Breakdown of Мы купили подарки для маленьких девочек.
мы
we
девочка
girl
маленький
small
купить
to buy (perfective)
подарок
gift, present
для
for
Questions & Answers about Мы купили подарки для маленьких девочек.
Why does маленьких end in -их instead of the standard -ых?
Маленьких is in the genitive plural. Normally, adjectives like this would take -ых, but the 7-letter spelling rule dictates that we can never write ы after the letter к (as well as г, х, ж, ч, ш, щ). Because of this rule, we must use и instead, giving us the -их ending.
Why is the word for girls spelled девочек instead of just dropping the final vowel to make 'девочк'?
To form the genitive plural of feminine nouns ending in -а like девочка, we usually just drop the -а. However, that leaves the awkward consonant cluster 'чк' at the end. To make the word easier to pronounce, Russian inserts a 'fleeting vowel' (usually о or е) between those consonants, resulting in девочек.
Why are the little girls in the genitive case instead of the dative case (since they are receiving the gifts)?
The preposition для (for) strictly requires the noun and its adjectives to be in the genitive case. If the sentence didn't use a preposition and just meant 'We bought the little girls gifts' (Мы купили маленьким девочкам подарки), then you would indeed use the dative case for the recipients.
Since подарки (gifts) is the direct object being bought, shouldn't it change to the accusative case?
It actually is in the accusative case! For plural inanimate nouns (objects and things, not people or animals), the accusative case takes the exact same form as the nominative case. Therefore, подарки does not change its spelling to act as the direct object here.
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