1

For example: Is it "Meinem Vater schmeckt Pizza sehr" or "Mein Vater schmeckt Pizza sehr"?

user unknown
  • 23,274
  • 4
  • 47
  • 97
Mazen.O
  • 11
  • 1

2 Answers2

4

Any part of speech can be put at the start of a sentence (although in the case of verbs, that makes the sentence a question. A verb always comes second in a statement.)

Ich habe das Buch meinem Vater gegeben. I gave the book to my father.

Meinem Vater habe ich das Buch gegeben. To my father I gave the book.

Das Buch habe ich meinem Vater gegeben. The book I gave to my father.

Später habe ich das Buch meinem Vater gegeben. Later I gave the book to my father.

Habe ich das Buch meinem Vater gegeben? Did I give the book to my father?

The "start" position is used for emphasis, and the declensions or "cases" of the various nouns is used to determine their function (nominative for subject, accusative for direct object, dative for indirect object). Verbs and adverbs are self explanatory.

Community
  • 1
Tom Au
  • 12,750
  • 4
  • 38
  • 78
2

Yes, it can. Your example is a correct german sentence. Why would you think, it was wrong?

Jonathan Scholbach
  • 17,328
  • 3
  • 44
  • 84
  • Before exams we often start to forget what we learned but don't know for sure. What would be interesting (to me), what is with his second example sentence? Does it mean some different? – peterh Apr 22 '17 at 19:45
  • Lack of recent exposure with the example and teachers actually messing it up made matters worse for me ,So I wanted to confirm. To clarify the second sentence was just an idea that looked like an answer to me. That if we move the dativ to the beginning of the sentence, we should revert it back to its normal form. So, I understand from you that only the first sentence is correct? – Mazen.O Apr 22 '17 at 20:04
  • 1
    Mein Vater schmeckt Pizza sehr. means your father is very able to taste Pizza. This doesn't make sense, but e.g. Mein Vater schmeckt das Salz sehr. means "My father tastes the salt much (it's too much for his taste)." – Janka Apr 22 '17 at 20:38
  • 1
    @Janka Das hätte eher ein Kommentar zur Frage sein sollen. – Robert Apr 22 '17 at 21:53
  • Oh, ja, richtig. – Janka Apr 22 '17 at 22:22
  • @Mazen.O: the entire point of having cases is to be able to move things around in a sentence without changing its meaning (normally only emphasis) – Gerhard Apr 22 '17 at 23:22
  • "Meinem Vater schmeckt Pizza sehr" is correct, the second example is not. But the following is also correct with same meaning: "Pizza schmeckt meinem Vater sehr". – Klaus Thul Apr 23 '17 at 10:07
  • Die Rückfrage gehört nicht in die Antwort. – user unknown Apr 24 '17 at 22:22
  • 1
    This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post. - From Review – user unknown Apr 24 '17 at 22:22
  • @userunknown I do not see, why tihs does not answer the question. The question is, whether some sentence is correct - the answer is a simple "yes". My question is rather a rhetoric question than a point of clarification. – Jonathan Scholbach Apr 25 '17 at 09:04