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According to some resources I have you use the Dative case after a lot of verbs that mean an action pointed towards a person, like the "to gift" verb. For example:

Виктор мешает брату.
"брат" is in Dative case.

But at the same time I know that you use Accusative case for direct objects, i.e. the object of the action (and, subsequently, Dative for the indirect object). So in the example given above "брат" is clearly the direct object, so why isn't it in Accusative case? Is it just one of many "exceptions" that need to be remembered that go with the Dative, instead of the Accusative?

EDIT: Removed the "to hate" and "to love" verbs.

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  • 1
    "to hate" is definitely not supposed to be used with the dative case. Only accusative
    – d.k
    May 18, 2016 at 23:07
  • 1
    "to hate" - ненавидеть (кого? что? - винительный падеж)
    – d.k
    May 18, 2016 at 23:08
  • the same for "to love"
    – d.k
    May 18, 2016 at 23:10
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    It's not an "exception", it's an indication that you need to altogether drop thinking in your current terms of "direct" and "indirect" objects. They're clearly not helping.
    – Nikolay Ershov
    May 19, 2016 at 0:12
  • "hate", "love" - any examples?
    – Anixx
    May 19, 2016 at 10:53

3 Answers 3

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The so called law about direct and indirect objects is good only to explain things post-factum. You cannot use the law to predict anything. Examples:

  • Виктор учит студентов физике. (Студенты is in accusative, физика is in dative)
  • Виктор преподаёт студентам физику. (Студенты is in dative, физика is in accusaive)

Note that Victor does the same thing in both cases.

You should just remember which verbs govern dative.

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  • So, basically, Dative goes with certain verbs and all else is Accusative?
    – mathgenius
    May 19, 2016 at 13:36
  • Yes, except that some verbs govern other cases, i. e. владеть governs instrumental, бояться governs genitive. Also, if a verb governs some case, the same verb with prefix governs the same case (i.e. since владеть governs instrumental, овладеть or завладеть also governs instrumental), don't know if there are any exceptions to this rule.
    – user31264
    May 19, 2016 at 16:22
  • @user31264 what about the prefixed verb научить with respect to учить; would it also require dative ? What about получить which does not require dative afterwards ? Would this qualify for an exception ?
    – Xavier
    Apr 30, 2022 at 13:35
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Виктор мешает брату. = Victor mixes [things] to his brother.

Мешает means mixes or messes. In this case the direct object is omitted. Victor mixes or messes some things with which his brother is doing something.

If you say Виктор мешает брата (accusative) this would mean Victor is mixing his brother. Like if he were cooking his brother in a pot.

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  • In this context мешать is used in its "to bother" meaning
    – mathgenius
    May 19, 2016 at 13:35
  • @mathgenius No, bother is беспокоить and it uses accusative. Мешать is to impede, hamper the actions or work of somebody, literally "to mix". If somebody does not do anything you can still bother them but you cannot мешать them.
    – Anixx
    May 19, 2016 at 14:59
  • Yes, you can
    – mathgenius
    May 19, 2016 at 16:10
  • @mathgenius what the link is supposed to prove?
    – Anixx
    May 19, 2016 at 17:28
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Это непереходные глаголы и они требуют дательного падежа. брату не direct object. Глагол мешать имеет два значения: Мешать что-то - переходный: Мешать кашу. Мешать кому-то - непереходный: Мешать брату. https://ru.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/мешать

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