Breakdown of Niemand kann mir befehlen, was ich denke.
ich
I
was
what
können
can / to be able to
denken
to think
niemand
no one
befehlen
to command
Questions & Answers about Niemand kann mir befehlen, was ich denke.
Why does this sentence use the dative mir instead of the accusative mich?
The verb befehlen (to command or order) requires a dative object for the person receiving the command. You are giving an order to someone. If there were a direct object (the specific thing being ordered), it would be in the accusative, but here that role is filled by the entire secondary clause (was ich denke).
In English, we usually say 'nobody can tell me what to think.' Why use befehlen instead of sagen?
You absolutely could say Niemand kann mir sagen, was ich denke, but befehlen makes the sentence much stronger. It translates to 'command' or 'order', so the speaker is emphasizing that no external authority can dictate their inner thoughts.
The English translation says 'what to think.' Can I translate that literally into a short phrase like was zu denken?
No, German does not use the 'question word + zu + infinitive' structure the way English does for phrases like 'what to do' or 'where to go'. Instead, you have to form a full subordinate clause with a subject and a conjugated verb at the end, which is why it is was ich denke (literally 'what I think') or was ich denken soll ('what I should think').
Is the comma before was strictly necessary?
Yes. In German, subordinate clauses must always be separated from the main clause by a comma. Because was ich denke contains its own conjugated verb (denke), it forms a new clause, making the comma mandatory even though the sentence is very short.
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