Dative Case

Dative

The circunflected accents are used to mark long vowels.

1. Dative of the Indirect Object (Dativus objecti indirecti)

It indicates the object or the person to which or to whom something is done. It is used:

a) at the verbs dare to give, donâre to bestow, prodesse to be useful, profit, nocêre to harm, injure, imperâre to command, rule over etc.

Vir bonus multis prodest, nocet nemini.

The good man is useful to many and harms no one.

b) at the verbs favêre to favor, parcere to spare, suadêre to induce, advise, persuadêre to persuade, convince, medêri to heal, cure, nubere to marry, be married to, studêre to be eager for, busy oneself with etc., which in English are constructed with direct object.

c) with the adjectives utilis useful, inutilis useless, noxius harmful, noxious, gratus pleasing, ingratus unpleasant, amicus friendly, inimicus unfrendly, similis like, similar, dissimilis unlike, dissimilar, par equal, impar unequal, dispar disparate, proximus nearer, closer, finitimus neighboring, bordering:

Sibi quisque proximus est.

Every one is closest to himself.

d) at the verbs that begin with the prefixes ad-, ante-, co- (con-), in-, inter-, ob-, sub-, super-, post-, prae-:

Terror incidit exercitui = Dread befall on the host.

Pedibus timor addidit alas = Fear gave wings to the feet.

e) with some verbs that are used wit the accusative also and change their meaning depending on the case:

*Verb*	*Meaning with Dative*	*Meaning with Accusative*
caveo, cavi, 2	take care, beware	guard against, beware of
metuo, ui, 2	fear for smb, sth	fear smb, sth
timeo, ui, 2	fear for smb, sth	fear smb, sth
consulo, sului, sultus, 2	look out for	take advice of
prospicio, spexi, spectus, 3	look out for	see far off, foresee
provideo, visi, 2	look out for	see far off, foresee

Multos timere debet quem multis timent.

Many must fear who makes many to fear.

Sibi non cavere et aliis consilium dare stultum est.
It is stupid to take not care about himself and to advise the others.

2. Dative of the benefit and harm (Dativus commodi et incommodi)

It denotes the person or the object to whose benefit or harm something is done:

Quidquid discis tibi discis = Whatever you learn, you learn it for yourself.

It is used with the interjection vae woe:

Vae victis! = Woe to the vanquished!

3. Dative of agent (Dativus auctoris sive personae)

4. Possessive Dative (Dativus possessivus)

5. Dative of Purpose (Dativus finalis)

6. Double Dative (Dativus duplex)

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