Breakdown of Каждому ребёнку дали по одному мандарину, и малышка сразу начала улыбаться.
и
and
улыбаться
to smile
дать
to give
начать
to begin
Questions & Answers about Каждому ребёнку дали по одному мандарину, и малышка сразу начала улыбаться.
Why is it каждому ребёнку and not something like каждый ребёнок?
Because каждому ребёнку is in the dative case, and here it means to each child.
- каждый ребёнок = every child as the subject
- каждому ребёнку = to each child
In this sentence, the children are the receivers of the tangerines, so Russian uses the dative:
- дать кому? = to give to whom?
- каждому ребёнку = to each child
So the structure is basically:
- Каждому ребёнку дали... = They gave each child...
Why is дали plural if there is no subject written?
Russian often uses a 3rd person plural verb with no subject to mean something like they in an indefinite sense.
So:
- дали literally = they gave
- but it often means someone gave or people gave
This is very common in Russian when the speaker does not name who did the action, either because it is obvious, unimportant, or unknown.
So here:
- Каждому ребёнку дали по одному мандарину
= Each child was given one tangerine
or more literally
= They gave each child one tangerine
English often prefers a passive translation, but Russian naturally uses this plural verb.