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Немно́го о языке́ 6.5 Хочу́ сде́лать пода́рок

Dative with Verbs of Communication

In Russian the dative case is often used with verbs of "communication" such as:

звони́ть/позвони́ть = to telephone someone (indirect object)
отвеча́ть/отве́тить = to answer someone (indirect object)
сове́товать/посове́товать = to advise someone (indirect object)
помога́ть/помо́чь = to help someone (indirect object)
говори́ть/сказа́ть = to say something (direct object) to someone (indirect object)

Упражне́ние 1

Read the sentences below and decide which verb would make the sentence grammatically correct. The case forms of the nouns will help you make your choice. Then select the picture that matches the correct sentence.

1. Же́ня (фотографи́рует / звони́т) Ама́нде. photographs calls
2. Же́ня (фотографи́рует / звони́т) Ама́нду. photographs calls
3. Зо́я Степа́новна (лю́бит / сове́тует) Дени́су. loves advises
4. Зо́я Степа́новна (лю́бит / сове́тует) Дени́са. loves advises
5. Джош (ви́дит / помога́ет ) Светла́не Бори́совне. sees helps
6. Мара́т Аза́тович (лю́бит / помога́ет) Ри́мму Ю́рьевну. loves helps
7. Ри́мма Ю́рьевна (лю́бит / помога́ет) Мара́ту Аза́товичу. loves helps
8. Джош (ви́дит / помога́ет) Светла́ну Бори́совну. sees helps

Dative with the Preposition по

In addition to expressing the notion of indirect object and the "liker" with the verb нра́виться, the dative case is also used with the preposition по.  The preposition по has several differ equivalents in English.  For the moment, you should recognize the use of по in these four contexts.

Мы идём по Не́вскому проспе́кту. We are walking along Nevsky Prospect.
Мы лю́бим ходи́ть по магази́нам. We like to go shopping (lit. around the stores).
по календарю́ according to the calendar
альбо́м по ру́сскому иску́сству an album on Russian art

Another Context for the Preposition от

In Unit 4 you first encountered the expressions

далеко́ от  + genitive case far from
бли́зко от  + genitive case near to

In this unit you encounter another use of the preposition от with the genitive case in the phrase

пода́рок от  + genitive a present from a person

Use this phrase when describing presents that come from a person.