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I excercise German with the Duolingo app from time to time, and today I think I found a typo in one of the excercises: "Wie bist du in mein Zimmer gekommen?"
I was taught that "in" is a dative preposition which accepts a dative conjugation, thus making it: "Wie bist du in meinem Zimmer gekommen?"
So my question is whether it was just a tiny typo or some special case where it doesn't have to get the dative case?
Thank you for your help!
Duolingo is correct here. The preposition "in" can demand the accusative as well, and that isn't even a special case. It goes with the dative if it answers a "Wo?" or "Wann?" question, but the accusative for a "Wohin?" question. In the example you could think of "Wohin bist Du gekommen? - In das Zimmer.", so it's the accusative here.
Other examples:
Er trinkt in der Kneipe ein Bier. (Wo? - dative)
Er ist in die Kneipe gegangen. (Wohin? - accusative)
In den Ferien fährt sie nach Frankreich. (Wann? - dative)
Other prepositions that demand either dative or accusative are "auf" and "an".
The preposition in requires either the dative (when asking where) or the accusative (when asking where / whither). (German) in can mean both (English) in as well as into:
Ich gehe im (= in dem) Wald = I walk in the forest. (I am already there.)
Ich gehe in den Wald = I walk into the forest. (I am currently outside of it.)
As an additional aside, German kommen has the exact same meaning as "to come" in English, including all sexual connotations. Wie bist Du in meinem Zimmer gekommen? (How did you come in my room?) would be -- well, unintentionally funny, at the very least.
