Russian Dative Case

Dative case is the third case of Russian language and has only 3 main rules, which are going to be discussed in this article.

1) Dative Case Designates that Something is Addressed or Given to the Object (Person or Thing).

Usually, the Dative case is used after verbs that mean giving something, speaking, and communicating.

Russian English
ะณะพะฒะพั€ะธั‚ัŒ to tell
ะดะฐะฒะฐั‚ัŒ to give
ั€ะฐะทั€ะตัˆะฐั‚ัŒ to allow
ะฟะพะผะพะณะฐั‚ัŒ to help
ะทะฒะพะฝะธั‚ัŒ to call, to phone
ะฟั€ะธะฝะพัะธั‚ัŒ to bring

Here are some examples:

  • ะฏ ะธะดัƒ ะบ ะดั€ัƒะณัƒ. โ€“ I go to the friend.

In this sentence, the action is addressed to the person โ€œะดั€ัƒะณัƒ – friendโ€, thus it has Dative case form. In Nominative case, the word โ€œfriendโ€ in Russian will be โ€œะดั€ัƒะณโ€.

  • ะขั‹ ะดะฐั‘ัˆัŒ ัั‚ะพ ะฒั€ะฐั‡ัƒ. โ€“ You give it to the doctor.

And again, the action is addressed to the object of the sentence โ€œะฒั€ะฐั‡ัƒโ€ and it has Dative case formation. In other words – the object of the sentence is the receiver of the action. In Nominative case the word โ€œdoctorโ€ will be โ€œะฒั€ะฐั‡โ€.

  • ะ’ั‹ ั€ะฐะทั€ะตัˆะฐะตั‚ะต ะดะพะบั‚ะพั€ัƒโ€ฆ – You allow the doctor toโ€ฆ.
  • ะฏ ะทะฒะพะฝัŽ ะผะฐะผะต. โ€“ I call to mother.

2) Dative Case is Used in Impersonal Constructions that Describe Emotional/Physical States and is Used to Indicate the Person Affected by this State.

(Impersonal sentences in Russian are sentences that don’t have a grammatical subject.)

For example:

ะ”ั€ัƒะณัƒ ะฟะปะพั…ะพ. โ€“ Friend feels bad.

As you already know, in Nominative case, the English word โ€œfriendโ€ will be โ€œะดั€ัƒะณโ€. But because the word โ€œะดั€ัƒะณโ€ indicates the person who is affected by an emotional state (bad), the ending of the word has to be changed into the Dative case form, which is โ€œะดั€ัƒะณัƒโ€.

Or another example:

ะœะฐะผะต ัะบัƒั‡ะฝะพ. โ€“ Mother feels bored.

Itโ€™s the same story like we mentioned above, except in this sentence, the Nominative case word โ€œะผะฐะผะฐโ€ has a different ending. Endings for Dative, both singular and plural, will be shown at the end of the article.

3) Dative Case is Always Used After Certain Prepositions, such as:

Russian English
ะบ towards, to
ะฟะพ along
ะฑะปะฐะณะพะดะฐั€ั thanks
ะฒะพะฟั€ะตะบะธ in spite of, despite
ะฝะฐะฒัั‚ั€ะตั‡ัƒ Towards, to meet
ะฟะพะดะพะฑะฝะพ likewise
ัะพะณะปะฐัะฝะพ in accordance with

For example:

ะขั‹ ะธะดั‘ัˆัŒ ะฝะฐะฒัั‚ั€ะตั‡ัƒ ะบ ะดั€ัƒะณัƒ. โ€“ You go to meet a friend.

Or another one:

ะขั‹ ะถะธะฒั‘ัˆัŒ ะฑะปะฐะณะพะดะฐั€ั ั‚ะฒะพะตะน ะผะฐะผะต. โ€“ You give thanks to your mother.

Formation of Dative Singular Case Nouns


Gender Nominative Singular Remove Add Dative English
masculine ะดะพะบั‚ะพั€
ั‡ะฐะน
ะผะฐะผะฐ

ะน
ะฐ
ัƒ
ัŽ
ะต
ะดะพะบั‚ะพั€ัƒ
ั‡ะฐัŽ
ะผะฐะผะต
doctor
tea
mother
neuter ะพะทะตั€ะพ
ะทะดะฐะฝะธะต
ะพ
ะต
ัƒ
ัŽ
ะพะทะตั€ะธ
ะทะดะฐะฝะธัŽ
lake
building
feminine ะดะฒะตั€ัŒ
ะผะฐัˆะธะฝะฐ
ัŒ
ะฐ
ะธ
ะต
ะดะฒะตั€ะธ
ะผะฐัˆะธะฝะต
door
car

Formation of Dative Plural Case Nouns

GenderNominative SingularRemoveAddDative PluralEnglish
masculineะดะพะบั‚ะพั€
ะฑั€ะฐั‚
ั‡ะฐะน
ัะปะพะฒะฐั€ัŒ


ะน
ัŒ
ะฐะผ
ัŒัะผ
ัะผ
ัะผ
ะดะพะบั‚ะพั€ะฐะผ
ะฑั€ะฐั‚ัŒัะผ
ั‡ะฐัะผ
ัะปะพะฒะฐั€ัะผ
doctor
brother
tea
dictionary
neuterะพะทะตั€ะพ
ะทะดะฐะฝะธะต
ะพ
ะต
ะฐะผ
ัะผ
ะพะทะตั€ะฐะผ
ะทะดะฐะฝะธัะผ
lake
building
feminineะดะฒะตั€ัŒ
ะผะฐัˆะธะฝะฐ
ั„ะฐะผะธะปะธั
ัŒ

ัะผ
ะผ
ะผ
ะดะฒะตั€ัะผ
ะผะฐัˆะธะฝaะผ
ั„ะฐะผะธะปะธัะผ
door
car
surname

Russian Grammar

Share:

Share on facebook
Share on google
Share on twitter
Share on pinterest
Share on linkedin
You may also like