German grammar
German Dative Case
The dative case often marks an indirect object or the person affected by an action.
Examples
Ich helfe dem Freund.
I help the friend.
helfen often takes dative.
Wir antworten der Frau.
We answer the woman.
antworten takes a dative object.
Lara glaubt dem Kind.
Lara believes the child.
glauben takes dative here.
Common mistake
Using only English word order hides the role of dem, der, and einem.