Я кидаю мяч другу.

I am throwing the ball to a friend.

Breakdown of Я кидаю мяч другу.

• друг: the friend
• я: I
• мяч: the ball
• кидать: to throw

Questions & Answers about Я кидаю мяч другу.

Why is другу in this sentence and not just друг?

Другу is the dative case form of друг (friend).

In Russian, when you say throw something *to someone, the person who receives the object is in the *dative case, not in the basic (nominative) form.

• Nominative (dictionary form): друг – friend
• Dative: другу – to (a) friend

So:

• Я кидаю мяч другу. – I throw the ball to (a) friend.
  (другу = to a friend)

Why is there no word for “to” before другу? Why not к другу?

Russian often uses cases instead of prepositions where English uses prepositions.

The meaning “to someone” (as an indirect object of giving, sending, throwing, etc.) is usually expressed by putting the noun/pronoun in the dative case, without к.

So:

• Я кидаю мяч другу. – I throw the ball to a friend.
  (другу already means to a friend.)

You would use к другу more with verbs of movement toward a person/place like go/come to:

• Я иду к другу. – I’m going to (my) friend.

But with throw/give/show/say etc., you normally just use the dative: другу, ему, тебе, etc., without к.

What exactly does Я кидаю mean in terms of tense and aspect?

Кидать is an imperfective verb. Я кидаю is:

• Present tense
• Imperfective aspect

It can mean:

1. Right now / progressive:
   
   • I am throwing the ball (right now).
2. Habitual / repeated action:
   
   • I (usually) throw the ball to my friend.

Russian doesn’t have a separate “I am throwing” form. Я кидаю can mean both I throw and I am throwing, and context clarifies which is meant.

What is the difference between кидаю and бросаю? Can I say Я бросаю мяч другу?

Yes, you can say Я бросаю мяч другу. It’s grammatically correct.

Nuances:

• Кидать – кидаю
  Often feels a bit more casual/colloquial. Can suggest tossing or chucking; in some contexts can feel slightly rough or careless.

• Бросать – бросаю
  A bit more neutral, common in many contexts. Also used figuratively (бросать работу – to quit a job).

In this simple physical sense (throwing a ball), they’re very close in meaning. Both are fine; бросать might sound a touch more neutral in standard speech, but кидать is extremely common in everyday conversation.

What is the perfective form of кидаю, and when would I use it?

The usual perfective partner of кидать is кинуть.

• Imperfective: кидать – я кидаю (I am throwing / I throw)
• Perfective: кинуть – я кину (I will throw (once, as a completed act))

Russian doesn’t use perfective in the present tense (except with a future meaning), so я кину means I will throw (it once, and that’s it).

Compare:

• Я кидаю мяч другу. – I am throwing / (I) throw the ball to my friend.
• Я кину мяч другу. – I’ll throw the ball to my friend (one completed action).

Why is мяч in this form? What case is it?

Мяч here is in the accusative case.

In Russian, the direct object of an action (the thing being thrown, read, eaten, etc.) is usually in the accusative.

For inanimate masculine nouns that end in a consonant (like мяч), the accusative singular looks the same as the nominative:

• Nominative: мяч – ball (subject)
• Accusative: мяч – ball (object)

So:

• Мяч лежит на столе. – The ball is lying on the table. (subject – nominative)
• Я кидаю мяч другу. – I throw the ball to my friend. (object – accusative)

Is the word order fixed? Can I say Я кидаю другу мяч instead?

Yes, you can change the word order. Both are correct:

• Я кидаю мяч другу.
• Я кидаю другу мяч.

Basic rules:

• Russian word order is fairly flexible.
• The meaning usually stays the same; what changes is emphasis.

Neutral and common options:

• Я кидаю мяч другу. – a bit more common; what you throw comes right after the verb.
• Я кидаю другу мяч. – slightly more emphasis on другу (to my friend).

Other possible orders with different stress:

• Мяч я кидаю другу. – Emphasizes мяч (it’s the ball, not something else).
• Другу я кидаю мяч. – Emphasizes другу (it is to the friend, not to someone else).

All are grammatical; choice depends on what you want to highlight.

How would I say “I throw him the ball” instead of “I throw the ball to a friend”?

Use a dative pronoun instead of другу:

• Я кидаю ему мяч. – I throw him the ball.
• Я кидаю мяч ему. – I throw the ball to him. (slightly more emphasis on him)

Both are correct. In Russian:

• ему = to him (dative of он – he)
• The position of ему vs мяч changes emphasis but not basic meaning.

How do I say this if my friend is female?

For a female friend, Russian usually uses подруга.

• Nominative: подруга – (female) friend
• Dative: подруге – to (a female) friend

So:

• Я кидаю мяч подруге. – I throw the ball to (my) female friend.

If you literally used другу with a clearly female name, it would sound odd, because друг is grammatically and typically male.

Why doesn’t Russian use articles like “a” or “the” in мяч and другу?

Russian simply doesn’t have articles. There is no direct equivalent of “a/an” or “the”.

• Я кидаю мяч другу. can mean:
  • I throw *a ball to a friend.*
  • I throw *the ball to my/the friend.*

Context (what has been mentioned before, what is known to the speakers) tells you whether the speaker has a specific ball/friend in mind or not. The Russian form stays the same: мяч, другу.

How is this sentence pronounced, and where is the stress?

Phonetic approximation:

• Я кидаю мяч другу.
  [ya kee-DA-yu myach DRU-gu]

Stresses:

• Я – unstressed, short ya
• кидаю – stress on -да-: кида́ю
• мяч – one syllable, stressed: мяч
• другу – stress on the first syllable: дру́гу

So the stressed syllables are: киДА́ю, МЯЧ, ДРУ́гу.

How would I say “I throw the ball to my friends” (plural)?

You need the plural dative of друг and possibly a possessive:

• Nominative plural: друзья – friends
• Dative plural: друзьям – to (the) friends

Examples:

• Я кидаю мяч друзьям. – I throw the ball to (my/the) friends.
• Я кидаю мяч моим друзьям. – I throw the ball to my friends. (explicit моим = my)

Could this also mean “I am throwing my friend a ball” like in English double-object form?

Yes. English has two ways:

• I throw the ball to my friend.
• I throw my friend the ball.

Russian usually keeps the thing as a direct object (accusative) and the person as an indirect object (dative), regardless of English word order:

• Я кидаю мяч другу.
  = I throw the ball to my friend.
  = I throw my friend the ball.

Russian doesn’t change the case pattern for the English “double-object” version; it stays мяч (accusative) + другу (dative).