נאָך פּרטים

Indirect Object - Dative

You already know the forms of the personal pronouns and of people’s names in the dative case from lesson 4.3 (the dative forms can be found in ‏4.3 נאָך פּרטים; on the cases in general, see ‏4.2 נאָך פּרטים). In 4.3, we saw these forms following a preposition.

When a noun/person’s name/pronoun is the indirect object of the verb, the dative forms are also used. In the sentences above, the indirect object is in bold. In the sentences below, colors and subscripts show the three cases in the following functions:

Accusative and Dative: Word Order

When the direct and indirect object are not personal pronouns, their position in the sentence is flexible. (The exact order of the words is determined by stylistic or idiomatic considerations.) However, the rules are somewhat stricter with personal pronouns.

What is the position of a direct or indirect object pronoun? It usually comes right after the conjugated verb.

When the subject is not a personal pronoun and is not the first sentence unit (and thus comes after the verb), an object pronoun may come before it, right after the conjugated verb. The order in both sentences below is correct:

If there is more than one personal pronoun the order is

For example:

װער – װעמען

װער is the nominative form of this question word; in the accusative and dative the form is װעמען. That is, װער has the role of subject, and װעמען of object – direct object, indirect object, and object of a preposition.

We taught װעמען as a vocabulary word in lesson 4.3.

געבן – גיב!‏

In lesson 1.3 we learned the phrase גיב מיר. Now you understand the grammar of this phrase: מיר is the dative pronoun, indirect object of the verb גיב.

In ‏2.1 נאָך פּרטים we noted that the imperative גיב/גיט does not follow the usual pattern. The infinitive of this verb is געבן. The forms of the present tense of געבן are in the table below; they, likewise, do not conform to the regular pattern.

געפֿעלן

A. Nominative and Dative

Look at the examples above with the verb געפֿעלן. Note:

• Other languages have a similar construction with verbs of “liking”, for example:
  • French: Ton costume me plaît.
  • Spanish: Tu disfraz me gusta.
  • Russian: Твой костюм мне нравится.
  • Hebrew: התחפושת שלך מוצאת חן בעיני.‏

Note: The expletive עס (see ‏4.1 נאָך פּרטים) appears frequently in sentences with געפֿעלן. For example:

B. געפֿעלן vs. ליב האָבן

ליב האָבן is used to talk about people, things or actions, that one always likes or has liked for a long time. With געפֿעלן, on the other hand, one expresses a liking in a given moment.

A common example of the momentary feeling conveyed by געפֿעלן is when one sees/hears/meets someone or something for the first time. Consider the difference between the following two sentences:

Possessive Pronouns: זײַן / איר

In lesson 1.5 we learned the possessive pronouns that correspond to איך and דו; in 4.3 — those that correspond to איר, מיר and זיי. In the table below are the remaining possessive pronouns, those that correspond to זי, ער and עס.

Remember:

• The forms without ע are used with a singular noun (זײַן/איר).
• The forms with ע are used with a plural noun (זײַנע/אירע).

Note:

• As we have already noted (see ‏4.1 נאָך פּרטים), a personal pronoun that replaces a singular noun retains its grammatical gender. Similarly, when referring to a singular noun, the possessive pronoun זײַן is used for masculine and neutral words, and איר is used for feminine words. For example: