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
говорить	to tell
давать	to give
разрешать	to allow
помогать	to help
звонить	to call, to phone
приносить	to bring

Here are some examples:

• Я иду к другу. – I go to the friend.

In this sentence, the action is addressed to the person “другу – friend”, thus it has Dative case form. In Nominative case, the word “friend” in Russian will be “друг”.

• Ты даёшь это врачу. – You give it to the doctor.

And again, the action is addressed to the object of the sentence “врачу” 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 “doctor” will be “врач”.

• Вы разрешаете доктору… – You allow the doctor to….
• Я звоню маме. – 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:

Другу плохо. – Friend feels bad.

As you already know, in Nominative case, the English word “friend” will be “друг”. But because the word “друг” 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 “другу”.

Or another example:

Маме скучно. – Mother feels bored.

It’s the same story like we mentioned above, except in this sentence, the Nominative case word “мама” 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
к	towards, to
по	along
благодаря	thanks
вопреки	in spite of, despite
навстречу	Towards, to meet
подобно	likewise
согласно	in accordance with

For example:

Ты идёшь навстречу к другу. – You go to meet a friend.

Or another one:

Ты живёшь благодаря твоей маме. – You give thanks to your mother.

Formation of Dative Singular Case Nouns

Gender	Nominative Singular	Remove	Add	Dative	English
masculine	доктор чай мама	— й а	у ю е	доктору чаю маме	doctor tea mother
neuter	озеро здание	о е	у ю	озери зданию	lake building
feminine	дверь машина	ь а	и е	двери машине	door car

Formation of Dative Plural Case Nouns

Gender	Nominative Singular	Remove	Add	Dative Plural	English
masculine	доктор брат чай словарь	— — й ь	ам ьям ям ям	докторам братьям чаям словарям	doctor brother tea dictionary
neuter	озеро здание	о е	ам ям	озерам зданиям	lake building
feminine	дверь машина фамилия	ь — —	ям м м	дверям машинaм фамилиям	door car surname