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This sentence is from the Frankfurter Allgemeine.

Nicht nur wegen Athleten wie Reus oder den Kugelstoß-Assen Christian Schwanitz und David Storl blickt der Deutsche Leichtathletik-Verband ...

Why is it "den Kugelstoß-Assen Christian Schwanitz und David Storl", seemingly in dative? Shouldn't it be genitive after "wegen"?

boaten
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  • related : http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/329/ist-wegen-dir-falsch-und-nur-deinetwegen-richtig – Emanuel Jul 30 '14 at 09:47
  • also related: http://german.stackexchange.com/questions/8433/genitive-preposition-wegen-and-personal-pronouns – Emanuel Jul 30 '14 at 09:48
  • Actually, @Emanuel is right, that this is a duplicate. That said, the accepted answer to the other question is not (entirely) correct. Many people would disagree with using dative being correct at all, so why recommend using dative. – Em1 Jul 30 '14 at 13:40
  • @Em1.. because that's how people talk. Who says "wegen meines Vaters". It's actually amiguous because it could be a possessive too. Or "wegen dir"... I actually feel like there might be a distinction in meaning... "Ich muss wegen dem Wetter mit dir reden" Wetter is the direct cause. "Ich muss wegen des Wetters mit dir reden." Wetter is the topic. – Emanuel Jul 30 '14 at 14:56
  • @Emanuel I do. But I don't see how the Genetiv can be misconstrued as a possessive here, and also there is no distinction with Dativ as you claim (maybe this is emerging due to consistent abuse, but it's not a rule). If you want to talk about the weather and avoid ambiguity, say "Ich muss mit dir über das Wetter reden." -- "wegen" describes cause, not purpose. – Raphael Jul 31 '14 at 06:24
  • @Raphael... I didn't say purpose, I said topic. That might sound like nitpicking but it does change the message here, so I wanted to point that out. In spoken German phrasing like "Nochmal wegen des Kopierers... wann wird der repariert?" are common. Maybe with Dative as well. The distinction is just my theory. – Emanuel Jul 31 '14 at 09:27
  • @Emanuel In that cases, "wegen" still indicates the reason if in shortened form. "[Lass uns nochmal] wegen des Kopierers [sprechen]". – Raphael Jul 31 '14 at 09:29
  • @Raphael... then exchange the copy machine for a person. "Lass uns nochmal wegen Maria sprechen" Maria can be the topic or the cause for the speaking with the topic being something entirely else "Lass uns nochmal wegen Maria über das Wetter sprechen. Sie will das so." It's contrived but I'm sure better ones can be constructed. – Emanuel Jul 31 '14 at 09:35

3 Answers3

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Canoo.net is of help here:

Generally with dative in standard German of the southern part of the German-speaking area

Frankfurt, as you know, is in the southern part of Germany.

But they also note:

This use of the dative after wegen is not accepted by everybody. Therefore it is better to avoid it in written standard German.

Glorfindel
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Em1
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Definitely; "wegen" always requires Genitiv. Thus, correct would be:

Nicht nur wegen Athleten wie Reus oder der Kugelstoß-Asse Christian Schwanitz und David Storl blickt der Deutsche Leichtathletik-Verband ...

However, as other answers note, use of Genetiv has been declining overall and seems to be vanishing in particular with "wegen". You often hear phrases like "wegen dem Wetter".

So while not correct (in the strict, conservative way), using Dativ with "wegen" will not raise (m)any eyebrows.

Raphael
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  • You might want to watch this http://www.belleslettres.eu/artikel/wegen-genitiv-dativ.php whether you agree or not, you'll have to concede that Dative is not just plain lazy wrong. – Emanuel Jul 31 '14 at 09:30
  • @Emanuel Agreed, interesting. I did not watch the whole thing but it seems clear that the author starts with a particular set of premises one might not share. (I can't comment on factual accuracy.) Apparently, there are differing "feels" of what "correct" German should be at work, depending on region. – Raphael Jul 31 '14 at 10:08
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You don't always use genitive after "wegen" (although probably in most cases). In this case, because of the plural ("die Kugelstoß-Asse") there is no or you cannot recognize the genetive and it sounds like dative.

In a singular case it clearly would be genetive: "...wegen des Kugelstoß-Asses..."

Take a look at Duden, section "Grammatik".

Stefan
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    Isn't genetive plural "der Asse" ("die Zahl der Asse"), not "den Assen"? :-) – dirkt Jul 30 '14 at 08:49
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    @dirkt is right. The example sentence is clearly dative. You would recognize genitive. Also, in singular the newspaper editor would still go with dative. – Em1 Jul 30 '14 at 12:31
  • @dirkt: that's what I was trying to say, the genitive case is indistinguishable of the dative case. – Stefan Aug 08 '14 at 19:30
  • @Em1: No, in singular most germans working at a newspaper would not use dative, but the genitive. – Stefan Aug 08 '14 at 19:33
  • Why the down vote? – Stefan Aug 08 '14 at 19:33
  • @Stefan: It got probably downvoted because the genetive plural case is NOT indistinguishable from the dative case. :-) Both the ending and the article are different. So I'm afraid you are wrong. – dirkt Aug 09 '14 at 08:56
  • @dirkt: please read what I wrote again, I never said that the genitive case is generally indistinguishable from the dative case. I said it was so in this particular case, which I have from the Duden dictionary homepage (link above) and hence is definitely right! So I'm afraid y'all are wrong :) – Stefan Aug 10 '14 at 14:12