Why do we use the dative case?

The dative is used to show that a noun is an indirect object in the sentence. This means it is the person or thing receiving the action. For example: 'Der Mann gibt dem Hund einen Knochen'. So here, the man is giving the bone to the dog, so the dog is on the receiving end of the action 'giving', and is therefore in the dative case. We use specific articles (e.g. dem/dem/der or einem/einen/einer) and also adjective endings to mark the dative case (see tables). As an example, we can construct a second sentence using dative with the verb: 'helfen'