there is an implied preposition in that sentence, in the sense that that sentence is equivalent to "i gave the book to him". the direct object comes first (the

there is an implied preposition in that sentence, in the sense that that sentence is equivalent to "i gave the book to him". the direct object comes first (the book) which would be the equivalent to the accusative case in German, and the indirect object comes second (him) which would be the dative case in German thus: ich gab ihm das Buch, or ich habe ihm das Buch gegeben, the former being the Imperfekt form and the latter the Perfekt. edit: oh i didn't notice that the parent post actually went into that second bit already. sorry, i don't pay attention