Breakdown of Ich kriege einen Brief.
ich
I
ein
a, an (eine)
der Brief
the letter
kriegen
to get (colloquial for bekommen)
Questions & Answers about Ich kriege einen Brief.
The current lesson is about verbs with double objects (Dative and Accusative). Why does this sentence only have one object?
Verbs like geben (to give) or schicken (to send) describe an action passing from one person to another, so they usually take two objects. With kriegen (to get), the subject (Ich) is already the receiver! Therefore, it only needs a direct object to show the thing you are receiving, which takes the Accusative case (einen Brief).
Why do we say einen Brief instead of just ein Brief?
The word for letter is a masculine noun (der Brief). Since it is the direct object of the sentence (the thing being received), it must be in the Accusative case. For masculine nouns, the word ein changes to einen in the Accusative.
Is there a difference between kriegen and bekommen?
They mean the exact same thing, but kriegen is much more casual. You will hear it all the time in everyday spoken German, but in formal writing or polite situations, it is always better to use bekommen.
How would I state who sent the letter? Can I just drop in a Dative noun like with the other verbs in this lesson?
No, you cannot just add a standalone Dative noun here. To say who you are getting the letter from, you must use the preposition von (from). Because von always forces the Dative case, the sender will be in the Dative, for example: Ich kriege einen Brief von meinem Freund (I am getting a letter from my friend).
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