The verb fallen usually takes the dative as in
Es fällt mir schwer.
However whilst learning some noun-verb combinations I noticed that, for example,
Wir müssen eine Entscheidung fällen
uses the accusative (or nominative).
Why is this?
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Sign up to join this communityThe verb fallen usually takes the dative as in
Es fällt mir schwer.
However whilst learning some noun-verb combinations I noticed that, for example,
Wir müssen eine Entscheidung fällen
uses the accusative (or nominative).
Why is this?
Similar to English the intransitive verb (schwer-) fallen (to fall) also has a transitive form fällen (to fell sth = to make sth fall) which then will take an accusative case:
- fällen: Der Förster fällt den Baum (acc). Wir fällen eine Entscheidung (acc).
- fallen: Der Föster (nom) fällt zu Boden (dat). Die Entscheidung (nom) fällt morgen.
The confusion may come from verb declension where both verbs have an identical form in the second and third person singular (see links to the verbs above).
Because it was asked for in a comment:
The composite separable verb schwerfallen is derived from schwer (heavy) and fallen (to fall). But of course it is nonesense to translate this literally. The appropriate English translation depends a bit on the context. In the example given it would be
Es fällt mir schwer - it is hard for me
There are many composites using fallen but only ausfällen (chemistry) is a composite with fällen.
This is, because »schwerfallen« and »fällen« are two different verbs.
Etwas fällt jemandem schwer = Something is difficult for somebody.
This is a separable verb. Its infinitive form (the "dictionary form") is »schwerfallen«, you use this form in Futur I:
Die Arbeit wird mir schwerfallen.
Die Tätigkeiten werden mir schwerfallen.
Du wirst mit schwerfallen.
In Gegenwart the verb splits up in two components, where the former first part moves to the end of the sentence, and the former second part is inflected according to person and number of the subject:
Die Arbeit fällt mir schwer.
Die Tätigkeiten fallen mir schwer.
Du fällst mir schwer.
einen Baum fällen = to fell/chop a tree.
eine Entscheidung fällen = to make a decision.
This is a nonseparable verb. And again you find its "dictionary form" (the infinitive form) in Futur I:
Ich werde eine Entscheidung fällen.
Wir werden eine Entscheidung fällen.
Du wirst eine Entscheidung fällen.
In Gegenwart nothing is split away, the hole verb is inflected:
Ich fälle eine Entscheidung.
Wir fällen eine Entscheidung.
Du fällst eine Entscheidung.
There also is the verb
fallen = to fall.
Futur I:
Ich werde fallen.
Wir werden fallen.
Du wirst fallen.
Gegenwart:
Ich falle.
Wir fallen.
Du fällst.
(Proto-)German used to have a verb modus called the Kausativ which more or less meant a verb form that translated to "to make something do something". This is today frozen in the language and can no longer be used to form new verb forms, the verbs using the Kausativ, however, continue to exist as stand-alone, separate verbs. Some examples:
fallen -> to fall, fällen -> to make something fall
fließen -> to flow, (ein)flößen -> to make something flow (in)
(er)saufen -> to drown, (er)säufen -> to make something drown
sinken -> to sink, senken -> to make something sink
... and lots more.
Due to common ancestry, some of these are present in English today as well. Because these verbs originally were declensions of the original verbs, they often share declensions between them and are thus hard to distinguish.
In your examples, you simply fell over this hurdle. What you are comparing, are different verbs today as pointed out in other answers.
With regards to your problems with dative and accusative:
Beyond the fact that there are verbs in German that rule a certain case, nearly any verb can take the dative as this is a specific form of "do that for me".
This form of dative shows up for various purposes. You might want to look up concepts like dativus possessivus, dativus ethicus, dativus commodi and dativus iudicantis. "Es fällt mir schwer" is built using the dativus iudicantis.