What is the difference between the accusative case and the dative case?
The dative and accusative cases in the Slavic languages are hard for me to sort out. My books aren't real clear on them.

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The accusative case is used for the direct object of a verb. In "Bob eats lunch," "lunch" is the direct object.

The dative case is used to denote indirect objects, which are objects that indicate "to whom", or "to what" an action is done. So in the sentence, "I am writing a letter to you", "(a) letter" is the direct object of the verb, while '(to) you' is the indirect object.

So, direct objects go in the accusative case, and indirect objects go in the dative case.

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http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/10/109/503/109503308_large_13188d3ec2ad.jpg

Always use auxiliary words to determine the meaning, they will help you =)

Дательный: Дать кому?/чему? - я дам яблоко папе
Винительный: Вижу кого?/что? - Я вижу (что?) дом/ Я вижу (кого?) дядю

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Дательный падеж - отвечает на вопросы «кому?», «чему?». Пример: кому? --Учителю, чему? Книге.
Винительный падеж - отвечает на вопросы «кого?», «что?». Пример: кого? Учителя, что? Книгу.

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English has something similar: "give me [something]". Or occasionaly met "now, explain me this!?" ***** Other usage is: "я посмотрел ей в глаза". Its meaning is close ot that of "я посмотрел в её глаза" (I looked into her eyes). But the _literal_ translation of the first phrase would be 'i looked her into the eyes'. where 'looked her' would be understood in a way similar to 'gave her':)  As I understand, English speakers don't speak this way. But we do)

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Now dative... its meaning (when it has a specific meaning) is best illustrated y phrases: 'give it to me' = "дай его/её мне". Мне (dative) here corresponds to 'to me'. The word 'dative' itself is from Latin name for the case: 'dativus', which means 'for giving', Or: 'explain it to me' = "объясните мне это". Мне (dative) is 'to me', while 'это' is direct object, the thing that shoud be expained. In other words, it is the case for an addressee. Other usage of dative is... we use it after prepositions 'к' and 'по'. "Я иду к тебе (dat) по дороге (dat)." If with 'к' the meaning is somewhat similar to the one in the phrases above... with 'по' it isn't matter of 'meaning'.