Thread: Dative case

Originally Posted by LXNDR

to be honest if i ever heard such a phrase i certainly considered it odd like "я читать"

there's a phrase "мне пора" - it's time for me to go, short for "мне пора идти", which IS another example of the dative case

There are tons of examples of sentences with just a verb and the dative. It's extremely common, for example
что нам делать? - what should we do?

i only remarked on that particular expression

Originally Posted by John_Douglas

There are tons of examples of sentences with just a verb and the dative. It's extremely common, for example
что нам делать? - what should we do?

this one is legit, i feel like a closer translation would be what are we to do? despite the lack of Dative case

indeed this is a set pattern for a certain type of inеrrogative sentences like

куда нам бежать?
как мне быть?
когда ему прийти?


мне идти will sound normal in an alternative question like мне идти или бежать? or just in a simple question мне идти? which is basically asking for permission to go, but hardly as a statement