We learned about sagen (to say), and through this, were also introduced to the y -> g consonant shift. We also learned how each gender is addressed in the dative case.

The Sagen verb

Sagen means to say. There’s nothing else to add here lol. Examples:

  • She’s telling me something -> Sie sagt mir etwas
  • She’s telling it to me -> Sie sagt es mir

Tip: Notice how little words like es come close to the verb, even though “she’s telling it to me” could logically be translated as sie sagt mir es. This is because in German, short personal pronouns like es (it), he/him (er/ihn), etc. hug the conjugated verb and stay as close as possible. Etwas is not a personal pronoun, but rather an indefinite pronoun/noun.

How each gender/group is addressed

Me

to me is mir. Example sentences:

  • He gave it to me -> er gab es mir
  • They were singing happy birthday to me -> sie sangen mir Happy Birthday
  • They’re telling me it -> expressed as: they’re telling it to me -> sie sagen es mir

You

to you is dir. Example sentences:

  • I will tell it to you -> ich werde es dir sagen
  • Does it not matter to you? -> expressed as: do you not care? -> ist es dir egal?

Us

to us is uns. Example sentences:

  • They’re not telling it to us -> sie sagen es uns nicht
  • They don’t have to tell it to us -> sie müssen es uns nicht sagen

Gotchas

I got confused with 2 translations today:

what must you tell me

The correct translation for it is was musst du mir sagen, but I translated it as was mussen du sagt mir, thinking that the verb that is being transformed by du is sagen (to say/tell) and not mussen (to must)

I asked gemini about this, and got to know about this rule:

The verb that gets transformed (conjugated) is always the auxiliary or modal verb, not the main action verb

In the example above (what must you tell me), mussen is the modal verb and sagen is the main verb. We therefore transform mussen to musst. Some more examples:

  • I can see you -> ich kann dich sehen
    • to can (können) is transformed, while to say (sehen) remains the same
  • He wants to play -> er will spielen
    • to will (wollen) is transformed, while to play (spielen) remains the same

you don’t have to tell it to me

The correct translation of it was du musst es mir nicht sagen, but I translated it as du musst es nicht mir sagen, confused between the places of mir and nicht. I need to better understand where nicht (or negation) generally comes in sentences like this. My hunch is that we should try to put is as later in the sentence as possible.

I asked gemini about this, and this is what it said:

When you want to negate the entire action/sentence (e.g., “You don’t have to say it”), nicht does tend to go as far toward the end of the sentence as possible. However, it cannot go past certain elements, like a second verb.

This last part is what I already knew about. So yes, my hunch is basically correct