The dative case

Indirect objects, age, and saying 'I need to'.

The dative is the case of the recipient. It marks indirect objects ('to whom?'), and Russian uses it for several distinctive things English handles differently — most importantly age and obligation.

Dative endings (singular)

Masculine: -у / -ю. Иван → Ивану. Друг → другу. Feminine -а: → -е. Анна → Анне. Книга → книге. Feminine -я: → -е. Семья → семье. Neuter -о: → -у. Окно → окну. The pattern is mostly 'add -е to feminines, -у to others'.

Personal pronouns in dative

я → мне. ты → тебе. он / оно → ему. она → ей. мы → нам. вы → вам. они → им. After prepositions like к (to/towards), the н- prefix appears: ему → к нему, ей → к ней, им → к ним.

Indirect object

When you give, say, write, or show something TO someone, that someone takes the dative: Я говорю Анне = I'm telling Anna. Папа дал мне книгу = Dad gave me a book.

Age

Russian asks 'how many years to you?' for age. The person takes the dative: Сколько тебе лет? = How old are you? Мне 25 лет = I'm 25 (lit. 'to-me 25 years'). The person whose age it is is in the dative.

Need and obligation

Мне нужно = I need to / I have to. Анне надо работать = Anna needs to work. The needy person goes in the dative.

Examples

Я говорю Анне.

I'm talking to Anna.

Анна → Анне.

Папа дал мне книгу.

Dad gave me a book.

Я → мне (dative).

Сколько тебе лет?

How old are you?

Literally: 'How many years to-you?'

Мне 25 лет.

I'm 25 years old.

Мне нужно работать.

I need to work.

Dative + нужно + infinitive.

Ивану нравится Москва.

Ivan likes Moscow.

Lit. 'To-Ivan Moscow is pleasing'.