Dative Verbs in Ukrainain
Hello all Ukrainian speakers and Ukrainian learners. Добрий День. I was wondering if somone could make a list of the top 20-30 verbs that require the Dative Case in Ukrainian. I´m used to some like сказати and дати but would like to practice with others. Дуже Дякую.
6 Comments
I'll start with the first five:
- писати - to write. Писати письмо другу - to write a letter to a friend.
- показувати - to show. Показувати машину другу - to show a car to a friend.
- приносити - to bring. Приносити квіти другу - to bring flowers to a friend.
- дарувати - to present (a gift). Дарувати подарунок другу - to present a gift to a friend.
- скаржитися - to complain. Скаржитися другу на життя - to complain about life to a friend.
(That is why friends are so important ;) )
A little bit of grammar: The dative case is often used for indirect objects, while for direct objects the accusative case is used. "Друг" in the previous examples is an indirect object; it is an entity "indirectly" affected by the action. "Письмо" is a direct object; it is an entity acted upon.
I prefer to think (and teach) about Dative as a direct object in the sentence to denote a person towards whom action is directed. It is used only with the verbs that we discuss in this post. The way it's put in the explanation above is a little unclear to me - being indirectly or directly affected is a matter of personal interpretation, I guess.. I would say друг is directly affected since лист is intended for him only. But again, it's about putting it in the most understandable explanation and memorizing the list of common verbs.)) Thanks for the post, iregnier. Maybe you could sum it up here later with the complete verbs+Dative list?
It is a difficult and controversial topic, I agree. The Wikipedia definition, which I cited, is far from being perfect, but I could not find a better one. Still, the terms are used very often in different grammatical explanations, so one has to deal with them sooner or later.
- дзвонити (Я дзвонив Джону - I called John)
- допомагати (Допоможіть мені! - Help me!)
- дати (Я дам тобі його номер - I will give you his number)
- передати (Передайте привіт Оксані - Say hello to Oksana)
- пояснити (Вона пояснила всім що сталося - She explained everybody what happened)
