Breakdown of Мы часто переводим деньги благотворительным фондам и помогаем пожилым людям.
и
and
мы
we
часто
often
деньги
money
люди
people
помогать
to help
переводить
to transfer
благотворительный
charitable
фонд
the foundation
пожилой
elderly
Questions & Answers about Мы часто переводим деньги благотворительным фондам и помогаем пожилым людям.
Why do фондам and людям have different endings (-ам vs -ям) if they are both in the Dative plural?
Regular masculine nouns ending in a hard consonant, like фонд (fund), take the hard Dative plural ending -ам. The word люди (people) is plural and takes the soft ending -ям. Both are in the Dative case because they are the receivers of the action (getting money and getting help).
How do the adjectives благотворительным and пожилым match the Dative plural nouns?
In the Dative plural, adjectives take the ending -ым if they have a hard stem, or -им if they have a soft stem. Both благотворительный (charitable) and пожилой (elderly) are hard-stem adjectives, so they drop their normal endings and add -ым to become благотворительным and пожилым.
I learned that переводить means to translate languages. Does it also mean to transfer money?
Yes! While переводить is the standard verb for translating languages, it is also the word used for transferring money. When you transfer money to someone or something, the receiver is always in the Dative case, just like when you give a gift.
Why is пожилым людям (elderly people) in the Dative case? Shouldn't the people we help be in the Accusative case?
In English, you help someone directly. But in Russian, the verb помогать (to help) always requires the Dative case. You can think of it as giving help to someone. Because of this rule, we must say помогаем пожилым людям instead of using the Accusative case.
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