1.1 Dative-case indirect objects may occur with verbs also in the absence of an accusative case direct object. For example: Krysia pomagał mamie (Chris was helping Mom) and Profesorowi podziękowali studenci (The professor was thanked by the students).These dative-case nouns may be thought of as denoting the beneficiaries of the helping or the thanking. Or "help" and "thank" may be thought of as "give someone help" and "give someone thanks". However, there are dative case uses which lack this semantic motivation, e.g., Chłopcy przeszkadzali dziewczynom (The boys were bothering the girls) and Towarzyszyła mu koleżanka (He was accompanied by a friend). The fact that przeszkadzać and towarzyszyć take dative indirect objects rather than an accusative direct objects is an idiosyncratic fact about these verbs which must simply be learned.

1.3 Dative case may occur without a verb. Dzień dobry państwu is "Hello" addressed to a mixed group. Kochanej siostrze (To my dear sister) could be written on an envelope.

2.1 Neuter nouns in the singular take the ending -u, e.g., dziecku.

2.2 Feminine nouns (and other nouns of the 2nd declension) have dative forms identical to their locative forms (Ch. 8, §§:3, 4.2): siostra > siostrze, Jadwiga > Jadwidze, pani > pani, kolega > koledze, kierowca > kierowcy.

2.3 In the plural, all nouns regardless of gender take the dative ending -om: panom, paniom, dzieciom.

2.4 For personal pronouns the dative forms are the following:

The short forms mi, ci, and mu are enclitics. They are unaccented and pronounced together with a preceding accented word. They cannot occur under emphasis or after a preposition.

2.5 For numerals "five" and above, the dative form is the oblique form (Ch. 11, § 3), e.g., Nagrody dali dwunastu studentom (Awards were given to twelve students). The dative of "two" is dwóm, dwom, or dwu. For "three" and "four" it is trzem and czterem.

3.1 Impersonal sentences. Some sentences in Polish are impersonal, i.e., they lack a subject and consist only of a predicate. Examples: Zimno (It's cold), Trzeba już iść (It is necessary to go now), Trudno odpowiedzieć na pytanie (It is hard to answer the question), Wszystko jedno (It's all the same). These sentences have nothing that corresponds to the English dummy subject "It".

3.2 A common impersonal expression that is verbal is Chodzi o ... (+ accusative) (It's a matter of ...), e.g., Chodziło o pieniądze (It was a matter of money). An accompnanying dative-case experiencer is often translated as the subject; thus Chodzi mi o twoje zdrowie may be translated as "I am concerned about your health". Chodzi o may be followed by to and a clausal complement: Chodzi o to, że ludzie muszą jeść (The point is that people have to eat). This predicate may be used to express volition, in which case a complement clause is in the subjunctive mood: Rodzicom chodziło o to, żeby dzieci miały co jeść (The parents were concerned that the children have something to eat).

3.3 Another verbal impersonal predicate is zależy/ zależało na... (... is/was important ...). That which is important is denoted by the complement of na in the locative case. The person to whom it is important is denoted by a noun in the dative case. Examples: Grzesiowi zależało na nowym samochodzie (A new car was important for Greg), Zaleskim zależy na mieszkaniu w centrum miasta (The Zaleskis want an apartment in the center of town or It is important for the Zaleskis to have an apartment in the center of town). Since this predicate implies volition, a clausal complement is in the subjunctive mood, e.g., Wincentemu bardzo na tym zależało, żeby go zrozumieli (It was very important to Vincent that he be understood).

3.4 "Like" may be expressed in Polish with the verb lubić, which takes a subject in the nominative case and a direct object in the accusative case the same as in English, e.g., Staś lubi Basi sukienkę (Stan likes Barb's dress). But perhaps a more common way of expressing "like" is with the verb podobać się, with which the experiencer of the liking is in the dative case and its object is in the nominative case, thus Stasiowi się podoba Basi sukienka. (Note that the word order of the latter sentences may be the same as that of the former, as governed by the informational structure of the sentence; see Ch. 3, §4.) When the complement is a verb, lubić is preferred, e.g., Lubiliśmy spacerować po Starym Mieście (We liked to stroll through Old Town). But when the complement if a noun, podobać się may be used, e.g., Nam się podobały spacery po Starym Mieście (We like strolls through Old Town).