“The book” is the direct object in the sentence, which means it takes the accusative, which – confusingly – is also das Buch in German. READ ALSO: German grammar tips - The curious case of the ...

German has a case system. This means that words, or the endings of words, have to change according to their function in a sentence. There are four cases, and three of them affect pronouns: nominative ...

Ich gebe dem Mann das Buch. I give the man the book. Two nouns in a sentence - dative before accusative Ich gebe es dem Mann. I give it to the man. One noun, one pronoun in a sentence - pronoun goes ...