I have many books in German Grammar from skinny books such as TEACH

YOURSEF BOOKS - German Grammar by Norman PAXTON / 1992 to weighty

ones such as HAMMERS German Grammar by Martin Durrel * 4th Edition - 2002.

However, I constantly refer to the second section of COLLINS German Dictionary

and GRAMMAR - 2005. This offers short, and simple explanations of MOST of my

questions.

For Example, to answer your question, I find on page 80 of the COLLINS book

VERBS followed by the DATIVE

He gives me a book

a book = is the Direct Object of GIVE = in Accusative

me = is the Indirect Obj of GIVE = in DATIVE = means TO ME

On this small pocket page, as examples of FREQUENT usage

1/ 15 verbs are listed to be used with BOTH Direct and Indirect Object

e.g jdM etw GEBEN jdM is Indirect Obj = means TO sb = in DATIVE etw is Direct Obj = means sth = in ACCUSATIVE

1a/ Ich gebe dir ein Buch.

= I give a book TO YOU 1b/ dir = is a Indirect Object , in DATIVE case = means TO YOU = a DATIVE of DU 1c/ ein Buch = is an Direct Object = EIN in ACCUSATIVE case ( while EINEN is DATIVE ) = means a book

2/ and 21 verbs to be followed ONLY by an INDIRECT OBJECT 

in the DATIVE case. e.g. jdM DANKEN2a/ Ich danke ihr = I thank her ( NOTE ... Ich danke sie IS NOT CORRECT , because sie = in ACCUSATIVE, while DANKEN requires DATIVE ) 2b/ ihr ( all in lower case ) = DATIVE of sie ( she/ it ) = means TO/ FOR HER/ IT ( NOTE ... In NOMINATIVE case, ie. as a Subject sie = means SHE/ IT )

I will follow up this post with more details, as I need to run NOW

BEST REGARDS

HAPPY learning!