Datiivimuotoon

Datiivimuotoon is a term used in linguistic descriptions to refer to the dative case form. The dative marks recipients, indirect objects, or direction toward something. The concept appears across many languages and is particularly discussed in the context of Finnic languages and Estonian grammar. In standard Estonian, the dative is largely historical or marginal in everyday use. Modern Estonian tends to mark the indirect object with other constructions, such as the genitive with certain prepositional phrases or with allative/illative forms, rather than through a productive dative ending.

Nevertheless, the dative remains a topic in older grammars, dictionaries, and comparative studies, and it can appear in dialects, church translations, and literary texts. In languages with a productive dative, forms are typically created by attaching a specific suffix to nouns or pronouns, or via fixed prepositions. The dative serves several functions: indicating the recipient of an action (the person or entity that benefits or is affected), indicating the indirect object, and sometimes signaling direction toward something.

Example: I give the book to the mother illustrates the recipient role (in Estonian, this sense is often expressed with a dative-like construction such as mentioning the recipient with a to- or to-like phrase). See also: Dative, Allative, Genitive.