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Questions & Answers about Der Mann hilft dem Lehrer.
Why is it dem Lehrer and not den Lehrer?
In German, certain verbs always require the dative case for the person receiving the action. The verb helfen (to help) is one of these special dative verbs. Because of this, the masculine noun Lehrer takes the dative article dem instead of the accusative den.
How do we know who is helping whom in this sentence?
The articles tell us! Der Mann has the nominative article der, so we know he is the subject doing the helping. Lehrer has the dative article dem, marking him as the one receiving the help.
Why is the verb spelled hilft? Shouldn't it be helft?
The verb helfen (to help) is a stem-changing verb. For the he, she, and it forms, the letter e changes to an i. Since Der Mann is a he, the correct form is hilft.
Can I change the word order to Dem Lehrer hilft der Mann?
Yes! Because German uses articles to show who is the subject (der) and who is the object (dem), you can put the teacher first for emphasis. The meaning stays exactly the same: the man is still the one doing the helping.