Breakdown of Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность.
Questions & Answers about Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность.
Знание here is a singular abstract noun meaning “knowledge” in general. In Russian, many abstract concepts are normally used in the singular:
- знание – knowledge
- любовь – love
- терпение – patience
If you say знания грамматики, it usually means “pieces of knowledge / specific facts of grammar”, more concrete and countable.
So:
- Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность. – The (general) knowledge of grammar gives me confidence.
- Мои знания грамматики улучшились. – My (individual) bits of grammar knowledge have improved.
Грамматики is in the genitive singular.
In Russian, знание + Genitive is a standard pattern meaning “knowledge of X”:
- знание языка – knowledge of the language
- знание истории – knowledge of history
- знание грамматики – knowledge of grammar
English uses the preposition “of”, but Russian often uses just the genitive case without a preposition to express this relationship.
- знание грамматики – a noun phrase, “the knowledge of grammar” as a thing, an abstract quality you possess.
- знать грамматику – a verb phrase, “to know grammar”.
So:
- Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность. – The knowledge of grammar gives me confidence.
- Я знаю грамматику. – I know grammar.
You could express a similar idea with a verb:
- Когда я хорошо знаю грамматику, я чувствую себя уверенно.
When I know grammar well, I feel confident.
But the original uses the noun знание to talk about knowledge as a general characteristic.
Даёт is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb давать (to give):
- я даю
- ты даёшь
- он/она/оно даёт
- мы даём
- вы даёте
- они дают
So даёт means “gives” (he/she/it gives). Here, the subject is знание грамматики (knowledge of grammar), so:
- Знание грамматики даёт… – Knowledge of grammar gives…
Russian has two aspects for “to give”:
- давать (imperfective) – ongoing, repeated, general fact
- дать (perfective) – one completed act, “will give / gave (once)”
Даёт comes from давать and expresses a general, regular fact:
- Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность.
Knowledge of grammar (in general) gives me confidence.
If you used даст (future of дать):
- Знание грамматики даст мне уверенность.
it would feel more like “will give (at some point)”, a more one‑time or result-focused statement, e.g. talking about the future effect of learning grammar.
Мне is the dative form of я (I) and corresponds to English “to me / for me”.
In this sentence, знание грамматики is the subject (the thing that “gives”), and the person who receives the confidence is in the dative:
- даёт (что?) уверенность (кому?) мне
gives (what?) confidence (to whom?) to me
So:
- Я – I (nominative, subject)
- Мне – to me (dative, indirect object)
You can’t say Знание грамматики даёт я уверенность; the grammar requires мне as the receiver.
Уверенность is in the accusative singular, and its nominative and accusative forms are the same for this noun:
- Nom./Acc. sg.: уверенность
- Gen. sg.: уверенности
- Dat. sg.: уверенности
- etc.
The verb даёт (gives) typically takes:
- Accusative for what is given:
даёт (что?) уверенность – gives confidence - Dative for who receives it:
даёт (кому?) мне – gives to me
So the structure is:
- Subject (Nominative): знание грамматики
- Verb: даёт
- Direct object (Accusative): уверенность
- Indirect object (Dative): мне
Уверенность is feminine.
Clues:
It ends in -ь, and many feminine nouns end in -ость / -есть / -нь / -ть:
- радость (joy) – f.
- молодость (youth) – f.
- новость (news item) – f.
Adjectives agreeing with it would be feminine:
- полная уверенность – complete confidence
So you treat уверенность like a typical feminine noun of this type in declension and adjective agreement.
Some changes are possible, but they sound different:
Грамматика даёт мне уверенность.
This shifts focus to грамматика (grammar itself) as the subject. Grammatically correct, but the meaning is a bit more like “Grammar gives me confidence,” not specifically “knowledge of grammar”.Знание грамматики даёт уверенность мне.
This is grammatically possible but sounds unnatural in neutral speech. Putting мне at the end feels marked/poetic or like strong emphasis: “gives confidence to me (in particular)”.
The original order, Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность, is the most natural neutral word order.
Russian does not have articles like “the” or “a/an”. The definiteness or indefiniteness is usually clear from context or word order, not from a separate word.
So:
- Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность.
can be translated depending on context as:
- Knowledge of grammar gives me confidence.
- The knowledge of grammar gives me confidence.
Russian simply uses знание without any article; you infer “the / a / (no article)” when translating into English.
Yes, that is grammatically correct:
- Знание грамматики даёт уверенность.
This sounds a bit more general and impersonal:
“Knowledge of grammar gives (people) confidence.”
With мне, it’s more personal:
- Знание грамматики даёт мне уверенность.
Knowledge of grammar gives *me confidence.*
So you include or omit мне depending on whether you want to talk about yourself specifically or about people in general.
A natural version with a verb could be:
- Когда я хорошо знаю грамматику, я чувствую себя уверенно.
When I know grammar well, I feel confident.
or more compact:
- Я чувствую себя уверенно, когда хорошо знаю грамматику.
Here:
- знаю грамматику – I know grammar
- чувствую себя уверенно – I feel confident
The original uses a more abstract, “bookish” noun phrase знание грамматики, while these versions sound more like everyday speech.
Stresses:
- знАние – stress on the first syllable
- граммАтики – stress on ма
- даЁт – stress on ёт
- уверЕнность – stress on ре
The letter ё is always stressed and pronounced like “yo” in “yogurt”:
- даёт – da-YOT
In writing, Russians often replace ё with е (e.g. дает), but the pronunciation and stress stay the same.