Dative case exists in some languages, but not in English.

Language Specific

Dative is used after certain verbs to indicate to whom or for whom something is done.

Use After Verbs

English doesn't have a dative case, but knowing it helps understand other languages.

No English Equivalent

Knowing dative can help you understand cultural expressions in languages like German.

Cultural Insight

Dative case is required after certain prepositions in some languages.

Preposition Patterns

You can guess certain sentence roles by identifying the dative case in other languages.

Passive Understanding

 So, a problem in explaining how children learn language, a problem in teaching language to adults so that they don't make grammatical errors, and a problem in programming computers to use language is which verbs go in which constructions. For example, the dative construction in English.