Breakdown of Я не люблю отдавать деньги.
не
not
я
I
любить
to love, to like
деньги
money
отдавать
to give back (imperfective)
Questions & Answers about Я не люблю отдавать деньги.
Why is отдавать in the infinitive here, and how would it change if I wanted to say "I give money back"?
It stays in the infinitive because it follows the conjugated verb люблю (I like). If you wanted to say "I give back" on its own, you would conjugate it as Я отдаю. Notice how the -ва- suffix drops out! This dropping happens in the present tense for all verbs ending in -давать, -знавать, and -ставать.
Could I use the perfective verb отдать instead of отдавать here?
No, you must use the imperfective отдавать. In Russian, verbs expressing habitual likes or dislikes, such as любить (to like) or ненавидеть (to hate), are always followed by an imperfective infinitive because you are talking about a general attitude or habit, not a single completed action.
How does the prefix от- change the meaning of the base verb давать?
The base verb давать means "to give". The prefix от- usually adds a sense of movement away from a starting point. Together, отдавать means "to give away" or, in this financial context, "to give back" or "to return" something you borrowed.
Why doesn't the word деньги (money) change its ending here?
Деньги is the direct object of the verb, so it takes the accusative case. Because деньги is an inanimate noun (and a plural-only word in Russian), its accusative form looks exactly the same as its nominative dictionary form.
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