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Questions & Answers about Die Eltern danken den Leuten.
Why does this sentence use den Leuten instead of die Leute?
The verb danken (to thank) is a special verb that always requires the dative case for the person being thanked. Since Leute (people) is plural, we must use the dative plural article den.
Why is there an extra -n at the end of Leuten?
This is a strict rule for the dative plural: plural nouns add an extra -n to the end of the word in the dative case, unless their plural form already ends in -n or -s. So, the standard plural die Leute becomes den Leuten.
Wait, isn't den the masculine article for the accusative case?
It is! But German reuses many of its short words. den is the article for masculine accusative (like Ich sehe den Mann), but it is also the article for plural dative. You can easily tell them apart here because Leuten is a plural noun, not a singular masculine one.
Why is it Die Eltern and not Den Eltern?
Die Eltern (the parents) are the ones performing the action of thanking, which makes them the subject of the sentence. The subject is always in the nominative case, so the article remains Die. Only the receivers of the thanks go into the dative case.