Learn Hardcore German: Zwischen guten Freunden gibt es Vertrauen, auch wenn man sich selten sieht. - Between good friends there is trust, even if you rarely see each other.

Zwischen guten Freunden = Between good friends (dative plural)
gute Freunde would be nominative/accusative plural, which doesn’t fit after zwischen here.

Does zwischen always take the dative? Could it be accusative here?

Zwischen is a two-way preposition (Wechselpräposition). It can take:

Dative for a location/state (where?)
Accusative for movement (where to?)

Here, we’re talking about a general relationship or state between friends, not movement:

Zwischen guten Freunden gibt es Vertrauen.
→ “Among/between good friends there is trust.” (state → dative)

Accusative would be used with a verb of motion, e.g.:

Er stellt den Tisch zwischen die Stühle.
He puts the table between the chairs. (movement → accusative)

Why is it es gibt Vertrauen and not something like ist Vertrauen or Vertrauen gibt es?

German uses es gibt to mean “there is / there are”.

es gibt + Akkusativ = there is/are …

So:

Es gibt Vertrauen. = “There is trust.”

Using ist here would sound wrong or at least very unusual:

Ist Vertrauen (✗) is not idiomatic.

You can say Vertrauen gibt es … in some contexts, but that changes emphasis:

Vertrauen gibt es nur zwischen guten Freunden.
“Trust exists only between good friends.” (emphasis on Vertrauen)

In the original sentence the neutral, standard form es gibt Vertrauen is best.

What is the role of es in gibt es Vertrauen? Does it mean “it”?

Here es is a dummy subject, like English “there” in “there is/are”.

It doesn’t refer to any specific thing.
It’s required by the grammar of the phrase es gibt.

Rough correspondence:

Es gibt Vertrauen. → “There is trust.”

So you don’t translate es as “it” here; you think of es gibt as a fixed pattern meaning “there is/are”.

Why is there no article before Vertrauen? Could I say das Vertrauen?

Vertrauen is an abstract, uncountable noun (like “trust” in English).

In general statements, German often leaves such nouns without an article:
- Es gibt Vertrauen. – There is (some) trust.
- Liebe ist wichtig. – Love is important.

You can say das Vertrauen, but that usually makes it more specific:

Zwischen guten Freunden gibt es das Vertrauen, über alles zu sprechen.
“Between good friends there is the (kind of) trust to talk about everything.”

In the original sentence, the point is general, so bare Vertrauen (no article) is natural.

Why is the verb at the end in auch wenn man sich selten sieht?

Because auch wenn is a subordinating conjunction. Subordinating conjunctions send the finite verb to the end of the clause.

Main clause word order:
Man sieht sich selten. – One / you rarely see each other.
Subordinate clause with auch wenn:
… auch wenn man sich selten sieht.
(subject man, middle sich selten, verb sieht at the end)

So the comma introduces a subordinate clause, and the verb moves to final position there.

What exactly does man mean here, and why not wir or sie?

Man is an indefinite pronoun, similar to English “one” or often “you” / “people” in a general sense.

In this sentence:

man doesn’t refer to a specific person.
It means “(even if) you/people/friends rarely see each other.”

You could say auch wenn sie sich selten sehen (“even if they rarely see each other”) to refer specifically to those friends, but man makes the statement more general and proverbial, about good friends in general, not about a specific group.

Why is sich used with sehen here? What does man sich sieht literally mean?

Here sich makes sehen reciprocal: “to see each other”.

sehen alone: to see (someone/something)
sich sehen with a plural or generic subject: to see each other

With man, which is grammatically singular, German still uses sich:

man sieht sich → literally “one sees oneself”, but in context with plural meaning, it’s understood as “one sees each other / people see each other”.

So:

… auch wenn man sich selten sieht.
≈ “… even if you rarely see each other.”

What does selten mean exactly, and what kind of word is it?

Selten means “rarely / seldom”.

In this sentence it is an adverb modifying the verb sieht.
It describes how often something happens.

Position:

Main clause: Man sieht sich selten.
Subordinate clause: … auch wenn man sich selten sieht.

It doesn’t mean “rare” as an adjective (“a rare book”) in this sentence; here it clearly has the adverbial meaning “rarely / not often”.

Why is there a comma before auch wenn?

German requires a comma before a subordinating clause.

auch wenn introduces a Nebensatz (subordinate clause).
Rule: main clause , subordinate clause.

So:

Zwischen guten Freunden gibt es Vertrauen,
auch wenn man sich selten sieht.

The comma marks the boundary between the main clause (There is trust between good friends) and the subordinate clause (even if one/you rarely see each other).