The dative case is used for indirect objects in many languages, indicating the person for whom something is done or given. Verbs like “give” and “send” are ditransitive and can take both direct and indirect objects. English may not have a true dative case, but pronouns can change form to indicate their role. The dative is more useful in Latin and can serve various functions beyond indicating indirect objects. Some argue that alternative uses of the dative constitute separate cases.
The dative case is the grammatical case used for indirect objects in many languages. Most commonly, an indirect object follows a verb such as “give” and indicates the person for whom something is done or to whom something is given. In English, the indirect object follows the verb and precedes the direct object. In other languages, both the placement and function of a word in the dative case may be more flexible.
Verbs that can take direct objects are known as “ditransitive” because they can take both direct and indirect objects. Verbs meaning “to give” or “to send” are the most common ditransitives, as in “I’ll give you the key.” In this example, “you” is the indirect object and “the key” is the direct object. Other verbs can occasionally take indirect objects, as in “Jack will write Alex a check.” In this case the dative indicates for whom something is done.
Datives are not to be confused with prepositional phrases which can serve the same semantic purpose. “George delivers pizza to Elisabetta” does not have an indirect object, because “to Elisabetta”, which indicates who was given the pizza, is a preposition following the direct object. It is not in the dative case. The sentence could be rephrased as “George gives Elizabeth the pizza,” which would then contain an indirect object.
Grammarians disagree on whether English has true dative case. Strictly speaking, “case” indicates that the word has undergone some sort of change in morphology, or spelling, to indicate its function in the sentence. On the other hand, a word in English is shown to be an indirect object by its placement in the sentence rather than by the form of the word itself. Pronouns are occasionally exceptions, as in “Who did you give ice cream to?” where “who” changes to “who” due to its role as an indirect object. Since “who” is also the form used for direct objects, however, some grammarians classify both together as the objective case.
Datives are much more common and much more useful in Latin than in English. Besides its use in as an indirect object, the dative case can also serve the same function that a prepositional phrase does in English. For example, the phrase Bonum mihi videtur translates as “It looks good to me.” The dative mihi is translated “to me”, even though it is not an indirect object. Latin also has a dative of benefice, indicating that something was done for a particular person, as in Condo librem tibi, or “I carry the book for you.” Other uses for the dative in Latin include the dative of purpose, dative of separation, dative of interest, and dative of possession.
Some grammarians argue that these alternative uses for the dative in inflected languages actually constitute separate cases and that the true dative is used only for indirect objects. Some Koine Greek grammars, for example, list dative, locative, and instrumental cases while others have only one dative case. The shape of all three cases is the same, but the functions are different.
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