Breakdown of Дайте мне тот коричневый чемодан, пожалуйста.
я
I
дать
to give
пожалуйста
please
чемодан
suitcase
коричневый
brown
тот
that
Questions & Answers about Дайте мне тот коричневый чемодан, пожалуйста.
Why do тот коричневый чемодан look exactly like they do in the dictionary, even though they are the direct object being given?
They are actually in the Accusative case! For masculine inanimate objects (things that aren't alive, like a suitcase), the Accusative case endings for the noun, the adjective (коричневый), and the demonstrative pronoun (тот) are identical to their basic Nominative forms.
What would this sentence look like if I were asking for "that brown bag" (сумка) instead of a suitcase?
Сумка is a feminine noun, so the Accusative case endings would change. You would say Дайте мне ту коричневую сумку... Notice how the demonstrative pronoun changes to ту and the adjective gets the -ую ending, which is the rule for feminine Accusative adjectives.
Why is the word for "me" мне here instead of меня?
The verb дайте (give) takes two objects: the thing being given (the suitcase, in the Accusative case) and the person receiving it (in the Dative case). Мне is the Dative form of я, meaning "to me." Меня is the Accusative form, which you would use if you were the direct object being given away!
Is дайте related to the word давать (to give)? Why don't we say давайте?
Yes, they are a pair! Давать is the imperfective verb, and its imperative form давайте is often used to mean "let's..." (like давайте пойдём - let's go). Дайте comes from the perfective verb дать. We use the perfective imperative here because you are asking for a single, specific, completed result: handing over that one suitcase right now.
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