Breakdown of Bestreitet er die Tatsache, glaube ich ihm nicht.
ich
I
er
he
nicht
not
glauben
to believe
ihm
him / it / to him / to it (dative)
bestreiten
to deny (a claim or statement)
die Tatsache
the fact
Questions & Answers about Bestreitet er die Tatsache, glaube ich ihm nicht.
Why does the sentence start with the verb Bestreitet instead of the word Wenn?
This is a conditional clause where the word wenn (if) has been dropped. When you leave out wenn, the conjugated verb moves to the very first position. Bestreitet er die Tatsache means the exact same thing as Wenn er die Tatsache bestreitet, but dropping the conjunction is very common in German to make the sentence sound slightly more dynamic or formal.
Since this lesson is about cleft sentences (Spaltsätze), how would I use one here to emphasize that he is denying the fact?
To put special emphasis on die Tatsache, you can restructure the first half using a cleft sentence with es. You would reintroduce wenn and say: Wenn es die Tatsache ist, die er bestreitet, glaube ich ihm nicht. (If it is the fact that he denies...). This breaks the clause into two parts to shine a spotlight on exactly what is being denied.
Why do we use the dative pronoun ihm instead of the accusative ihn?
The verb glauben requires a dative object when you are expressing that you believe a person (meaning you trust that they are telling the truth). Therefore, "I don't believe him" translates to Ich glaube ihm nicht. If you were talking about believing a thing or a statement, it would typically take the accusative (for example, Ich glaube das nicht).
Why is the word order glaube ich instead of ich glaube in the second half of the sentence?
The entire conditional clause (Bestreitet er die Tatsache) acts as a single block occupying Position 1 of the overall sentence. Because German strictly requires the conjugated verb of the main clause to be in Position 2, the verb glaube must come right after the comma, pushing the subject ich to the other side of the verb.
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