Breakdown of Игрок, которому тренер уделяет время, верит в свой успех.
в
in / to (direction)
время
time
верить
to believe
свой
one's own
который
which / who / that (relative pronoun)
игрок
player
тренер
coach
уделять
to dedicate / to devote
успех
success
Questions & Answers about Игрок, которому тренер уделяет время, верит в свой успех.
Why is которому in the Dative case here?
The verb phrase уделять время means "to dedicate time." Just like in English, you dedicate time to someone. In Russian, the recipient of this action takes the Dative case. Since которому replaces игрок (a masculine noun) as the recipient in this part of the sentence, it takes the masculine Dative form.
Why are there commas around которому тренер уделяет время?
In Russian, relative clauses (the part of the sentence starting with who, which, or whose) must always be separated from the rest of the sentence by commas. Since this clause interrupts the main idea (Игрок... верит), it needs a comma at both the beginning and the end.
Why use свой instead of его for "his" success?
Свой is a reflexive possessive pronoun that means "one's own." It always refers back to the subject of the sentence, which here is игрок (the player). If you used его успех here, it would mean the player believes in someone else's success, such as the coach's!
What case is в свой успех, and why?
It is in the Accusative case. The verb верить (to believe) combined with the preposition в (in) requires the Accusative case for the thing being believed in. Because успех is an inanimate masculine noun, its Accusative form looks exactly the same as its dictionary form.
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