Breakdown of Эта тенденция показывает, скольким респондентам нужен опрос.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
сколько
how much / how long / as much / as many as
показывать
to show
нужен
needed (short form)
Questions & Answers about Эта тенденция показывает, скольким респондентам нужен опрос.
Why do we use скольким instead of сколько here?
The phrase is part of a construction that requires the Dative case. When quantifiers like сколько are used in oblique cases (any case other than Nominative or inanimate Accusative), they stop forcing the following noun into the Genitive plural. Instead, they decline like plural adjectives and match the noun's case. Here, both скольким and респондентам are in the Dative plural.
Why is the word for respondents in the Dative case (респондентам)?
This sentence uses the standard Russian construction for expressing need. Instead of saying respondents need a survey, Russian literally says a survey is necessary to the respondents. The person or group who needs something always takes the Dative case.
If there are many respondents, shouldn't we use the plural form нужны instead of нужен?
No, because нужен (necessary) must agree with the grammatical subject of the clause, which is the thing that is needed, not the people who need it. The thing needed here is опрос (survey), which is a masculine singular noun in the Nominative case. Therefore, we use the masculine singular form нужен.
Why does the word нужен come before the subject опрос?