……
Note
Now he finished the process of sitting down, he is situated at the table. We are no longer talking about the direction of a movement but about the location, where the man is at.an einem kleinen Tisch
is Dative
When we want to describe a location, we use prepositions followed by a dative.
in einem Café
an einem Tisch
Breakdown of Er sitzt an einem kleinen Tisch.
klein
small
er
he
ein
a, an
sitzen
to be sitting/ to sit
This is a verb indicating a position. (not a movement).
It can be followed by a preposition and a dative
der Tisch
the table
an
on; to; at
More from this lesson
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“How do German cases work?”
German has four grammatical cases: nominative (subject), accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), and genitive (possession). The case determines the form of articles and adjectives. For example, "the dog" is "der Hund" as a subject but "den Hund" as a direct object.
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