Word
Dem Mann ist übel, weil er zu schnell gegessen hat.
Meaning
The man feels sick because he ate too fast.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Dem Mann ist übel, weil er zu schnell gegessen hat.
der Mann
the man
sein
to be
essen
to eat
haben
to have
Questions & Answers about Dem Mann ist übel, weil er zu schnell gegessen hat.
Why does the sentence start with Dem Mann in the dative, and not with Der Mann in the nominative?
In German, feelings like being cold, sick, dizzy, etc. are very often expressed with a dative experiencer and an impersonal verb, for example:
- Mir ist kalt. – I am cold. (literally: To me is cold.)
- Ihr ist langweilig. – She is bored. (literally: To her is boring.)
- Dem Mann ist übel. – The man feels sick. (literally: To the man is nauseous.)
So dem Mann is in the dative because the pattern is:
jemandem ist übel / kalt / langweilig / schlecht …
(to someone is nauseous / cold / bored / sick …)
If you changed it to Der Mann ist übel, that would be nominative and it would mean something quite different (see next question).
What would Der Mann ist übel mean, compared to Dem Mann ist übel?
These two sentences have very different meanings:
Dem Mann ist übel.
- Case: dative (dem Mann)
- Meaning: The man feels sick / nauseous.
Der Mann ist übel.
- Case: nominative (der Mann)
- Meaning: The man is bad / nasty / evil (morally, as a person), not physically sick.
So the choice of dative (dem) vs nominative (der) completely changes the meaning here.