Breakdown of Wischst du dem Hund den Dreck von den Füßen ab?
du
you (informal singular)
der Hund
the dog
von
from, of / by (agent in passive clauses)
der Fuß
the foot
abwischen
to wipe off
der Dreck
the dirt (filth, muck)
Questions & Answers about Wischst du dem Hund den Dreck von den Füßen ab?
Why do we use dem Hund instead of just saying von seinen Füßen?
This is the possessive dative (Dativus possessivus). Instead of using a possessive word like 'his,' German uses a dative noun or pronoun to show who is affected by an action on a body part or item of clothing. Here, dem Hund tells us whose feet are being cleaned.
Why is it den Füßen (the feet) instead of seinen Füßen (his feet)?
When you use the possessive dative like dem Hund, the body part only takes a definite article (den). Because the dative object already establishes who the body part belongs to, adding a possessive determiner like seinen would be redundant.
Could I use the genitive case here and say von den Füßen des Hundes?
What is the difference between wischen and abwischen in this context?
While wischen simply means 'to wipe,' the separable verb abwischen specifically means 'to wipe off' or 'to wipe away.' The prefix ab placed at the very end of the sentence emphasizes the removal of the dirt (den Dreck).
Why is there an extra -n at the end of Füßen?
The preposition von always triggers the dative case. The normal plural of Fuß is Füße. In the dative plural, all German nouns get an extra -n at the end unless their plural already ends in -n or -s. Therefore, Füße becomes den Füßen.
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