Questions & Answers about Ich zeige ihnen den Park.
What does ihnen mean here, and why not sie?
ihnen is the dative plural pronoun meaning to them.
The verb zeigen (to show) normally uses:
- a dative object for the person: ihnen (to them)
- an accusative object for the thing: den Park (the park)
If you used sie instead:
- sie (plural) is accusative or nominative, not dative.
- Ich zeige sie den Park is ungrammatical, because the person must be in the dative case after zeigen.
So:
- ich zeige ihnen den Park = I show them the park (correct)
- ich zeige sie den Park = wrong in standard German
Why is ihnen lowercase here, and when would it be written as Ihnen?
Lowercase ihnen = to them (3rd person plural, dative).
Uppercase Ihnen = to you (formal Sie, singular or plural, dative).
So:
- Ich zeige ihnen den Park. → I show them the park.
- Ich zeige Ihnen den Park. → I show you (formal) the park.
The polite pronoun Sie/Ihnen/Ihr is always capitalized in the middle of a sentence.
All other personal pronouns (ich, du, er, sie, wir, ihr, sie) are written in lowercase (except at the beginning of a sentence).