Dative case

In grammar, the dative case is a grammatical case used in some languages to indicate the recipient or beneficiary of an action, as in "Maria Jacobo potum dedit", Latin for "Maria gave Jacob a drink". In this example, the dative marks what would be considered the indirect object of a verb in English.
Sometimes the dative has functions unrelated to giving. In Scottish Gaelic and Irish, the term dative case is used in traditional grammars to refer to the prepositional case-marking of nouns following simple prepositions and the definite article. In Georgian and Hindustani, the dative case can also mark the subject of a sentence. This is called the dative construction. In Hindi, the dative construction is not limited to only certain verbs or tenses and it can be used with any verb in any tense or mood.
The dative was common among early Indo-European languages and has survived to the present in the Balto-Slavic branch, the Germanic branch, Albanian and others. It also exists in similar forms in several non-Indo-European languages, such as the Uralic family of languages. In some languages, the dative case has assimilated the functions of other, now extinct cases. In Ancient Greek, the dative has the functions of the Proto-Indo-European locative and instrumental as well as those of the original dative.
Under the influence of English, which uses the preposition "to" for both indirect objects and directions of movement, the term "dative" has sometimes been used to describe cases that in other languages would more appropriately be called lative.

Etymology

"Dative" comes from Latin cāsus datīvus, a translation of Greek δοτικὴ πτῶσις, dotikē ptôsis. Dionysius Thrax in his Art of Grammar also refers to it as epistaltikḗ "for sending ", from the verb epistéllō "send to", a word from the same root as epistle.

English

The Old English language had a dative case; however, the English case system gradually fell into disuse during the Middle English period, when the accusative and dative of pronouns merged into a single oblique case that was also used with all prepositions. This conflation of case in Middle and Modern English has led most modern grammarians to discard the "accusative" and "dative" labels as obsolete in reference to English, often using the term "objective" for oblique.

Set expressions

The dative case is rare in modern English usage, but it can be argued that it survives in a few set expressions. One example is the word "methinks", with the meaning "it seems to me". It survives in this fixed form from Old English, in which it was constructed as "" + "me" + "thinks".

Relic pronouns

The modern objective case pronoun whom is derived from the dative case in Old English, specifically the Old English dative pronoun "hwām" – though "whom" also absorbed the functions of the Old English accusative pronoun "hwone". It is also cognate to the word "wem" in German. The OED defines all classical uses of the word "whom" in situations where the indirect object is not known – in effect, indicating the anonymity of the indirect object.
Likewise, some of the object forms of personal pronouns are remnants of Old English datives. For example, "him" goes back to the Old English dative him, and "her" goes back to the dative hire. These pronouns are not pure datives in modern English; they are also used for functions previously indicated by the accusative.

Modern English

The indirect object of the verb may be placed between the verb and the direct object of the verb: "he gave me a book" or "he wrote me a poem."
The indirect object may also be expressed using a prepositional phrase using "to": "he gave a book to me".

German

In general, the dative is used to mark the indirect object of a German sentence.
For example:

Ich schickte dem Mann das Buch. – Masculine
Ich gab der Frau den Stift zurück. – Feminine
Ich überreiche dem Kind ein Geschenk. – Neuter

In English, the first sentence can be rendered as "I sent the book to the man" and as "I sent the man the book", where the indirect object is identified in English by standing in front of the direct object. The normal word order in German is to put the dative in front of the accusative. However, since the German dative is marked in form, it can also be put after the accusative: Ich schickte das Buch dem Mann. The after Mann and Kind signifies a now largely archaic -e ending for certain nouns in the dative. It survives today almost exclusively in set phrases such as zu Hause, im Zuge, and am Tage, as well as in occasional usage in formal prose, poetry, and song lyrics.
Some masculine nouns, referred to as weak nouns or n-nouns, take an -n or -en in the dative singular and plural. Many are masculine nouns ending in -e in the nominative, although not all such nouns follow this rule. Many also, whether or not they fall into the former category, refer to people, animals, professions, or titles; exceptions to this include the aforementioned Herz and Name, as well as Buchstabe, Friede, Obelisk, Planet, and others.
Certain German prepositions require the dative: aus, außer, bei, entgegen, gegenüber, mit, nach, seit, von, and zu. Some other prepositions may be used with dative, or accusative. Das Buch liegt auf dem Tisch, but Ich lege das Buch auf den Tisch.
In addition the four prepositions statt, trotz, während, and wegen which require the genitive in modern formal language, are most commonly used with the dative in colloquial German. For example, "because of the weather" is expressed as wegen dem Wetter instead of the formally correct wegen des Wetters. Other prepositions requiring the genitive in formal language, are combined with von in colloquial style, e.g. außerhalb vom Garten instead of außerhalb des Gartens.
The concept of an indirect object may be rendered by a prepositional phrase. In this case, the noun's or pronoun's case is determined by the preposition, not by its function in the sentence. Consider this sentence:

