In German grammar, Rektion — verb government — is the principle that a verb dictates the grammatical form of its complements. A verb doesn't merely allow an object; it commands which case that object stands in, and whether a particular preposition must precede it. Geben commands a dative recipient and an accusative thing; warten commands the preposition auf with an accusative; teilnehmen commands an with a dative; gedenken commands a bare genitive. None of this is negotiable, and almost none of it can be guessed. Government is the part of the verb you must store in long-term memory the way you store its conjugation — and for English speakers, it's where the most stubborn errors live, because the English preposition is almost never the German one.
What government is — and why it's per-verb
A verb's government is its case-and-preposition frame: the fixed pattern of complements it requires. Crucially, this frame is lexically arbitrary — it follows from the individual verb, not from any general meaning rule. Two verbs with nearly identical meanings can govern different cases:
| Verb | Governs | Frame |
|---|---|---|
| fragen | accusative | jemanden fragen |
| antworten | dative | jemandem antworten |
| helfen | dative | jemandem helfen |
| unterstützen | accusative | jemanden unterstützen |
Darf ich Sie etwas fragen?
May I ask you something? (formal; fragen + accusative: Sie)
Der Beamte antwortete dem Bürger erst nach einer Woche.
The official only answered the citizen after a week. (formal; antworten + dative: dem Bürger)
"Ask" and "answer" are conceptual mirror images, yet fragen takes the accusative and antworten takes the dative. There is no logic to extract — you simply learn that fragen is an accusative verb and antworten a dative verb. This is the heart of government: it's a property of the word.
The major government patterns
German verb government falls into a handful of recurring patterns. Master the patterns and you know what kind of frame to look for in each new verb.
1. Ditransitive: dative recipient + accusative thing
A large class of verbs of giving, telling, and showing takes two objects: a dative for the recipient (the person who gets something) and an accusative for the thing transferred.
Kannst du mir bitte das Salz geben?
Can you pass me the salt, please? (geben: mir = dative recipient, das Salz = accusative thing)
Ich habe meiner Schwester einen Brief geschrieben.
I wrote my sister a letter. (schreiben + dative + accusative)
Der Lehrer erklärte den Schülern die Regel noch einmal.
The teacher explained the rule to the students once more. (erklären + dative + accusative)
The pattern is dative person + accusative thing: geben, schreiben, schicken, erklären, zeigen, bringen, erzählen, empfehlen, anbieten, leihen. English uses the same double-object idea ("give me the salt"), but English has no case endings, so the burden in German is getting mir (dative), not mich, for the recipient. The order in neutral statements is dative before accusative when both are full nouns.
2. Prepositional objects with a fixed case
The most error-prone pattern. Many verbs require a specific preposition, and that preposition locks the following noun into a fixed case — fixed meaning it does not vary with motion the way a true two-way preposition would. With a prepositional verb, the case is just part of the frame.
| Verb + preposition | Case | English |
|---|---|---|
| warten auf |
| to wait for |
| denken an |
| to think of/about |
| sich interessieren für |
| to be interested in |
| sich freuen auf |
| to look forward to |
| teilnehmen an |
| to take part in |
| fragen nach |
| to ask about/for |
| leiden unter |
| to suffer from |
| sich erinnern an |
| to remember |
Wir warten schon seit einer Stunde auf den Techniker.
We've been waiting for the technician for an hour. (warten auf + Akk.)
An dieser Konferenz nehmen über tausend Forscher teil.
Over a thousand researchers are taking part in this conference. (academic; teilnehmen an + Dat.)
Sie interessiert sich schon lange für mittelalterliche Geschichte.
She's been interested in medieval history for a long time. (sich interessieren für + Akk.)
Notice how auf takes the accusative here (auf den Techniker) even though there's no motion — with a prepositional verb the case is frozen by the verb, not chosen by a motion test. This is the key difference from the genuine two-way prepositions, where motion vs location decides the case.
3. Genitive-governing verbs (formal)
A small, formal/literary set of verbs governs the genitive. In everyday speech these are mostly replaced by prepositional alternatives, but they survive in legal, religious, and elevated written German.
Wir gedenken der Opfer des Krieges.
We commemorate the victims of the war. (formal/ceremonial; gedenken + genitive)
Diese Angelegenheit bedarf einer gründlichen Prüfung.
This matter requires thorough examination. (formal/legal; bedürfen + genitive)
Other members include sich erinnern in its archaic genitive use, sich bemächtigen ("to seize"), sich entledigen ("to rid oneself of"), and sich annehmen ("to take care of"). Outside formal registers, you'll meet gedenken and bedürfen most. Don't deploy them casually — Ich bedarf deiner Hilfe sounds extravagantly formal where Ich brauche deine Hilfe is the everyday choice.
Reference table: high-frequency verbs by frame
| Frame | Verbs |
|---|---|
| sehen, kaufen, lesen, fragen, brauchen, unterstützen, besuchen |
| helfen, danken, gefallen, gehören, antworten, folgen, gratulieren, begegnen |
| Dativ + Akkusativ | geben, schreiben, schicken, zeigen, erklären, erzählen, empfehlen, leihen |
| auf + Akkusativ | warten auf, sich freuen auf, hoffen auf, achten auf, sich verlassen auf |
| an + Akkusativ | denken an, sich erinnern an, glauben an, sich gewöhnen an |
| an + Dativ | teilnehmen an, leiden an, arbeiten an, zweifeln an |
| für + Akkusativ | sich interessieren für, sich bedanken für, sich entscheiden für, sorgen für |
| über + Akkusativ | sich freuen über, sich ärgern über, sprechen über, nachdenken über |
| gedenken, bedürfen, sich bemächtigen, sich entledigen |
Two verbs in this table show that even the same preposition can govern different cases with different verbs: teilnehmen an takes the dative, while denken an takes the accusative. The verb wins, every time.
