Hallo!

So I thought that maybe we have people here who can help me with this:

I’m having a lot of trouble understanding when to use Dativ vs Akkusativ in German. I understand that specific prepositions require specific cases, but in general I often find myself applying the wrong case in a sentence.

In some sentences it is quite clear:

Ich habe den Stift gekauft. (Pen being the direct object that is being bought)

But there are cases like this:

Ich schlafe in meinem auto in meiner pause (I know the order is wrong, but the cases seem to stay as they are even if you change the order)

Here I would have thought that the car is the direct object. I struggle with this a lot and often apply akkusativ case wrongly.

I would appreciate if someone could help me with understanding this better. For example: Why is the car not the direct object in the above example?

  • CHINESEBOTTROLL@lemm.ee
    5·
    19 days ago

    Edit: well apparently i dont really understand my own language…

    The reason is that the car is not directly related to the action. The preposition “in” just tells you where the sleeping is taking place. You could replace it by others: “Ich schlafe auf/unter/neben meinem Auto.” A good comparison would be “I am breaking INTO my car.” “Ich breche in mein Auto ein.” Here the “in” tells you more than just where its taking place. The car is part of the action.

    • Lazycog@sopuli.xyzOPM
      4·
      20 days ago

      Ahh! That actually makes a lot of sense now. I’ve struggled with this sentence for a few days and it was driving me nuts. Thank you so much!

      And thanks for the example where to use akkusativ! I really need more examples like that to hammer this into my head.

    • GandalftheBlack@feddit.org
      3·
      19 days ago

      I think the key thing to mention about your accusative example is not that the car is part of the action, but rather that ‘in’ is describing motion towards/into something.

      • CHINESEBOTTROLL@lemm.ee
        2·
        19 days ago

        Hmm, I feel there are some edge cases where it just makes no sense. “Ich breche in DAS Auto ein.” vs “Ich breche aus DEM Auto aus.” Oh well, at least we have a way to catch foreign spies…

        • GandalftheBlack@feddit.org
          3·
          19 days ago

          The accusative is used with motion towards, and since aus conveys motion away from the car, I think the dative makes perfect sense

          • CHINESEBOTTROLL@lemm.ee
            2·
            19 days ago

            But even that has exceptions such as “ich gehe zu DEM auto”. So I guess you would have to learn by heart which prepositions go with which case and only in the ambiguous cases (auf,in…) you use the movement idea?

            • GandalftheBlack@feddit.org
              3·
              19 days ago

              Yeah, prepositions do complicate matters. The principle of motion towards vs. location/moment away from helps with those prepositions which can take both accusative and dative, but for other prepositions you do just have to learn.