Darf ich Sie oder Darf ich Ihnen etwas fragen?

Ich dachte immer dass es 'Darf ich Ihnen...' war, aber heute habe ich auch 'Darf ich Sie' gelesen? Können Sie das bitte erklaren? Vielen Dank!

I think either can be correct depending on the rest of the sentence. The rest of the sentence will determine the case used for "you". However, Paul should have the final word on that.

Hello MestiGirl, It really depends on the second verb that follows because that indicates the case. When it's with "ihnen" it is the dative form of "sie". Examples for dative verbs are; danken=to thank, antworten= to answer, helfen=to help and gefallen=to like. When it comes to German grammar the dative is a little bit tricky. When the sentence is with "sie" it could be the nominative or accusative case. You might want to go through the Grammar lessons 7.3, 7.4, 8.1 and 8.2 to get some background information. I hope this helps! Paul

Thanks Paul. That is helpful to me as well. I knew that whether it was dative or nominative/accusative makes the difference between Ihnen and Sie. What I didn't realize was that some verbs are always dative. I went back to see where I had missed that in the lessons, but there are no Grammar lessons for 7.3, 7.4, 8.1, and 8.2 if by grammar you mean the Language and Culture sections. I took a quick look at the Interactive but didn't see it addressed there either although i didn't replay the full audio. regards, Byron

Hello Paul and Byron! Thank you very much for your comments. I really I appreciated hearing from you both-but unfortunately, I could not find the Grammar sections your referred to Paul (as Byron mentioned), and I am still unsure which is correct in the simple short question of Darf ich Ihnen/ Sie etwas fragen? Is fragen always dative too? Thank you in advance for your help!

Hi MestiGirl and Byron, I didn't realize I had those lessons listed as the relevant ones for cases long time ago the lessons were restructured since then so sorry about that. The lessons 15.6, 15.7, 15.8 under Language & Culture Lessons are the relevant ones about cases. "Darf ich Sie etwas fragen" is correct. All the best Paul

The lessons have changed numbers now. Would be really nice if either

1. People include the permanent link to the lesson with the post.
2. or Rocket Languages allows links to be added to the forum posts that create a double link (links the lesson to the forum and the forum to the lesson).

That way, when looking at a lesson, one can immediately see what people have posted about it and can see related lessons also.

Level 1 Premium:

• Link http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/77  - nom
• Link http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/78  - acc
• Link http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/79  - dat
• Link http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/80  - gen

Level 2 Premium Plus:

• Link http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/1613  - nom
• Link http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/1614  - acc and dat 
• Link: http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/1615  - gen

Have you noticed how the external link to this post is different from the internal post?

• Link http://members.rocketlanguages.com/members/forum/german-grammar/darf-ich-sie-oder-darf-ich-ihnen-etwas-fragen
• External Link https://www.rocketlanguages.com/your-community/german-grammar/darf-ich-sie-oder-darf-ich-ihnen-etwas-fragen

I like the old format better. Dates are nicer. No space is wasted for the column with the images of the people. The format is tighter and easier to read. With the new format, I still can't figure out how to post a link properly so that it will actually work.