The dative marks the person something goes to: who you give, tell, call or help. It is also how Russian talks about feelings, age, needs and likes, all from the point of view of the person who experiences them.
A1 to C1·16 min read·Audio for every example
Я дарю́ ма́ме цветы́ (ya da-RYU MA-mye tsvi-TY), “I’m giving Mum flowers”. The ending -е on ма́ме does the job of English “to”.
The short answer
A case is the ending a word takes to show its job in the sentence. The dative (да́тельный паде́ж, DA-tyel’-niy pa-DYEZH) answers кому́? “to whom?”. It marks the receiver (звоню́ ма́ме, I call Mum), the person who feels or needs something (мне хо́лодно, I’m cold), and follows к (towards) and по (along). Singular endings are -у/-ю for masculine and neuter, -е/-и for feminine; the plural is always -ам/-ям.
The receiver: giving, telling, helping
The core use. Whenever something passes to a person (an object, words, help, a phone call), that person goes into the dative. There is no preposition: the ending itself means “to”. Some of these verbs take a direct object in English (“call someone”, “help someone”), so learn them as a group. The dative word is red throughout this page.
Singular endings by gender
Every Russian noun has a gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), which you can almost always see from its last letter. A hard ending is a plain consonant or -а/-о; a soft ending is -й, -ь, -я or -е, and swaps each vowel for its soft partner (у → ю).
Masculine-у / -ю
Masculine nouns ending in -а, like па́па (dad), follow the feminine column: па́пе.
Feminine-е / -и
Nouns in -ия and in -ь take -и instead of -е: ста́нции, тетра́ди, до́чери (daughter).
Neuter-у / -ю
Neuter nouns match masculine ones. The ten nouns in -мя (вре́мя, и́мя) take -ени.
Feminine nouns take the same ending in the dative as in the prepositional case (ма́ме, о ма́ме), so learning one gives you the other. оте́ц keeps losing its е: отцу́.
Plural: one ending for everything
The easiest form in the whole case system. Every plural noun, whatever its gender, ends in -ам after a hard consonant and -ям after a soft one. Even irregular plurals follow it once you know the stem.
Adjectives and pronouns
An adjective (a describing word) takes the same case as its noun: -ому / -ему for masculine and neuter, -ой / -ей for feminine, -ым / -им for all plurals.
Word
Masc. · neut.
Fem.
Plural
но́выйnew
си́нийdark blue
хоро́шийgood
большо́йbig
мойmy
нашour
э́тотthis
весьall
Personal pronouns
After a preposition, ему́, ей and им add н-: к нему́, к ней, к ним. And к becomes ко before мне: ко мне (to me, to my place).
Feelings and states: мне хо́лодно
English says “I am cold”. Russian says “to me (it is) cold”: the person who feels goes into the dative, and the feeling is a word ending in -о. There is no subject at all, so the past is always neuter бы́ло and the future бу́дет. Sentences like this are called impersonal.
The feeling happens to you. This one pattern covers temperature, mood, boredom, interest, pity and more.
Age: мне два́дцать лет
Age works the same way: literally “to me (are) twenty years”. The person is dative; the word for “year” changes with the number: год after 1, го́да after 2–4, лет after 5 and up (and after 11–14).
Must, may, mustn’t, need
Obligation and permission follow the same pattern: dative person + a fixed word + an infinitive (the basic “to do” form of a verb). Only ну́жен, “needed”, changes: it agrees in gender and number with the thing you need, which is the grammatical subject.
The everyday way to say “I like” is нра́виться, literally “to be pleasing”. What you like becomes the subject (nominative) and the verb agrees with it; you, the person pleased, go into the dative. A few other common verbs work the same way.
Blue marks the subject in both languages. In Russian it is the cats, so the verb is plural: нра́вятся.
Prepositions: к, по and four formal ones
A preposition is a small word like “to” or “along” before a noun. Only a few take the dative, but к and по are among the most frequent words in the language.
к means “to” with people (and “towards” with places). For going into a place, use в + accusative: в шко́лу.
Preposition
Meaning
Example, word by word
кk
to (a person); towards
кk
by (a time)
кk
set phrase
поpa
along, around, all over
поpa
by (means of communication)
поpa
on (repeated days)
поpa
in (a subject)
поpa
after скуча́ть: to miss
благодаря́bla-ga-da-RYA
thanks to
вопреки́va-pri-KEE
despite, contrary to
согла́сноsa-GLAS-na
according to (formal)
навстре́чуna-FSTRYE-chu
towards (to meet)
Dative + infinitive: “what am I to do?”
An advanced pattern (B2–C1) that native speakers use all the time. A dative person plus a bare infinitive, with no other verb, expresses what someone is supposed to do, has to do, or will never manage to do. The tone depends on context and intonation.
Check yourself
Put the word in brackets into the dative. Say the answer out loud, then reveal it.
1Я позвоню́ (ты) ве́чером.I’ll call you this evening.
2Мы идём к (брат).We’re going to my brother’s.
3(Па́па) нра́вится футбо́л.Dad likes football.
4Ско́лько лет (ба́бушка)?How old is Grandma?
5Я помога́ю (сестра́).I help my sister.
6(Студе́нты) ну́жно чита́ть бо́льше.Students need to read more.
7Он гуля́ет по (парк).He’s walking around the park.