Dative: recipient and partner

The dative often marks the person who receives something or is affected indirectly. Some verbs, including helfen and danken, require it.

Ask wem? — to whom or for whom?

Masculine and neuter use dem/einem; feminine uses der/einer.

Dative plural uses den and the noun often gains -n: den Kindern.

With geben, the person is usually dative and the thing is accusative.

Ich helfe dem Mann.

Ich gebe der Frau das Buch.

Wir danken einem Kind.