Breakdown of Ich gratuliere dir!
ich
I
dir
you / to you [informal singular, dative]
gratulieren
to congratulate
Questions & Answers about Ich gratuliere dir!
Why does this sentence use dir instead of dich?
In English, we congratulate someone directly, so you might expect the accusative pronoun dich. However, the German verb gratulieren always requires the person you are congratulating to be in the dative case. Therefore, du becomes the dative pronoun dir.
How would I say this if I were speaking to someone formally?
To be formal, you replace the informal dative pronoun dir with the formal dative pronoun Ihnen. The sentence becomes: Ich gratuliere Ihnen!
How would I say this to a group of friends?
If you are congratulating multiple people that you know informally, you need the dative form of ihr (you all). That word is euch, so the sentence becomes: Ich gratuliere euch!
How do I add what I am congratulating the person for?
You use the preposition zu. For example, to say "I congratulate you on your birthday" (Happy Birthday), you would say: Ich gratuliere dir zum Geburtstag!
Learn Ich gratuliere dir and more in German
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free