As Indirect Object
To denote the person to whom or for whom the action is performed
Anna gave the pencil to the professor
Анна дала карандаш профессору
She called the actress
Она позвонила актрисе
The grandmother is reading a book to her grandson
Бабушка читает книгу внуку
As Expressions of Necessity
The students needs the phone
Студенту нужен телефон
As Expressions of Permission
Mark can go on holiday
Марку можно поехать в отпуск
To Express Feelings
Anna is feeling sad
Анне грустно
Olga is feeling cold
Ольге холодно
The doctor is feeling hot
Доктору жарко
To Express Age
The boy is 4 years old
Мальчику четыре года
The student is 25 years old
Студенту 25 лет
After Certain Prepositions
1. to / к
I'm going to the doctor
Я иду к доктору
2. along / по
She's walking along the street
Она идёт по улице
3. thanks to / благодаря
Thanks to the sun, it was warm
Благодаря солнцу, было тепло
The table below summarises the endings and uses of the Dative Case.
For reference, I’ve included the Nominative Case (also known as a dictionary form) to compare the endings between the two cases.
For singular nouns, there are 2 sets of endings to remember in the Dative Case:
у/ю for masculine and neuter nouns
и/е for feminine nouns
For plural nouns, there is just 1 set of endings to remember: ам/ям
Adjectives
Test your grammar
Put the words in brackets into the dative case.
Want more practice? Check out these Russian Cases courses.
I've created the Russian Cases course for A1-A2 and the Russian Cases course for B1-B2 language level students who want to conquer them. With easy-to-follow explanations and vigorous practice, these courses will help you take your sentence-building skills to the next level.
For other cases, please check these articles:
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