Breakdown of Ich empfehle meinem Bruder das Restaurant.
ich
I
das Restaurant
the restaurant
mein
my
der Bruder
the brother
empfehlen
to recommend
Questions & Answers about Ich empfehle meinem Bruder das Restaurant.
Why does meinem Bruder come before das Restaurant?
In German, when a sentence has two noun objects, the Dative object (the receiver, meinem Bruder) almost always comes before the Accusative object (the thing being acted upon, das Restaurant).
The English translation says "to my brother", so why is there no word for "to" in the German sentence?
The verb empfehlen (to recommend) automatically assigns the Dative case to the person receiving the recommendation. By using the Dative form meinem Bruder, German already expresses the "to". You never use an extra preposition like "zu" for this kind of double-object verb.
Why is it meinem Bruder with an "-em" ending?
Because the brother is receiving the recommendation, he is the indirect object and takes the Dative case. Bruder is a masculine noun, so the possessive word mein takes the masculine Dative ending -em, becoming meinem.
Why doesn't the article for das Restaurant change, since it is being acted upon?
Restaurant is a neuter noun, and it is the direct object (the thing being recommended), so it takes the Accusative case. Neuter nouns keep their normal das article in the Accusative case. Only masculine nouns change their article (from der to den) here.
I remember empfehlen is an irregular verb. Why is there no vowel change in empfehle?
You are right that empfehlen is a strong verb with a vowel change (from e to ie), but this change only happens in the "you" (du empfiehlst) and "he/she/it" (er/sie/es empfiehlt) forms. For ich, it follows the regular pattern, keeping the original vowel in ich empfehle.
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