When would one use "im" and "am" rather than "in dem" and "an dem?

Question

I'm new to German and I get a bit confused about when it's ***"dem"*** or ***"im"*** or ***"den"*** rather than ***"in der"*** or ***"in dem"*** and so on.

Answer 1

Hallo, ok gute Frage!

So, some of the confusion it looks like maybe from crossing over different grammatical cases. But, it looks like you're talking about the dative case mostly if not all.

The easiest question is "im" is a contraction: in dem = im. The dative case has to do with indirect objects.

The accusative case is a lot easier. Well, digressing a bit. Unfortunately, German has three gender for nouns! Argh! One easy thing with English is that we have just "the": no "el" or "la" or "der, die, das."

The accusative case deals with the direct object and only affects masculine nouns. That's when we use "den": "der" nouns go to "den." Buuut, "den" is also used in the dative. The dative case is the most difficult I think.

Learning direct v. indirect objects pronouns and nouns is a bit difficult at first. It is a nuisance at first. I didn't quite get when I was in college and my students have difficulty with it (typically I tutor Spanish).

Anyhow, back to the accusative case: ie direct objects....

Haben, essen take a direct object (accusative).

Der Apfel, der Mann, der Tisch, der Stuhl, der Computer, der Film

Ich hab den Apfel. Ich habe einen Apfel.

Ich esse einen Apfel.

Wir haben einen groβen Apfel.

Ich habe den Stuhl. Ich hab einen Stuhl.

"Wo ist mein Tisch? Hast du den Tisch?"

Ich hab den Film nicht gesehen.

Ich kaufe einen neuen Computer. Ich brauch einen Computer.

Ich hatte so einen schlecten Traum gestern Abend. I had a bad dream last night.

Wo ist der Mann? Ich brauch ihn (him, accusative). Ich hab ihn ins Kino gesehen.

Dative is a more complex and the hardest thing in German is when you have to combine both the accusative and dative together.

der goes to dem

die goes to der (argh!!!)

das goes to dem

plural goes to den (ahh!)

Here's a trick below: all those prepositions take the dative case. Memorize those and use them. One of my German professors would always have some rhyme:

...bei, mit, nach, seit, von, zu take the dative it's true.

https://www.iwillteachyoualanguage.com/learn/german/german-tips/german-cases-explained

aus (out)

·        auβer (besides) 

·        bei (next to) 

·        mit (with) 

·        nach (after)

·        seit (since) 

·        von (from) 

·        zu (to) 

·        gegenüber (opposite) 

And some German verbs always take the dative case. These verbs are:

·        antworten (to answer)

·        danken (to thank)

·        glauben (to believe)

·        helfen (to help)

·        gehören (belong to) 

·        gefallen (to like)