Breakdown of Wir schicken uns gegenseitig eine Nachricht.
wir
we
die Nachricht
the message
schicken
to send
uns gegenseitig
each other
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Questions & Answers about Wir schicken uns gegenseitig eine Nachricht.
Why is it uns and not wir?
Because wir is the nominative subject form and uns is the object form. In this sentence, Wir is the subject (the senders), and uns is the indirect object (the recipients). German uses the pattern jemandem (Dative) etwas (Accusative) schicken.
What cases are uns and eine Nachricht?
- uns is Dative (the recipient).
- eine Nachricht is Accusative (the thing being sent).
You can see the pattern with a different person: Ich schicke dir eine Nachricht (Dative dir, Accusative eine Nachricht).
How do I know uns is Dative and not Accusative, since both forms look the same?
By the verb’s valency: schicken takes a Dative recipient and an Accusative thing. If you switch to second person singular, the forms differ and make it obvious: Ich schicke dir (Dat) dich (Acc) … Only dir fits the recipient role, so uns must be Dative in the original sentence.
Is gegenseitig necessary here?
It’s optional but adds clarity. Wir schicken uns eine Nachricht often implies reciprocity from context, but gegenseitig explicitly marks the action as mutual and removes any (theoretical) ambiguity. It also emphasizes the two-way nature of the exchange.
Is uns gegenseitig redundant?
No. uns fulfills the required Dative object (the recipient), and gegenseitig adds the meaning “to each other.” Without gegenseitig, the sentence is fine but less explicit; without uns, the sentence would be incomplete (unless you use einander instead).
Can I replace uns gegenseitig with einander?
Yes: Wir schicken einander eine Nachricht is correct and concise. einander inherently means “to each other” and serves as the Dative object here. Don’t combine them as uns einander (that’s incorrect). Both uns gegenseitig and einander are common; einander can sound a bit more compact or formal.
Where should gegenseitig go in the sentence?
The most natural spot is right after the Dative pronoun and before the direct object: Wir schicken uns gegenseitig eine Nachricht. Placing it at the very end (… eine Nachricht gegenseitig) is possible but sounds less natural. Don’t try to make it an adjective of Nachricht; eine gegenseitige Nachricht doesn’t make sense here.
Why does the Dative object come before the Accusative object?
Default word order in German is Dative before Accusative when both objects are nouns or when the Dative is a pronoun and the Accusative is a noun—exactly our case: uns (Dat, pronoun) + eine Nachricht (Acc, noun). If the Accusative were a pronoun and the Dative a noun, the order would typically flip: Wir schicken sie unseren Freunden.
Could I say Wir schicken eine Nachricht an uns?
Grammatically yes, but it means “We send a message to ourselves (as a group),” not “to each other.” Also, with recipients who are persons, the Dative is usually more natural: jemandem etwas schicken. an + Acc is common with addresses or institutional recipients (e.g., eine E‑Mail an die Firma).
Can I use zu with schicken to mark the recipient?
Not for sending messages. Use the Dative (jemandem etwas schicken) or an + Acc for the address/target. zu with schicken has a different meaning: sending a person to a place (Wir schicken ihn zum Arzt).
Does uns here mean “ourselves” (reflexive)?
No. It’s not reflexive in the sense of the action looping back to the same person. It’s the Dative recipient pronoun. The mutual idea comes from gegenseitig (or from context, or from einander). There’s also an unrelated expression Es schickt sich (nicht) = “It is (not) proper,” which has nothing to do with sending messages.
Should it be plural Nachrichten instead of singular eine Nachricht?
Use singular if you’re talking about a single instance. If you mean this as a habit or repeated action, the plural is more natural: Wir schicken uns (gegenseitig) Nachrichten.
How do I say this in the past?
- Conversational past (Perfekt): Wir haben uns gegenseitig eine Nachricht geschickt.
- Simple past (Präteritum): Wir schickten uns gegenseitig eine Nachricht. (heard more in writing than in speech)
What’s the difference between schicken, senden, verschicken, and abschicken?
- schicken: neutral, very common in everyday speech for messages, parcels, etc.
- senden: a bit more formal/technical; also used for broadcasting.
- verschicken: “send out/off,” often suggests sending away or in bulk.
- abschicken: “dispatch/send off” (the act of sending it out). All can work in many contexts, but schicken is the go-to for casual “sending a message.”
Could I drop uns and just say Wir schicken gegenseitig eine Nachricht?
No. gegenseitig doesn’t replace the required Dative object. If you don’t want uns, use einander: Wir schicken einander eine Nachricht.
What’s the gender and plural of Nachricht, and is eine the right article?
Nachricht is feminine: die Nachricht. The plural is die Nachrichten. The Accusative singular article is eine, which is identical to the Nominative for feminine nouns, so eine Nachricht is correct here.
Is there a more colloquial alternative with schreiben?
Yes. You can say Wir schreiben uns (gegenseitig), which often implies “we’re messaging each other,” even without naming the object. If you include it, both work: Wir schreiben uns (gegenseitig) eine Nachricht or Wir schreiben uns (gegenseitig) Nachrichten (for a habitual exchange).
How does this work in the third person?
- Plural: Sie schicken sich (gegenseitig) Nachrichten. Here sich is the Dative recipient pronoun for 3rd person, and it commonly implies reciprocity, especially with gegenseitig or einander.
- Using einander: Sie schicken einander Nachrichten. This is unambiguous and compact.
What does gegenseitig mean if more than two people are involved?
It means each participant acts toward the others (pairwise). With several people, use the plural for naturalness: Wir schicken uns gegenseitig Nachrichten (everyone exchanges messages with everyone else).