Breakdown of Der Lehrer hilft dem Schüler.
helfen
to help
der Lehrer
the teacher
der Schüler
the pupil, the school student
Questions & Answers about Der Lehrer hilft dem Schüler.
Why does it say "dem Schüler" instead of "den Schüler"?
In German, the verb helfen (to help) is a special verb that always requires the dative case for the person being helped. Even though we just say "helps the pupil" as a direct action in English, German treats it more like giving help to the pupil. Because Schüler is a masculine noun, its "the" word changes to the dative form dem.
Why is the verb spelled "hilft" with an "i" instead of "helft"?
The dictionary form of the verb is helfen. However, it is a stem-changing verb, which means the main vowel changes from "e" to "i" for the du (you) and er/sie/es (he/she/it) forms. Since der Lehrer (the teacher) acts as a "he", we use the altered form hilft.
How would you turn this into a command, telling a group of students to help the pupil?
To give a command to a group you know informally, you use the ihr form. You just take the verb stem and add "t", which gives us Helft dem Schüler! Notice that the vowel goes back to "e" for the ihr command. If you wanted to use the formal command for a group of adults (the Sie form), you would say Helfen Sie dem Schüler!
Is there a difference between "Schüler" and "Student"?
Yes! In English, we call almost anyone in a classroom a student. In German, a Schüler is specifically a pupil in primary, middle, or high school. The word Student is only used for someone enrolled at a university.
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