Breakdown of Учитель отправил девочке подарок.
учитель
teacher
девочка
girl
подарок
gift, present
отправить
to send (perfective)
Questions & Answers about Учитель отправил девочке подарок.
Why is the word for girl spelled девочке instead of девочка?
Because the girl is receiving the gift, she is the indirect object of the sentence. In Russian, indirect objects take the Dative case. For feminine nouns ending in -а like девочка, the Dative case ending changes the -а to an -е.
Is подарок the direct object? Why doesn't its ending change?
Yes, подарок (gift) is the direct object, which means it is in the Accusative case. However, because it is a masculine inanimate noun (a non-living thing), its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its basic dictionary form.
Why does the verb отправил end in -л?
Does the sentence mean the same thing if I swap the order to Учитель отправил подарок девочке?
Absolutely. Because the word endings clearly show who is sending (учитель), what is being sent (подарок), and who is receiving it (девочке), you can safely mix up the word order. Putting the person receiving the action before the object is a very common and natural word order in Russian.
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