Breakdown of Вчера она мне это сказала.
это
this / it is
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
вчера
yesterday
мне
to me
сказать
to tell, to say
Questions & Answers about Вчера она мне это сказала.
Why do we use мне here instead of меня?
мне is the Dative case form of я (I). In Russian, verbs of communicating, giving, or showing use the Dative case for the person receiving the action. You use мне because she said the words to me.
Does Russian have a word for "to" in this sentence, like "said to me"?
No extra word is needed! The Dative pronoun мне already has the built-in meaning of "to me" when used with verbs like сказала.
Why are the words мне это placed before the verb? Can I put them after?
Russian word order is very flexible. Short pronouns often naturally group together right before the verb. It is also perfectly fine to say Вчера она сказала это мне, which just puts a tiny bit more emphasis on the fact that it was said specifically to you.
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