Woda szkodzi aksamitowi.

the water

Breakdown of Woda szkodzi aksamitowi.

• aksamit: velvet
• szkodzić: to harm; be bad for

Questions & Answers about Woda szkodzi aksamitowi.

Why is aksamit changed to aksamitowi?

Because the verb szkodzić requires the dative case for the thing or person being harmed.

So the pattern is:

• kto/co szkodzi komu/czemu
• someone/something harms someone/something

Here:

• woda = the subject, so it stays in the nominative
• aksamitowi = the thing being harmed, so it goes into the dative

Base form:

• aksamit = velvet

Dative form:

• aksamitowi = to velvet / for velvet, but in English we usually just say harms velvet

What case is woda in?

Woda is in the nominative case, because it is the subject of the sentence — the thing doing the action.

In this sentence:

• Woda = water
• szkodzi = harms / is harmful
• aksamitowi = to velvet

So literally, the structure is something like:

• Water harms to velvet

But natural English is simply:

• Water harms velvet
• or Water is bad for velvet

Does always take the dative?