Breakdown of Я хочу подарить эту книгу моему маленькому племяннику.
книга
book
я
I
маленький
small
мой
my / mine
Questions & Answers about Я хочу подарить эту книгу моему маленькому племяннику.
Why do моему and маленькому have those specific endings here?
They are describing племяннику (nephew), who is the receiver of the gift. The receiver takes the Dative case. For masculine words in the Dative case, possessive pronouns like мой change to моему, and adjectives like маленький take the -ому ending, becoming маленькому.
Why is it эту книгу and not эта книга?
The book is the direct object of the sentence, meaning it is the thing being acted upon. This requires the Accusative case. The feminine noun книга changes its ending to -у, and the word for 'this' (эта) changes to эту to match it.
Does подарить just mean 'to give'?
It specifically means 'to give as a gift'. If you were just handing the book to your nephew temporarily, you would use a different verb, like дать.
Why is there no preposition like 'to' before the nephew?
In Russian, the Dative case by itself expresses the idea of 'to' or 'for' someone. Because the verb подарить already expects a receiver in the Dative case, you just change the endings of the words and do not need to add an extra preposition.