When should the dative case be used?

The German dative case is used under different circumstances: with specific prepositions, verbs, or with the indirect (dative) object.The prepositions which take dative in German are: aus (from), außer (except for), bei (at, near), gegenüber (opposite), mit (with), nach (after, to), seit (since, for), von (from) and zu (at). There are also some prepositions which can be used with either dative or accusative, and this is determined by whether the sentence is implying movement.Next, the indirect object is that which is affected by the verb. For example, to find the indirect object of a sentence you must ask yourself "To or for whom is the action being done?". The answer is the indriect object and therefore requires the dative case.There are also some verbs which must take the dative case, for example helfen, danken, gefallen, passen.