Learn German: Wir helfen einem Kind. - We are helping a child.

The verb helfen (to help) is a special verb in German that always requires its object to be in the dative case. Since Kind is a neuter noun (das Kind), the indefinite article ein changes to einem in the dative case.

In English, a child is a direct object. Shouldn't it be in the accusative case here?

It might seem that way, but German handles this verb differently! Certain verbs, like helfen, bypass the accusative and always take the dative case. It helps to think of helfen as giving help to someone. The person receiving the help is always dative.

The word einem is also used for masculine nouns. How do we know the gender of Kind from this sentence?

You actually can't tell just by looking at einem! Masculine and neuter nouns share the exact same indefinite article (einem) in the dative case. You just have to remember from your vocabulary practice that Kind is a neuter noun (das Kind).

What if we wanted to say We are helping no child?

You would use the negative article kein, which takes the exact same endings as ein. Since we need the dative neuter ending -em, the sentence becomes Wir helfen keinem Kind.