When do I use the dative case?

You use the Dative case for the indirect object in a sentence. The indirect object is the person or thing to or for whom something is done. For example in English: The pupil gave the teacher flowers.  What is the subject (Nominative case)? What is the direct object (Accusative case)? What is the verb? The subject is the pupil. The direct object is flowers, as that is what is directly related to the verb, 'gave'. The indirect object is therefore the teacher - they are the person to or for whom something is done: here, to whom flowers are given. Therefore the teacher is in the Dative case. For example in German: Der Schueler gab der Lehrerin Blumen. What is in the Dative case here? There are some verbs with which the Dative case is always used in German. The most common ones are: geben, danken, glauben, helfen. E.g. Bitte helfen Sie mir! (not: mich). There are some prepositions with which the Dative case is always used in German. Namely: aus, ausser, bei, zu, von, seit, nach, mit. There are some prepositions which sometimes use Dative and sometimes Accusative - but we can cover that when we focus on prepositions!