What is correct? Q: "Wo sind meine Socken?"
A: "Schau in der Schublade" vs "Schau in die Schublade"
As a Swiss German speaker not very adept at proper German grammar I feel that both are somehow useable and have slightly different meaning (The first is more of a guess of mine, vs. the second is more certain and more of a command), but I can't find an explanation for my German learning friends. Am I simply wrong? Is there an explanation for both?
The confusion here comes from omitting a small word:
Schau in der Schublade nach.
Hence, in this example, the verb is nachschauen, in the other example it is schauen.
These differ a bit in meaning and grammatical usage:
Wohin soll ich schauen?
Schau in die Schublade. (Akkusativ)Wo soll ich nachschauen?
Schau in der Schublade nach. (Dativ)
Roughly translated to emphasize the different meanings:
Schau in die Schublade.
Look into ...Schau in der Schublade nach.
Investigate ...
To make the point more clear: the usage of schauen here is more in the sense of hineinschauen (Schau in die Schublade hinein), the usage of nachschauen is more in the sense of finding out if the socks are in there.
Omitting the word nach is commonly used in spoken language but (grammatically not correct) expresses a different thing*. If not omitted, both examples are correct, although the one with nachschauen is the best fit. Schau in die Schublade might even have a negative connotation (Just look, they are right there!).
*As stated in other answers, Schau in der Schublade would ask to look while being inside the drawer. I first didn't think of this since it does not make any sense here. For further information on this I refer to the answer of Arne.
Da man in etwas hinein schaut, muss der Akkusativ folgen. Demnach ist nur
Schau in die Schublade (hinein)
richtig. Man kann aber auch nachschauen, und zwar an oder in einem Ort. Dann ist der Dativ zu verwenden, wie in
Schau in der Schublade nach.
Hier gehört nach zu nachschauen und kann nicht weglassen werden.
"Schau in der Schublade", if taken literally, would only work for a very large drawer or very small beholder: It tells you to be inside the drawer, then take a look while you are.
There is a certain level of obviousness involved:
Schau in die Schublade!
Open the drawer and (just) look into it, they are right on top.
Schau in der Schublade! (Such…)
Open the drawer and look for them in it, they have to be somewhere in there.
The preposition "in" can stand with either Dative or Accusative, resulting in different meanings. The same is true for all of the following prepositions:
an, auf, hinter, in, neben, über, unter, vor, zwischen
With Accusative, they describe the destination or direction of the verb ('Ich laufe in den Wald' means I'm running into the forest, but I'm not there yet).
With Dativ, they describe the location of the verb ('Ich laufe im Wald' means I'm running while I'm in the forest.)
'Schau in die Schublade' (Accusative) thus means to direct your gaze into the drawer (as your gaze is currently directed elsewhere, hence from outside).
'Schau in der Schublade' (Dative) is indeed, as mentioned in another answer, an abbreviated version of 'Schau in der Schublade nach', which means to look around in the drawer (as your gaze is already directed into the drawer, hence from inside).
Strictly speaking, 'schauen' must then stand with Accusative, while 'nachschauen' must stand with Dative.
The different meanings explain the gut feeling you described: "Schau in der Schublade (nach)" (Dative) means "search for it in the drawer", implying that you think the socks might be in there but aren't sure. "Schau in die Schublade" (Accusative) means "look in the drawer", implying that there is no need to search because you already know the socks are in there.
I think the relevant answers were given, but indeed there are two more:
Schau in der Schublade!
Can be an imperative "look into the drawer!" to actually do something instead of a softer imperative, which is more an answer. There you can add "nach", but you can omit it when using a more colloquial tone. The formal tone would be more like "Sieh in der Schublade nach!".
And it can be an expression of astonishment
Schau, in der Schublade!
[Ich habe schon überall gesucht, aber es dort nicht vermutet!]
Also related "[Da,] sieh an!". Both more often used by elderly people.
"Schauen" has a lot of meanings (https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/schauen lists 9). Two are relevant here:
1b ("blicken", "sehen"), meaning to direct your gaze or attention somewhere. The "somewhere" is a direction and thus usually combines a preposition with the accusative, and an implicit direction would use "hierher" or "dorthin". The sentence "Schau in die Schublade" uses this meaning.
7 ("sehen", "nachsehen", also "nachschauen" although the last one is not listed on that page), meaning to search or investigate something or somewhere. The "somewhere" indicates a location and thus usually combines a preposition with the dative, and an implicit location would use "hier" or "dort". The sentence "Schau in der Schublade" uses this meaning.
So both are perfectly correct.
