dative

[dey-tiv]

adjective

1. (in certain inflected languages, as Latin, Greek, and German) noting a case having as a distinctive function indication of the indirect object of a verb or the object of certain prepositions.

noun

1. the dative case.

2. a word or form in that case, as Latin regi in regi haec dicite meaning “tell this to the king.”

dative

/ ˈdeɪtɪv, deɪˈtaɪvəl /

adjective

1. denoting a case of nouns, pronouns, and adjectives used to express the indirect object, to identify the recipients, and for other purposes

noun

1. 1. the dative case

   2. a word or speech element in this case

Other Word Forms

• datival adjective
• datively adverb
• nondatival adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of dative¹

1400–50; late Middle English datif < Latin datīvus ( casus ) dative (case), equivalent to dat ( us ) given ( date ¹ ) + -īvus -ive; translation of Greek dotikḗ ( ptôsis )

Word History and Origins

Origin of dative¹

C15: from Latin datīvus, from dare to give; translation of Greek dotikos

Example Sentences

“We were going to use a dative or an accusative here but he suggested locative?”

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My teacher was a stickler who was worried about the decline of the dative case, and who discouraged me from using expressions I picked up on the street.

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Prepositional dative: Jocasta handed the infant to her servant.

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It could never tell you if a pronoun took the dative or the accusative case.

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Similarly, names unable to accommodate the endings required by the nominative, accusative, genitive and dative cases used in Icelandic are also routinely turned down.

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