Dative Doctor: The German Dative Verb Trainer
A small group of German verbs takes the dative where English speakers expect a direct object: helfen, danken, folgen, gehören and their friends. You cannot reason your way to them, you have to know them. Dative Doctor trains them one card at a time, each with its own comic image. Free, no ads, no in-app purchases.
Why these verbs need their own trainer
Ich helfe dir, not dich. The sentence sounds wrong to a German ear the instant the case slips, and no amount of general grammar study fixes it, because the verbs are simply a set you have to own. A picture per verb owns them faster than any table.
When to use it
The dative verbs hit at A2 and never leave. Ten cards at a time is plenty. Once the image is in, the case comes out on its own in speech.
The dative is one chapter of the whole system. My courses put it in order.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many dative verbs are there?
The everyday core is small, a few dozen. Those are the ones the trainer covers, one card and one image each.
Is it really free?
Yes. Free in the browser and free in both app stores, with no ads and no in-app purchases. Nothing is held back. It is the only one of my three trainers that is free throughout.
What about the dative case itself?
That is the easy part: the endings fit in one table. The verbs are the part that needs memory, and memory works best with images.