Breakdown of Er erzählt einem Kind eine Geschichte.
ein
a, an (eine)
er
he
das Kind
the child
erzählen
to tell
die Geschichte
the story
Questions & Answers about Er erzählt einem Kind eine Geschichte.
Why is it einem Kind instead of ein Kind?
Kind (child) is receiving the story, making it the indirect object. In German, indirect objects take the dative case. Since Kind is a neuter noun, its indefinite article ein changes to einem in the dative case.
Why does einem Kind come before eine Geschichte?
In German, when a sentence has both a dative object (the person receiving something) and an accusative object (the thing being given or told), the dative object normally comes first. So the child (einem Kind) comes before the story (eine Geschichte).
Why doesn't the word eine change for eine Geschichte?
Geschichte (story) is the direct object here, meaning it is in the accusative case. Because Geschichte is a feminine noun, its indefinite article is eine. For feminine words, the article is exactly the same in both the basic (nominative) case and the accusative case.
Can er erzählt also mean "he tells"?
Yes! German doesn't have a separate tense for ongoing actions like English does with "is telling". Er erzählt translates to "he tells" or "he is telling" depending on the situation.
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