Adjectives with dative

When talking about mix-ups, mistaken identities, or doppelgängers, you often need to express that someone is similar "to your brother" or that a face is familiar "to you". In German, many adjectives naturally require a dative object to express who the comparison or feeling applies to.

Similarity and Familiarity

Adjectives like ähnlich (similar), vertraut (familiar), and unbekannt (unknown) describe a relationship to a specific person. That person takes the dative case.

If the object is a pronoun, you will use dative forms like mir (to me), dir (to you), or ihm (to him). If it is a noun, the article takes the dative ending (for example, mein becomes meinem for masculine nouns).

Notice that the dative object typically comes directly before the adjective:

Impressions and Feelings

Certain adjectives describe how a person, thing, or situation makes someone feel. Common examples include:

• sympathisch (likeable)
• peinlich (embarrassing)
• unangenehm (unpleasant, awkward)
• egal (indifferent, doesn't matter)
• dankbar (grateful)

There is a key difference between English and German here. Instead of saying "I find him likeable" or "I am embarrassed", German often flips the structure. You say that the person or situation is likeable or embarrassing to me.

You can easily use these adjectives to ask questions or talk about other people's experiences by swapping mir out for other dative pronouns like dir or ihm: