Breakdown of Он подарил ей цветок.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
она
she / it (for a feminine noun)
подарить
to give (a gift)
цветок
flower
Questions & Answers about Он подарил ей цветок.
Why is "her" translated as ей instead of её?
Ей is the Dative case of она (she). In Russian, the person receiving a gift (the indirect object) takes the Dative case. If you used the Accusative form её, it would mean she was the actual item being given away!
Why use подарил instead of дал? Both translate to "gave".
The verb подарить specifically means "to give as a gift" or "to present." If you just handed someone a flower for them to hold for a moment, you would use дать (past tense: дал).
Is цветок in the Accusative case here? Why didn't the ending change?
Yes, it is in the Accusative case because it's the direct object receiving the action. However, цветок is a masculine noun. For masculine nouns, only "animate" nouns (people or animals) change their ending in the Accusative. Plants are grammatically "inanimate," so the Accusative form looks exactly like the Nominative dictionary form.
Is подарил perfective or imperfective?
It is perfective, indicating a single, completed action in the past (he gave the flower, and the handover is finished). The imperfective equivalent is дарил, which you would use to describe an ongoing or repeated habit, like if he gave her flowers every single week.