Позволь мне представить моего друга Ивана.

the friend

Breakdown of Позволь мне представить моего друга Ивана.

• я: I
• мой: my
• позволить: to let

Questions & Answers about Позволь мне представить моего друга Ивана.

What does Позволь mean in this sentence?

Позволь is the second person singular imperative of позволить (“to allow”). Here it functions like “allow me” or “let me” in English, making the phrase polite: “Allow me to introduce…”

Why is мне used instead of я after Позволь?

The verb позволить takes a dative object for the person receiving permission. So you say позволь мне (“allow to me”) rather than я. мне is the dative form of я.

Why does моего друга Ивана look like the genitive case instead of the accusative?

In Russian, masculine animate nouns in the accusative case take the same form as in the genitive. Since “my friend Ivan” is the direct object of представить, it’s in the accusative. Animate masculine singular accusative = genitive: моего друга Ивана.

Why is Ивана spelled with -а at the end? Aren’t names in their base form?

Proper names are declined too. For an animate masculine noun like Иван, the accusative case is identical to the genitive: Иван → Ивана. That’s why you see the -а ending.