Breakdown of Она позвала врача.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
врач
doctor
позвать
to call, to invite (perfective)
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Russian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Она позвала врача.
We are learning the Dative case. Why isn't the doctor in the Dative case here?
Because of the specific verb used! The verb позвать (which позвала comes from) means "to call out to" or "to summon." It takes a direct object in the Accusative case. If she had called the doctor on the phone, you would use the verb позвонить instead, which does require the Dative case (Она позвонила врачу).
If I wanted to say "She called him," would I use the Dative pronoun ему?
Not with this verb! Since позвать (to summon) requires the Accusative case, you must use the Accusative pronoun его (Она позвала его). You would only use the Dative ему if you were talking about calling him on the phone (Она позвонила ему).
Why does врач (doctor) have an -а at the end here?
It is in the Accusative case because the doctor is the direct object (the person receiving the action). For masculine nouns that are alive (animate), the Accusative case looks exactly like the Genitive case. This means you add an -а to a consonant-ending word like врач to get врача.