Я долго выбирал подарок молодым, хотя в приглашении написано, что подарок не обязателен.

I

Breakdown of Я долго выбирал подарок молодым, хотя в приглашении написано, что подарок не обязателен.

• в: in
• не: not
• подарок: the gift

Questions & Answers about Я долго выбирал подарок молодым, хотя в приглашении написано, что подарок не обязателен.

Why is выбирал used instead of выбрал in Я долго выбирал подарок…?

Выбирал is imperfective; выбрал is perfective.

• Я долго выбирал подарок… – focuses on the long process: “I spent a long time choosing a present…”
• Я выбрал подарок. – focuses on the result: “I (have) chosen a present.”

With долго (“for a long time”), Russian almost always uses the imperfective to show duration. A natural combination is:

• Я долго выбирал подарок и наконец выбрал. – “I spent a long time choosing a present and finally chose one.”

What exactly does молодым mean here, and why is it in the dative case?

Молодым is the dative plural form of молодые (“the young [ones]”). In a wedding context, молодые is a common way to say “the young couple / the newlyweds”.

Dative is used because this is the recipient of the gift:

• подарок (кому?) молодым – “a present (to/for whom?) to the young couple.”

Russian often uses the dative to show the indirect object/recipient without any preposition. So English “a present for the couple” becomes simply подарок молодым.

You can also say:

• подарок для молодых – gift for the young couple (genitive after для),

but подарок молодым (dative) is more natural when you’re thinking of “a present to give them” rather than just “intended for them” in a general sense.