Questions & Answers about Der Tee macht mich an kalten Wintertagen glücklich.
Why is mich in the accusative case here, not mir?
Because German verbs that “make” someone into a certain state (like machen in “to make someone happy”) take a direct object in the accusative. You ask “Wen macht der Tee glücklich?” – “Den Tee macht mich glücklich?” – so it’s mich (accusative), not mir (dative).
What case is used in an kalten Wintertagen, and why do both kalten and Wintertagen end in -en?
The preposition an here is used temporally (“on days”), so it takes the dative. In the dative plural:
- Adjectives in strong declension get -en → kalten
- Nouns in plural normally add -n if they don’t already end in -n → Wintertagen
Why do we use an here? Could we say bei kalten Wintertagen or während kalter Wintertage instead?