The primary use of the dative case is to express the indirect object of a verb. Notice particularly that the following verbs are often used with both a direct object (accusative) and an indirect object (dative): писать/написать, читать/прочитать, готовить/приготовить, делать/сделать, покупать/купить.
| Миша написал Тане письмо. | Mike wrote Tanya a letter. |
| Мама читала сыну книгу. | The mother read her son a book. |
| Мы приготовили маме и папе обед. | We made Mom and Dad lunch. |
| Папа сделал сыну машинку из дерева. | The father made his son a little car out of wood. |
| Я купил сестре компьютер. | I bought my sister a computer. |
| Мой брат сказал мне пошлый анекдот. | The brother told me a vulgar joke. |
Many verbs of communication will use the dative case to express the person to whom the information is directed. Notice particularly that these verbs use a dative object: звонить/позвонить, отчветчать/ответить, говорить/сказать, рассказывать/рассказать.
| Таня позвонила Мише. | Tanya called Misha. |
| Шофёр ответил милиционеру. | The driver answered the policeman. |
| Я сказал брату, что в холодильнике молоко. | I told my brother that there was milk in the refrigerator. |
Some verbs take a dative object (which is not a direct object). These just have to be memorized.
| Кевин помогает Ване учиться. | Kevin is helping Johnny study. |
| Милиционер помог Кевину. | The policeman helped Kevin. |
The most interesting verb used with the dative is нравиться, which literally means “to be pleasing,” although we usually translate it into English as “to like.”
| Кевину нравится Оля. | Kevin likes Olya. |
| Оле понравился фильм. | Olya liked the movie. |
You may see a larger list of dativer verbs here
Several prepositions take the dative case, including к “to someone's place,” and по “on the subject of”:
| Вчера мы ездили к Оле. | Yesterday we went to Olya's place. |
| Папа часто ходит к врачу. | Papa often goes to the doctor. |
| Я купил учебник по физике. | I bought a physics textbook. |