I started studying German few months ago. I started reading "Der Nussknacker (Niveau Eins)". I found this
Ich bedanke mich
but I can not really understand what does it mean and its construction.
Why nominative + verb + accusative?
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Sign up to join this communityIt just so happens that the accusative declination of the pronoun ich is also the reflexive pronoun for ich.
The verb which you and many other German-learners perceive to be bedanken is actually sich bedanken, indicating it is reflexive and requires a reflexive pronoun.
"Ich bedanke mich" implies that you are saying "I thank you," even though the sentence doesn't contain an object.
If you wanted to be formal, you could say:
Ich bedanke mich bei dir.
It is always like:
Ich bedanke mich bei Ihnen (someone) für die Hilfe (something)
So you know that the someone (bei) is in Dativ and the something (für) is Akkusativ.