The causal preposition (dank)

Giving Credit with "dank"

Restoring a vintage classic car is a team effort. When you want to express gratitude or attribute a successful outcome to someone or something, you use the causal preposition dank (thanks to).

Like all prepositions, dank forces the noun that follows it into a specific case. Uniquely, you can use it with either the Dative or the Genitive case. Both are completely correct, though the Dative is especially common in everyday spoken German.

Notice how the masculine noun der Mechaniker and the feminine noun die Karosserie change to match their Dative forms (dem Mechaniker, der Karosserie):

Formal Polish: "dank" with the Genitive

In written German, or when speaking a bit more formally, you will frequently see dank paired with the Genitive case.

When using the Genitive, remember that masculine and neuter nouns take an -s or -es ending. For example, the masculine noun der Lack becomes des Lacks.

Using "dank" with Plurals

When attributing success to multiple people or things, the Dative case is heavily preferred. German speakers use the Dative here to avoid ambiguity, as the plural Genitive form is often not clearly distinct.

To use the plural Dative, change the plural article to den and remember to add an extra -n to the end of the noun itself, just as with any other Dative plural structure.