Breakdown of Ich habe mir die Wohnung angesehen.
ich
I
die Wohnung
the apartment
sich ansehen
to watch, to have a look at
Questions & Answers about Ich habe mir die Wohnung angesehen.
Why is the reflexive pronoun mir (dative) used here instead of mich (accusative)?
The verb is sich etwas ansehen (to take a look at something). Because the sentence already has a direct object in the accusative case (die Wohnung), the reflexive pronoun gets pushed into the dative case (mir).
Does sich ansehen take a bare infinitive without zu like the verb sehen?
Not usually. While sehen is a perception verb that frequently pairs with a bare infinitive (like Ich sehe ihn kommen for 'I see him coming'), sich etwas ansehen simply takes a noun object. You are inspecting the apartment, not watching it do an action.
Why is it angesehen and not geansehen?
Ansehen is a separable verb. When forming the past participle for the perfect tense, the ge- part goes exactly between the separable prefix (an-) and the verb stem (-sehen), creating the single word angesehen.
Can I leave out the mir and just say Ich habe die Wohnung angesehen?
Yes, but it sounds a bit less natural here. Adding the dative reflexive pronoun (mir) shows personal involvement or interest. It turns 'I looked at the apartment' into 'I took a look at the apartment for myself,' which is the standard way Germans talk about viewing apartments or watching movies.
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