"Vzal jí sklenici z ruky."

Translation: He took the glass from her hand.

[bright_flash]

Could anyone explain what the grammatical meaning of jí here is? I could understand the sentence Vzal sklenici z její ruky but I don't get this one.

[Zygro]

In this sentence, "jí" would be indirect object. If you use "její", that is a possessive pronoun.

This is the difference between "He took the glass from her (she had the glass in hand)" and "He took the glass form her hand (as in: the hand belongs to her)". First one is "jí", because she's the indirect object, and second one is "její", because the hand is possessed by her.

This sentence would be more commonly used with "jí", but if you want to emphasise the hand, use "její". Though I wouldn't trouble myself with this, both forms are perfectly understandable.

[RichardBul911825]

It’s called the ethical dative, and it barely exists in English. You can find it in Shakespeare, and you can use it to sound like a pirate, “I’d love me some ale.”

[Chris900231]

How then would you say "He took her glass from her hand"?

[VladaFu]

její sklenici

[VladaFu]

Please note that no Czech sentence in this course is a translation of the English one. It is always the other way. So asking why the main translation is not "z její ruky" does not make sense. It is not a translation at all.