Questions & Answers about Преступник угрожает свидетелю.
Why is the witness in the Dative case (свидетелю) instead of the Accusative?
The verb угрожать (to threaten) requires the Dative case for the person receiving the threat, without any prepositions. While in English we threaten a witness (using a direct object), Russian treats it as a communication or action directed to someone, similar to handing a threat to them.
Could I use the preposition к (to/towards) before свидетелю here?
No, you shouldn't use a preposition. Verbs of communication and hindrance like угрожать (to threaten), мешать (to bother/hinder), and помогать (to help) govern the Dative case directly. Adding к here would be a grammatical mistake.
Why does the Dative form свидетелю end in -ю and not -у?
The dictionary form of the word for witness is свидетель. Because it is a masculine noun ending in a soft sign (-ь), it has a soft stem. Therefore, it takes the soft Dative ending -ю instead of the standard hard ending -у (which you see in words like брату or студенту).
I know the word for crime is преступление. Are преступник and преступление related?
Exactly! Both words share a root that literally means to step across or transgress (crossing the boundary of the law). The ending -ник is a very common suffix used to describe a person characterized by a certain trait or action, making преступник the person who commits the crime.
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