Breakdown of Она сама сочувствует бедным пациентам.
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
бедный
poor
пациент
patient
сам
oneself (сам, сама, само, сами)
Questions & Answers about Она сама сочувствует бедным пациентам.
Why is бедным пациентам in the Dative case here?
The verb сочувствовать (to sympathize with / to feel sorry for) requires the Dative case for the person receiving the sympathy. Just like the reflexive emotion verbs you are learning right now (such as радоваться or удивляться), this verb directs a feeling toward a target in the Dative case.
Why use сама for "herself" instead of the reflexive pronoun себя?
Сама is an emphatic pronoun that agrees with the subject (Она), used to emphasize that "she herself" is doing the action. You would only use себя if she were the object of the action (for example, if she felt sorry for herself).
Where did the "-ова-" from the infinitive сочувствовать go in the word сочувствует?
This is a great time for a quick refresher: verbs ending in -овать drop the -ова- suffix and replace it with -у- in the present tense. After making that swap, you just add the standard endings, turning сочувств-овать into сочувств-у-ет.
What are the specific Dative plural endings used on бедным пациентам?