Breakdown of Dieses Gericht gefällt der ganzen Familie.
Questions & Answers about Dieses Gericht gefällt der ganzen Familie.
In German gefallen literally means to be pleasing to. The thing that pleases someone is the grammatical subject (nominative) and the person pleased is in the dative. By contrast, mögen treats the person as the subject and the thing liked as a direct object.
Examples:
- Dieses Gericht gefällt der ganzen Familie. (This dish pleases the whole family.)
- Die ganze Familie mag dieses Gericht. (The whole family likes this dish.)
Yes. German allows different elements in the first (pivot) position, but the finite verb must stay second. For example:
Der ganzen Familie gefällt dieses Gericht.
Since ganz follows a definite article (der) and modifies a feminine singular noun in the dative, it takes the weak declension ending -en:
- Definite article (dative feminine): der
- Adjective weak ending: ganzen
- Noun: Familie
Gefallen is not separable, but it’s irregular. Key forms are:
- Present (3 sg): gefällt
- Simple past (Präteritum): gefiel
- Present perfect (Perfekt): hat gefallen
Examples: - Das neue Auto gefiel mir sofort. (I liked the new car immediately.)
- Es hat meiner Schwester sehr gefallen. (She liked it a lot.)
In German alle requires a plural noun (“all families” = alle Familien). For a single collective entity you use ganz (or gesamte) with the singular noun:
- Singular collective: die ganze Familie
- Plural: alle Familien
You put the person in the dative case. So “I like this dish” becomes:
Mir gefällt dieses Gericht.
Here mir is the dative pronoun for ich, literally “This dish pleases me.”
No. The verb always agrees with the nominative subject (dieses Gericht), not with the dative. So even if the dative is plural, you keep gefällt in 3rd person singular:
Unseren Eltern gefällt dieses Gericht.
Here unseren Eltern is dative plural, but the verb remains gefällt.