Accusative: question 5 of Lesson 6.6

it's important that you remember that in accusative the direct object is the person, animal or thing that the action of the sentence is happening to.

Ich brenne eine CD für Thomas:
although the action is burning the cd the reason behind it is, for Thomas,
you can use question words for the accusative whom (wen) or what (was)to figure out what the accusaitive is

so for whom or for what are is the action being done for.

in the sentence Ich brenne eine CD für Thomas the action (brenne eine CD) is being done for Thomas.
the action isn't just "brenne/burning" the full action is "brenne eine CD/burning a cd"
what action am i performing? i'm burning a cd(brenne eine CD) not i'm burning(brenne) so if the action is burning a cd then for whom or for what am I doing it for? what is the reason for the action? well the reason for burning a cd is für Thomas/for Thomas.

whenever you're in doubt it's good to use the questions for whom or for what is the action of the sentence happening to? (for accusative anyway) they are slightly different for the others.

hope this helps!

I agree with Cooper. Thomas is the indirect object but it is in the accusative case because of the preposition für. Für is one of the prepositions that are followed by the accusative case, like durch, für, gegen, ohne, and um. This sentence shows how an indirect object sometimes has to be in the accusative case. The original question is a good one . . . Thomas in not being burned . . . the CD is, therefore the CD is the direct object of the verb burned. I think I'm right. Any arguments?