Ich sandte das Buch zum Verleger. 'I sent the book to the editor.'

Here, the subject, Ich, is in the nominative case, the direct object, das Buch, is in the accusative case, and zum Verleger is in the dative case, since zu always requires the dative. However:

Ich habe das Buch an meinen Freund weitergegeben. 'I forwarded the book to my friend.'.

In this sentence, Freund is the indirect object, but, because it follows an, the accusative is required, not the dative.
All of the articles change in the dative case.

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Definite article	dem	der	dem	den
Indefinite article	einem	einer	einem	Ø
Negative articles	keinem	keiner	keinem	keinen

Some German verbs require the dative for their direct objects. Common examples are antworten, danken, gefallen, folgen, glauben, helfen, and raten. In each case, the direct object of the verb is rendered in the dative. For example:

Meine Freunde helfen mir.

These verbs cannot be used in normal passive constructions, because German allows these only for verbs with accusative objects. It is therefore ungrammatical to say: *Ich werde geholfen. "I am helped." Instead a special construction called "impersonal passive" must be used: Mir wird geholfen, literally: "To me is helped." A colloquial way to form the passive voice for dative verbs is the following: Ich kriege geholfen, or: Ich bekomme geholfen, literally: "I get helped". The use of the verb "to get" here reminds us that the dative case has something to do with giving and receiving. In German, help is not something you perform on somebody, but rather something you offer them.
The dative case is also used with reflexive verbs when specifying what part of the self the verb is being done to:

Ich wasche mich. – accusative
Ich wasche mir die Hände. – dative

Cf. the respective accord in French: "Les enfants se sont lavés" vs. "Les enfants se sont lavé les mains".
German can use two datives to make sentences like: Sei mir meinem Sohn gnädig! "For my sake, have mercy on my son!" Literally: "Be for me to my son merciful." The first dative mir expresses the speaker's commiseration. The second dative meinem Sohn names the actual object of the plea. Mercy is to be given to the son for or on behalf of his mother/father.
Adjective endings also change in the dative case. There are three inflection possibilities depending on what precedes the adjective. They most commonly use weak inflection when preceded by a definite article, mixed inflection after an indefinite article, and strong inflection when a quantity is indicated.

Adj. in dative case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Plural
Weak inflection	-en	-en	-en	-en
Mixed inflection	-en	-en	-en	-en
Strong inflection	-em	-er	-em	-en

Latin

There are several uses for the dative case :

Dativus finalis, e.g. non scholae sed vitae – " not for school, but for life", auxilio vocare – "to call for help", venio auxilio – "I'm coming for help", accipio dono – "I receive as a gift" or puellae ornamento est – " is for the girl's decoration", or "... for decoration for the girl"
Dativus commodi, which means action for somebody, e.g., Graecis agros colere – "to till fields for Greeks"; Combination of Dativus commodi and finalis : tibi laetitiae "to you for joy"
Dativus possessivus which means possession, e.g. angelis alae sunt – literally "to the angels are wings", this is typically found with a copula and translated as "angels have wings".
Dativus ethicus indicates that the person in the dative is or should be especially concerned about the action, e.g. Quid mihi Celsus agit? "What is Celsus doing for me?" ; or Cui prodest? "Whose interest does this serve?"
Dativus auctoris, meaning; 'in the eyes of', e.g., vir bonus mihi videtur 'he seems to me to be a good man'.
The dative expresses agency with the gerundive when the gerundive is used to convey obligation or necessity, e.g., haec nobis agenda sunt, 'these things must be done by us.'