Breakdown of Ich verspreche dir, dass ich morgen pünktlich am Campingplatz bin.
Questions & Answers about Ich verspreche dir, dass ich morgen pünktlich am Campingplatz bin.
In German, versprechen usually works like to promise someone something:
- person who receives the promise → dative
- thing that is promised → accusative (or a clause)
So:
- Ich verspreche dir etwas. – I promise you something.
- dir = dative (to you)
- etwas = accusative (something)
In your sentence, the thing promised is the whole dass-clause, so the only visible object is the person:
- Ich verspreche dir, dass … → dir must be dative.
If you wanted accusative dich, you’d need a different structure, e.g. Ich verspreche dich einem Freund an (a different verb meaning “to recommend/offer you to a friend”), which is not what is meant here.