Breakdown of Der Arzt gab ihm eine Spritze gegen die Schmerzen.
geben
to give
der Arzt
the doctor
gegen
against
der Schmerz
the pain
die Spritze
the injection
Questions & Answers about Der Arzt gab ihm eine Spritze gegen die Schmerzen.
Why does the German sentence use gegen when the English translation says 'for' the pain?
In English, we take medicine 'for' a condition, but in German, you take it 'against' (gegen) the symptom. If you used für, it would sound like you wanted the injection to actively cause pain! Always use gegen when talking about treating symptoms or illnesses.
Why is ihm placed before eine Spritze?
In German, when a sentence has both a dative indirect object and an accusative direct object, the dative usually comes first. This rule is especially strict when the dative object is a pronoun (like ihm) and the accusative object is a noun phrase (like eine Spritze).
Why is Schmerzen plural here, when the English translation says 'the pain' in the singular?
German frequently uses the plural form die Schmerzen to describe general physical pain or aches, whereas English uses the uncountable singular. The singular form der Schmerz exists, but it is often reserved for emotional grief or a very specific, isolated pang of pain.
Why does the sentence use gab instead of hat gegeben?
gab is the simple past tense (Präteritum) of geben. While you would almost always say hat gegeben in everyday spoken German, gab is standard for written narratives, reports, or literature. At the B1 level, recognizing these written past tense forms is an important skill.
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