Breakdown of Мы часто предлагаем кофе или чай нашему новому клиенту.
чай
tea
мы
we
новый
new
кофе
coffee
наш
our (наш, наша, наше)
часто
often
клиент
client
или
or
предлагать
to offer
Questions & Answers about Мы часто предлагаем кофе или чай нашему новому клиенту.
Why do наш and новый have the endings -ему and -ому in this sentence?
They are in the Dative case because the client is the recipient—the person to whom the coffee or tea is offered. For masculine words in the Dative case, nouns usually take -у (клиенту), possessive pronouns like наш take -ему (нашему), and hard-stem adjectives like новый take -ому (новому).
If I want to use the verb предлагать (to offer) in my own sentences, what cases do I need?
You need two cases! The thing you are offering (the direct object) takes the Accusative case, and the person you are offering it to (the indirect object) takes the Dative case. This sentence is a perfect blueprint: предлагаем + Accusative (кофе или чай) + Dative (нашему новому клиенту).
Why didn't кофе and чай change their endings if they are in the Accusative case?
Чай is an inanimate masculine noun, so its Accusative form looks exactly like its dictionary form. Кофе is a borrowed foreign word, which means it is "indeclinable"—it never changes its spelling in Russian, no matter what case it is in!
Why do we use the imperfective verb предлагаем here instead of its perfective partner предложим?
The adverb часто (often) is the giveaway. Because offering the coffee or tea is a repeated, habitual action, you must use the imperfective aspect. If you were talking about offering it just once on a specific, completed occasion, you would use the perfective aspect.
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