Questions & Answers about Novac daje ljudima moć.
Can you break down the grammar of the whole sentence?
Yes:
- Novac = money, nominative singular; it is the subject
- daje = gives, 3rd person singular present
- ljudima = to people / people, dative plural; it is the indirect object or recipient
- moć = power, accusative singular; it is the direct object
So the structure is basically:
subject + verb + recipient + thing given
That is why it matches the English idea Money gives people power.
Why is ljudima used instead of ljude?
Because with a verb like davati / dati (to give), the recipient normally goes in the dative case.
- ljudima = to people
- ljude = people in the accusative
In English, people in gives people power does not visibly change form, but in Croatian it does. Croatian marks the recipient with the dative ending.
So:
- Novac daje ljudima moć = Money gives people power
- using ljude here would be grammatically wrong for this meaning
Why does not change form, even though it is the object?