Breakdown of Grammatik fällt mir manchmal schwer.
manchmal
sometimes
mir
me
die Grammatik
the grammar
schwerfallen
to be difficult
Questions & Answers about Grammatik fällt mir manchmal schwer.
Why is it mir and not mich?
mir is the dative form of ich (“I”), and this verb pattern requires the dative:
- jemandem fällt etwas schwer
= something is difficult for someone
So in the sentence:
- Grammatik = the thing that is difficult → subject (nominative)
- mir = the person for whom it is difficult → indirect object (dative)
mich is the accusative form and would be wrong here, because fallen in this meaning does not take an accusative object. You always say:
- Grammatik fällt mir schwer.
- Mathe fällt ihm schwer.
- Deutsch fällt uns schwer.
What does fallen mean here? Doesn’t it mean “to fall”?