Breakdown of Директор сам удивляется новой премии.
новый
new
директор
director
сам
oneself (сам, сама, само, сами)
удивляться
to be surprised
Questions & Answers about Директор сам удивляется новой премии.
Why is the phrase "новой премии" in the Dative case here?
The verb удивляться (to be surprised) requires the thing causing the emotion to be in the Dative case. While English uses a preposition like "at" or "by" (surprised by the bonus), Russian simply puts the cause directly into the Dative: новой премии.
Could I use the non-reflexive verb "удивляет" instead of "удивляется"?
If you use the non-reflexive удивлять (to surprise), the sentence structure flips. The bonus becomes the subject doing the surprising, and the director becomes the object: Новая премия удивляет директора (The new bonus surprises the director). Using the reflexive удивляться lets you keep the director as the subject who is experiencing the feeling.
How would the word "сам" change if the director were a woman?
The word сам means "himself" and is in the masculine Nominative form to agree with the grammatical gender of директор. If you wanted to explicitly emphasize "the director herself", you would change it to the feminine form сама.
Why does "премии" end in "-ии" instead of the usual Dative "-е"?
The dictionary form is премия (bonus or award). Normally, feminine nouns ending in -я take an -е in the Dative case. However, nouns ending specifically in -ия are an exception and change their ending to -ии in both the Dative and Prepositional cases.