Examples in 6.7

I gave feedback but has anyone else noticed that the example 'Der Frau gefällt das Hotel. The woman likes the hotel.' is confusing because the translation is 'The woman likes the hotel' when, more accurately, it is 'The hotel pleases the woman'. That makes a big difference when trying to figure out the indirect object in the sentence. Of course that also demonstrates the way German can re-orient their phrases based on the case used. One could not say in English 'The woman pleases the hotel' and have mean what it does in German. Perhaps that example should not have been used yet. Also, 'Ich gebe dem Jungen die Schlüssel für den Schuppen. I’ll give the boy the keys to the shed.' confuses because the lesson has not explained that the object of the preposition uses the Accusative case (or so it appears). Kind of makes sense but it would help to have mentioned that. I didn't find anyone else questioning this in the forum but perhaps it will help someone that does run into this problem.

I think sometimes things are slipped in earlier as "unconscious learning" and later fully explained in another lesson. It's a tactic used in tefl as well - so students learn the grammar first by absorption and use (through use and repetition) and later learn the mechanics of it. Otherwise it can be distracting from the main aim of the lesson, which is overall presented in a simple manner.

Also, try not taking translation so directly or definitively. The word "Gefällt", doesn't just mean "to please". It can also mean "to like", "to feel", and so on (roughly translated). A lot of the time a word is translated exactly the way you think of it, because of when you first learned the word... but not 100%. Eventually, you will have to learn to think in the Language you are learning and not always translating in your head. When you see the English translations of a conversation do not take it literally even if it matches 100%. Look at it as "this is how it is said in German". Otherwise you will continue to use bad Grammer because you will be always thinking in English and trying to speak German. Take it from someone who lives in Germany and also learns better from Grammer. I'm speaking from experience.

Eldon's right, the above example is confusing as all heck. Not a good example of an indirect object at all. Looks to me like an example of a direct object. I see a subject, verb and direct object. Same goes for "Nik spricht mit ihrem chef". The way I see it, "ihrem" is the indirect object and "chef" is the direct object but in the answers it says that "ihrem chef" is the indirect object. Can somebody with more experience on this subject clarify this please?

I just got to this point of the lessons and I do agree with Eldon. This is quite confusing! I do see the same thing as Kyle T does!!! Thanks Eldon cause your translation did clarify a little bit my doubt. I really don't get these lessons quite well. I did the quiz and I scored 100% but I am still confused!!! Is not that we are trying to think in English and then translate to German, but when you are learning a new language you cannot just switch to think in the new language, you need a little help of translation to understand what you are learning and English is not even my native language! (but as you can notice I can think, write and speak English without a problem... hopefully will be able to do the same with German). Can anybody can explain a little bit further?

Oh... and does anybody knows why on the last questions of the quiz of lesson 7.5 is Ihm the right answer? they didn't mentioned nothing like that on the other examples!

"Nik spricht mit ihrem chef" because "mit" is one of the prepositions always followed by the dative case.

There are others that find this a problem with these lessons. Paid course: http://members.rocketlanguages.com/lessons/79 Free course: https://www.rocketlanguages.com/german/learn/german-dative/ Such as these: http://members.rocketlanguages.com/your-community/german-grammar/dativ/ http://members.rocketlanguages.com/your-community/german-grammar/dative/ http://members.rocketlanguages.com/your-community/german-grammar/understanding-dative/ I agree, probably should take these phrases and move them to a little section at the bottom that says we will speak about them later or to check the forum for details. I don't like to get stuck on stuff either when this is supposed to be Rocket German and if I wanted to blindly memorize phrases and pronunciation, I would just use Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur. @Cataluschka And yes, there is a little song to the tune of Frère Jacques to remember to help you with the prepositions to use with dative: aus bei mit nach x2 seit von zu x2 immer mit dem Dativ x2 (always with the dative) gegenüber ab x2 list: aus bie mit nach seit von zu gegenüber ab -Jason