Ich denke oft an meine Zeit in Wien zurück.
I often think back to my time in Vienna. (denken an + Akk.)
Er arbeitet seit Monaten an seiner Doktorarbeit.
He's been working on his doctoral thesis for months. (arbeiten an + Dat.)
The English preposition is almost never the German one
This is the insight competitors skip and the single most useful warning on the page. The German preposition in a verb frame is, more often than not, not the literal translation of the English preposition. The combinations are idioms — fixed units to be memorised whole, never assembled from the English:
- to wait for → warten auf (literally "on")
- to think of/about → denken an (literally "on/at")
- to look forward to → sich freuen auf (literally "on")
- to be interested in → sich interessieren für (literally "for")
- to take part in → teilnehmen an (literally "on")
- to ask for → bitten um (literally "around")
Ich freue mich schon riesig auf das Wochenende.
I'm really looking forward to the weekend. (sich freuen auf — not 'zu')
Darf ich Sie um einen Gefallen bitten?
May I ask you for a favour? (formal; bitten um — not 'für')
When the prepositional object is a thing rather than a person, or when it's a whole clause, the preposition fuses into a da-compound (darauf, daran, dafür) or, in questions, a wo-compound (worauf, woran, wofür) — because German never strands a preposition the way English does ("What are you waiting for?").
Worauf wartest du? — Auf den letzten Gast.
What are you waiting for? — For the last guest. (wo-compound: worauf, not 'auf was')
Ich freue mich darauf, dich endlich wiederzusehen.
I'm looking forward to finally seeing you again. (da-compound darauf anticipates the clause)
See da-compounds and wo-compounds for the full mechanism.
Common Mistakes
❌ Ich warte für den Bus.
Incorrect — warten governs auf + accusative, not the literal 'für.'
✅ Ich warte auf den Bus.
I'm waiting for the bus. (warten auf + Akk.)
Transferring English "for" as für is the canonical government error. The frame is warten auf, period.
❌ Ich denke über dich oft.
Incorrect — 'think of someone' is denken an, not denken über.
✅ Ich denke oft an dich.
I often think of you. (denken an + Akk.)
Denken über exists but means "to hold an opinion about"; "to think of/about someone" in the sense of having them in mind is denken an. Mapping English "about/of" to über gets the frame wrong.
❌ Ich nehme an den Kurs teil.
Right preposition, wrong case — an here is dative (dem Kurs), but learners slip into the accusative den Kurs.
✅ Ich nehme an dem Kurs teil.
I'm taking part in the course. (teilnehmen an + Dat.: dem Kurs, not den Kurs)
The trap with teilnehmen an is the case: because an takes the accusative with denken, learners over-generalise and write an den Kurs. With teilnehmen the an is dative — an dem Kurs (often contracted to am Kurs).
❌ Ich gebe dich das Buch.
Incorrect — the recipient of geben is dative, not accusative.
✅ Ich gebe dir das Buch.
I'll give you the book. (geben: dir = dative recipient, das Buch = accusative thing)
In the ditransitive frame the person is dative (dir) and the thing is accusative (das Buch); swapping them — or putting the person in the accusative — is a frequent slip.
❌ Ich interessiere mich in Geschichte.
Incorrect — the frame is sich interessieren für, not 'in.'
✅ Ich interessiere mich für Geschichte.
I'm interested in history. (sich interessieren für + Akk.)
Key Takeaways
- Rektion (government) means the verb dictates the case and preposition of its complements; the frame is per-verb and lexically arbitrary — store it with the word.
- Three big patterns: ditransitive (dative person + accusative thing), prepositional objects with a frozen case, and formal genitive verbs (gedenken, bedürfen).
- With prepositional verbs the case is fixed by the verb, not chosen by a motion test — and the same preposition can govern different cases (denken an
- Akk. vs teilnehmen an
- Dat.).
- Akk. vs teilnehmen an
- The German preposition is rarely the literal English one (wait for → warten auf, think of → denken an), so memorise the combinations as units.
- When the object is a thing or a clause, the preposition fuses into a da-compound (darauf) or wo-compound (worauf) — German never strands prepositions.
Now practice German
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning German→Related Topics
- Verbs with Fixed PrepositionsB1 — The large class of German verbs that govern a fixed preposition with a fixed case (warten auf + Akk., teilnehmen an + Dat.) — why the preposition is never the literal English one and the two-way case is lexically frozen.
- Dative VerbsB1 — The common German verbs that take a single dative object instead of the expected accusative, and how to remember them.
- da-Compounds: dafür, damit, daraufB1 — How German fuses da(r)- with a preposition to refer back to a thing, why animacy decides between damit and mit ihm, and how to insert the linking -r-.
- wo-Compounds: wofür, womit, woraufB1 — How German asks 'what for / with what / on what' about a thing by fusing wo(r)- with a preposition, why people keep auf wen, and why German has no preposition stranding.
- Two-Way Prepositions (Wechselpräpositionen): Accusative or DativeA2 — The nine German prepositions that take accusative for direction and dative for location, and how to choose between them.
- Transitive and Intransitive Verbs (and Valency)B1 — How a verb's valency — the case and prepositional frame it requires — determines its object, and how it links to the haben/sein auxiliary choice in the Perfekt.