[Дат] The Dative - Plural - по, personal pronouns

So it's probably about time we wrapped this one up now.

Basically, they all have to end in either -ам or -ям, which we know are directly related... so we are actually kind of just adding "-ам", which sometimes turns into -ям, if the preceding letter is soft.

Mascunline

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• /|- й|- ь :---:|:---:|:---:
• ам|- ям|- ям

Examples:

1. Сто́л -> Стола́м

2. Кра́й -> Края́м

3. Учи́тель -> Учителя́м

4. Irr: Бра́т -> Бра́тьям Дру́г -> Друзья́м

Neutral

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• о|- е :---:|:---:
• ам|- ям

1. Окно́ -> О́кнам

2. Мо́ре -> Моря́м

Feminine

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• а|- я|- ь :---:|:---:|:---:
• ам|- ям|- ям

1. Кни́га -> Кни́гам

2. Ста́я(flock, herd, pack) -> Ста́ям

3. Ча́сть -> Частя́м

Personal Pronouns

*́

Now, you might remember how we said that the dative is used to to describe the subject experiencing something, or the indirect object(the 'addressee') as well as a couple of other uses - including indicating age. So, let's have a look at the pronouns in the да́тельный паде́ж, and maybe a couple of examples:

Я	Ты	Он	Оно́	Она́	Мы	Вы	Они́
Мне́	Тебе́	Ему́	Ему́	Е́й	На́м	Ва́м	И́м

• Age: Мне со́рок лет. I'm 40 years old. Ей 4 го́да. She is 4 years old.

• Experience: Тебе́ хо́лодно? Are you cold? Ему́ ску́чно... he is bored.

• Ты нравишься мне - I like you.

• Я им писа́л письмо́ - I wrote them a letter. This is the one where you can also clearly tell the difference in english they -> them, she -> her, etc.

По

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This preposition has a variety of different meanings in English, but hopefully you can see the connection in the meanings and understand why...

1. Motion along a surface (along, over) - I walk along the street.

• Ты идёшь по у́лице

2. Something that's being hit - I hit him in the face. Works with other verbs, as long as the meaning is more or less the same... punched, etc

• Я ему́ уда́рил по лицу́

3. On - When someone is specialized on something - I'm an expert on... I'm a specialist on

• Экспе́рт по спо́рту

4. Describe the reason for something - By accident, out of stupidity, etc

• По оши́бке - by mistake

5. Accordance - On schedule, based on(story, novel, play, etc)...

• По рома́ну Пу́шкина

6. Apiece, per... I gave them a book apiece(I gave them each a book).

• Я им вы́дал по кни́ге

Just approach these slowly, and teach yourself one meaning at a time... when you're coming up with examples, only make examples using the first one... until you've really remembered it.