Breakdown of Zieh dir schnell die Schuhe an!
schnell
fast, quickly
der Schuh
the shoe
dir
you / to you [informal singular, dative]
anziehen
to put on
Questions & Answers about Zieh dir schnell die Schuhe an!
Why is it dir and not dich in this sentence?
We use the dative reflexive pronoun dir because there is already a direct object taking the accusative case: die Schuhe. In German, when you do an action to yourself and specify the object you are acting upon (like putting on an item of clothing), the reflexive pronoun shifts to the dative.
Why doesn't the sentence say deine Schuhe for 'your shoes'?
In English we say 'put on your shoes,' but German prefers to use a dative reflexive pronoun (dir) plus the definite article (die). The dir already makes it perfectly clear whose shoes they are, so saying deine Schuhe here would sound repetitive.
Why is the verb Zieh at the start of the sentence, and where is the du?
This sentence is a command (the imperative) directed at one person you know informally. To give a command to a du, you take the conjugated verb (du ziehst), and drop both the -st ending and the word du, leaving just Zieh.
Why is an placed at the very end?
The verb meaning 'to put on' is anziehen. It is a separable verb. When you give a command, the main part of the verb (Zieh) takes the first position, and the separable prefix (an) gets pushed to the very end of the sentence.