Questions & Answers about Мама не даёт мне гулять вечером.
Why is it мне, not я or меня?
Because мне is the dative case of я.
In this sentence, давать is used in the pattern:
кто-то даёт + кому + infinitive
So literally it is something like:
Mom does not give to me to walk/go out in the evening
That sounds odd in English, but in Russian this structure means to let / allow someone to do something.
So:
- мама = the person doing the allowing
- мне = the person being allowed or not allowed
- гулять = the action
That is why мне is correct here.
Why does даёт mean lets / allows here? I thought давать meant to give.
Yes, давать basically means to give, but in Russian it can also be used in the sense of to allow in constructions like this:
давать кому-то что-то делать
So:
- Мама даёт мне гулять = Mom lets me go out
- Мама не даёт мне гулять = Mom does not let me go out
This is a very natural Russian pattern.
A closely related verb is позволять = to allow / permit, which is a bit more formal:
- Мама не позволяет мне гулять вечером
That means nearly the same thing.