Dative

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Sun, 16 Nov 1997 06:44:15 -0500

I'm writing some things on the use of the dative for Little Greek 101, and I
find that I am not satisfied with my first attempt to explain it. I started
by saying that the dative identifies the indirect object, which answers the
question "to or for whom". But many very normal indirect objects do not
answer this question, e.g.:

Col 3:24 TWi KURIWi CHRISTWi DOULEUETE "you serve the Lord Christ".

Is there a better definition for indirect object?

Also, the dative by itself can also mean "with X" or "in X", as well as "to
X" or "for X".

Is there a basic meaning to the dative that can easily be explained to
beginners?

Jonathan
___________________________________________________________________________

Jonathan Robie jwrobie@mindspring.com

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