polski · A2 · grammar · 4 minutes
The dative case
Mark recipients and complements after verbs such as dawać, pomagać, and podobać się.
Understand the choice
Dative answers komu? czemu? and often marks a recipient or experiencer. Learn forms through verbs rather than as a detached table.
Core rule: Dative singular commonly uses -owi for masculine, -e/-i for feminine, -u/-u-like neuter; plural uses -om.
Notice it in context
Daję sąsiadce klucz i pomagam jej z zakupami.
I give my neighbor the key and help her with shopping.
Sąsiadce/jej are dative recipients; klucz is direct object; pomagać also selects dative.
Dzieciom podoba się nowy park.
The children like the new park.
Dzieciom is dative experiencer; park is nominative subject.
Wysyłamy klientowi raport.
We send the client a report.
Klientowi is dative recipient; raport accusative.
What to remember
- Personal pronouns have dative mi/ci/mu/jej/nam/wam/im.
- Some masculine nouns prefer -u, which must be learned lexically.
Common trap: Do not mark both recipient and item accusative.