother?
• Answer 1 (using a dative noun):

  dative noun

  Ich habe meinem Bruder ein Zugticket gekauft, weil ich mit meinem Bruder reisen will.

  Translation: I bought a train ticket for my brother because I want to go traveling with my brother.

  Answer 2 (using a dative pronoun):

  dative pronoun

  Ich habe ihm ein Zugticket gekauft, weil ich mit ihm reisen will.

  Translation: I bought a train ticket for him because I want to go traveling with him.

Notice that we use dative pronouns to replace nouns that would be in the dative case! This means that you might use a dative pronoun in any of the main situations where you’ll use the dative case in German.

Though usually you can test if a pronoun is in the dative if the English equivalent can be preceded by “to” or “for,” it’s not always the case. Below, we’ll go through each of the major cases where you’re likely to need dative pronouns.

• The objects of dative verbs

  You will need to use dative pronouns to replace the objects of dative verbs in German.

  Dative verbs are a class of verbs that always go with an object in the dative case. Only about 20 of these are used frequently, but there are technically over 100 such verbs in total.

  Here are a few examples. Notice that they’re mostly something you do “to” or “for” someone, even if the words “to” or “for” aren’t required in English.

  Warum antwortest du mir nicht?

  Translation: Why don’t you answer me?

  Wir gratulieren ihr.

  Translation: We congratulate her.

  Das tut ihnen nicht weh.

  Translation: That doesn’t hurt them.

  Könntet ihr uns bitte helfen?

  Translation: Could you please help us?

  Ich danke Ihnen.

  Translation: I thank you.

  Gefällt dir das?

  Translation: Do you like it?

  Literally: lit. Is it pleasing to you?

• The indirect objects of optional dative verbs

  There is also a class of optional dative verbs that can take two objects: one in the accusative case and one (that may be optional) in the dative. You can think of these as the “give, show, tell” verbs.

  With these verbs, the dative is used for the recipient or beneficiary. When using dative pronouns, you’ll follow the word order below.

  Nominative
  (subject)

  

  Verb

  

  Dative
  (indirect object)

  

  Accusative
  (direct object)

  Die Kellnernin bringt ihm das Essen.

  Translation: The waitress brings him the food.

  Die Kellnernin bringt das Essen.

  Translation: The waitress brings the food.

• After dative prepositions

  There are eight common prepositions in German which must be used before a noun in the dative case: aus, außer, bei, mit, nach, seit, von, and zu. Here are a few examples here dative pronouns follow these prepositions:

  Du kannst nach mir eintreten.

  Translation: You can enter after me.

  Dieses Buch ist von uns.

  Translation: This book is ours (lit. of us).

  Mit dir macht das Lernen viel Spaß!

  Translation: With you, studying is great fun.

  Morgen fahren wir zu ihr.

  Translation: Tomorrow, we will go to her (by car).

  German also has a small number of so-called two-case prepositions, which require the dative case when they refer to a location but the accusative case when they refer to a destination. These are an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, and zwischen.

  Here are a few examples of how these prepositions might be used before dative pronouns:

  Ein Vogel sitzt auf ihm.

  Translation: A bird is sitting on him (on his head).

  Zwischen ihnen ist noch ein Platz frei.

  Translation: There’s a free seat between them.

  Hinter euch steht ein Bär!

  Translation: There’s a bear standing behind you all.

  Über Ihnen sitzt eine Spinne, Herr Marx.

  Translation: There’s a spider sitting above you, Mr. Marx.

• For the complements of some adjectives

  Some adjectives go with a dative case, but as mentioned above, these are easy to identify since the English translations will include “to” or “for.”

  dative pronounadjective

  Die Aufgabe ist uns klar

  Translation: The task is clear to us.

  Ist euch das nicht peinlich?

  Translation: Isn’t that embarrassing for you all?

  Ein neues Haus ist mir zu teuer.

  Translation: A new house is too expensive for me.

  A comprehensive list of such adjectives can be found in the table we prepared for you.

• In some idiomatic expressions

  The dative case can also be involved in idiomatic expressions in German.

  • German has a few idiomatic expressions which use a dative pronoun in combination with the verb sein (meaning to be) and an adjective. Here are some examples:

    • Ihm ist kalt.

      Translation: He feels cold.
    • Ist dir nicht wohl?

      Translation: Don’t you feel well?

    In some cases, the use of the dative pronoun instead of a nominative pronoun can change the meaning in a funny way:

    dativenominative

    Mir ist langweilig. / Ich bin langweilig.

    Translation: I am bored. / I am boring.

  • There is an idiomatic use of the dative pronoun mir with imperative sentences. In these cases, the dative pronoun is not a recipient, but the speaker is somehow emotionally affected by the action.

    • Fall mir nicht hin!

      Translation: Careful, don’t fall down!
    • Bleib mir bitte gesund!

      Translation: Please, do stay healthy!
    • Du bist mir ja Einer!

      Translation: You sure are something!

In this post we have discussed all the essential skills to use dative pronouns in German. Let’s recap what we’ve seen:

• Dative pronouns are used to replace a noun in the dative case.

• They have a distinct forms in German: mir, dir, ihm, ihr, ihm, uns, euch, ihnen, Ihnen.

• Some of the forms can be memorized through the third part of the mnemonic RESE-NESE-MRMN-SRSR, but others need to be learned separately.

Ready to practice what you’ve learned? Check out our German dative pronoun activities, or study the dative case more thoroughly in our post on the dative case in German.