A2 → Grammar · Lesson 11 of 22

German Dative Verbs: Helfen, Danken, Gefallen & More

das Dativverb

Before this lesson: make sure you've covered Reflexive Verbs and Pronouns first.

You know the Dative case from A1 for indirect objects. Some German verbs always take a Dative object, even without any obvious 'giving' happening — these are called Dative verbs, and you simply learn them as a set.

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Verb	Meaning	Example
helfen	to help	Ich helfe meinem Bruder.
danken	to thank	Ich danke dir.
gefallen	to please / to like	Das Kleid gefällt mir.
gehören	to belong to	Das Buch gehört meiner Schwester.
antworten	to answer	Ich antworte meiner Chefin.
fehlen	to miss / be missing	Du fehlst mir.
passen	to fit / suit	Die Jacke passt mir gut.
schmecken	to taste good (to someone)	Das Essen schmeckt mir.
glauben	to believe (someone)	Ich glaube dir.

Memory trick: "gefallen", "schmecken", and "fehlen" flip the English logic: German says "the dress pleases me" instead of "I like the dress" — the person is always Dativ.

⚠ Common mistake: Don't translate "I like it" word-for-word — with gefallen, the THING is the subject and the PERSON is Dativ: "Es gefällt mir" (It pleases me = I like it).

🎯 Quick check

"Kannst du ___ helfen?" (Can you help me?)

German Dative Verbs: Helfen, Danken, Gefallen & More

See it in action

🎯 Quick check

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