Breakdown of Она не показала это сообщение Ивану.
не
not
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
Иван
Ivan
сообщение
message
показать
to show (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Она не показала это сообщение Ивану.
Why is Ivan's name written as Ивану instead of Иван?
Because Ivan is the indirect object here—the person to whom the message is shown. This requires the Dative case, which is the focus of your current lesson! For masculine nouns and names ending in a hard consonant like Иван, we add -у to the end, making it Ивану.
Сообщение is the direct object (the thing being shown). Why didn't its ending change?
You are right that it is in the Accusative case. However, сообщение (message) is a neuter noun. In Russian, neuter nouns and their matching modifiers like это (this) do not change their form in the Accusative case. They look exactly like their Nominative (dictionary) form.
Why does the verb показала end in -ла?
In English, we can say 'She didn't show Ivan this message.' Can we put Ивану right after the verb in Russian?
Yes, absolutely! Because the Dative case ending -у already tells us that Ivan is the one receiving the message, you can safely say Она не показала Ивану это сообщение. Russian word order is very flexible, and both orders are completely natural.
Learn Она не показала это сообщение Ивану and more in Russian
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free