Nathalie, Consider the verbs luegen (to lie) and anluegen (to lie to). Either one can be used to ask the following question: 1. Warum hast du (zu) deinem Vater gelogen? (Why have you lied to your father?) 2. Warum hast du dienen Vater angelogen? (Why have you lied to your father?) In sentence 1, "zu" is dative, so what follows is in the dative case. In sentence 2, the verb is "have lied to". Does this make "vater" accusative? (A sentence can contain a direct object only. If there is a an indirect object in the sentence, it must be accompanied by a direct object. An exception is if the verb is a "dative" verb. Luegen and Anluegen are not dative verbs.) Which sentence would be more commonly heard? Scott

Dear Scott, I would like to point out to the students learning on here, the biggest myths of the dative case in general has been the categorisation of verbs as 'dative''. I don't know how far it is right to categorise. Principally the categorisation factor should be whether you can add a 'to/for' before the object. This is sure to give you perfect clarity as to whether the case should be dative or accusative. For example: Ich kaufe ein Buch - Accusative Ich kaufe einem Man ein Buch - Dative and Accusative. In this example, the phrase is actually 'for the man' and not 'the man'. But there is no such practice of writing the 'for/to' in English. English is crippled to that extent. We in India understand this better because all our languages are based on Sankrit which is very similar to German. The second myth is that there has to be a direct object with an indirect one. Big myth! Look at the following sentences: Ich habe ihm gekauft - i have purchased for him! - where is the need for a direct object? mind well, the sentence doesn't become insensible, just because there is no direct object! but look here: ich habe ihn gekauft - i have brought him! Here him is the direct object and hence the accusative case. Understood? ihm v/s ihn? ihn = him ihm = to/for him Coming to your example, just because there is an extra 'to' in anlügen the verb becomes ' to lie TO your father' hence, because there is a 'to', the VATE becomes an indirect object. Isn't it amazing? Please let me know in case you need anything!Nathalie please ratify or correct! I am always willing to learn! Abhishek Mumbai, India

Abhishek, Thanks for the reply. I tend to play Devil's Advocate with Deutsch grammar. As for the "dative" verbs, there are about 20 that take indriect objects (dative) as direct objects. Did you believe me? Haben Sie mir geglaubt? Did you understand me? Haben Sie mich verstanden? Scott