Verb Valency: Nominative, Accusative, and Dative
Explore which complements German verbs require: accusative, dative, both cases, or—in rare patterns—two accusatives.
Explanation
A German verb determines its complement pattern. **fragen, sehen, anrufen** take an accusative object; **antworten, helfen, begegnen, zuhören, vertrauen** take dative. Ditransitives such as **geben, schenken, erklären, vorlesen, leihen** normally combine a person in dative with a thing in accusative. A small group—**nennen, kosten, lehren, schimpfen**—can take two accusatives: **Man nennt ihn einen Experten.** Valency is lexical and cannot always be predicted from meaning.
Contrasts and tested patterns
| Learning goal | German example |
|---|---|
| accusative, not dative | Ich **frage den Kollegen**. |
| dative, not accusative | Ich **antworte dem Kollegen**. |
| minimal pair | Ich **rufe den Kunden an**. / Ich **höre dem Kunden zu**. |
| dative person + accusative thing | Die Lehrerin **liest den Kindern eine Geschichte vor**. |
| two accusatives | Man **nennt den Bewerber einen Experten**. |
| price + affected person | Der Kurs **kostet die Teilnehmerin 200 Euro**. |
Pronouns preserve the pattern: **Ich frage ihn**, but **ich antworte ihm**; **sie erklärt es ihm**; **man nennt ihn einen Experten**.
Exercises
- Sort the verbs or sentences by complement pattern. (10)
- Write the complete sentence using the required complement pattern and register. (10)
B2 · German · Grammar