Russian Translators: What is the difference between the pronouns in the accusative and dative?

I do not understand why they are conjugated differently. Take a look



Я видела Сашу. I saw Sasha ['I' in the nominative]

Саша видела меня. Sasha saw me ['I' in the accusative]- What is the difference?

Саша помогла мне. Sasha helped me. ['I' in the dative]- What is the difference?

Саша думала обо мне. Sasha thought about me ['I' in the prepositional]

Саша говорила со мной. Sasha talked to/with me ['I' in the instrumental]Russian Translators: What is the difference between the pronouns in the accusative and dative?
1. THE CASE AS THE ONLY WAY TO SEPARATE THE OBJECT AND THE SUBJECT IN THE SENTENCE (THE NOMINATIVE VS THE ACCUSATIVE): Я видела Сашу. I saw Sasha.

Russian language has a free order of the words. It means you can say it in many combinations, some of which might be more popular than others, but all are equally correct and it will always be me seeing Sasha, and never - Sasha seeing me.

Саша видела меня. Sasha saw me. - Perform the same experiment, there will be 6 sentences about Sasha seeing me, and NEVER - otherwise.And what if you have an indeclinable noun? They do exist (like a Russian female name Ninel). I saw Ninel. - Я видела Нинель. - 6 versions possible - and none of the word combinations can change the meaning of this sentence. So how would you say Ninel saw me? Just like in English you'll change "I" in "me": Нинель видела меня.

2. THE COMPLEXITY OF THE LONG SENTENCES.

The majority of the cases requires a preposition + inflection. When you have more than 3 words in the sentence the variety of the possible combinations is even larger and only the chain of prepositions and inflections keeps the sense of the sentence together.

3. THE CASE WHEN THE PREPOSITION AND THE INFLECTION "BACK UP" EACH OTHER

Саша говорила со мной. Sasha talked to/with me. But: Саша говорила про меня. - Sasha talked about me. Со мною говорила Саша редко, но слишком часто - про меня. - Sasha talked rather seldom with me, but far too often - about me.

Саша думала обо мне. Sasha thought about me.

But Саша думала со мною о том, как разрешить эту проблему. - Sasha thought together with me about solving this problem.Саша говорила с ним обо мне. Обо мне Саша с ним говорила. = Sasha talked to him about me. Саша говорила о нём со мной. Со мной о нём говорила Саша. = Sasha talked to me about him. Саша говорила с ним, но обо мне, а тебя она вообще не упоминала. = Sasha talked to him but about me, and as for you - she didn't mention you in general.

4. THE CASE AS THE ONLY WAY TO UNDERSTAND THE MEANING OF THE SENTENCE:

A) THE DATIVE VERSUS THE ACCUSATIVE;

Let's be a little childish in a good way. The dative case - дательный падеж - means "the giving case". You put in dative somebody/something to whom /to what you give something. Any transferring action demands the dative case: to write, to give, to send, to help etc.

Он отдал меня (accusative) на съедение волкам (dative). - "He fed wolves with me".

Он отдал мне (dative) на съедение волков (accusative). - "He fed me with wolves".

Я отдал его на съедение волкам. - "I fed wolves with him"

Я отдал волков на съедение ему. - "I fed him with wolves"

The first phrase is a widespread expression, nobody means it literally. The rest - I turned it inside out just to show how the grammar works.

Я отдал ему волков - Я отдал волков ему. - "I gave him the wolves".

Я отдал его волкам - Я отдал волкам его. - "I gave him to the wolves".

B) THE INSTRUMENTAL CASE VERSUS PEOPLE :-)

It's better to stay childish to understand how the grammar works. The instrumental case turns somebody/something into an instrument, a tool:

Она стояла за мною. - "She stood behind me". I turned myself into a system of coordinates. Without me there wouldn't be left, right, before and behind. I am just a tool for the orientation in space helping to describe her position in it.

Саша говорила со мной. Sasha talked to/with me. - Sasha couldn't talk without having the 2nd side of the conversation. Even if Sasha talked to herself the 2nd part should be named: Саша говорила сама с собой (accusative).

Саша говорила мне (dative) о тебе (prepositional). - "Sasha told me about you". - There isn't conversation. It's a transfer of the information from one person to another.

C) THE PREPOSITIONAL CASE VERSUS THE LINGUISTICS :-)

The traditional Russian grammar simply adopted the Latin system of the cases. The modern linguistic studies recognize several sub-cases within the prepositional case, but the traditional approach stays for the schools and foreigners. Just learn which prepositions demand this case.Russian Translators: What is the difference between the pronouns in the accusative and dative?
two minor points before i answer. 1. conjugation refers to verbs, declension to nouns, pronouns, adjectives. 2. both words refer to how you form the words, not to their uses and meanings.



now, to your real question, 3. in general the dative corresponds to our indirect object (e.g., give мне some tea!). however, languages differ to some extent as to what is a direct object or indirect object, and indeed in terms of all grammatical categories. so in many languages, not just russian (exx. include french, german, polish, hebrew, but not dutch, which is like english) instead of 'help someone' people in fact

say 'help TO someone', which you can easily understand given that in english we can also say

'give help/aid/assistance TO someone'.Russian Translators: What is the difference between the pronouns in the accusative and dative?
Some verbs will require that the object be in the dative, but most will be in the accusative case. Помогать-помочь is a verb that calls for the dative case, so мне (literally "to me") is used.



I'm not sure if this answers your question.