The indirect object states who is receiving or benefiing from the action being performed by the subject. So whenever you do something “to” someone or “for” someone, that’s the indirect object. The indirect object is also called the dative. We will look at the dative of the second declension.

1) Virō fābulam narrō = I am telling a story to the man

Virō is in the dative. The dative singular  of the second declension ends in -ō. Does this ending look similar? It should, because the singular ablative in the second declension ends in -ō.

2) Puellae puerīs aquam dant. (dare = to give.)

The sentence above means “The girls are giving water to the boys.” Puerīs is in the dative because the boys are the ones receiving the water. So the -īs ending marks the plural dative of the second declension. Luckily, the -īs ending is also the same as the the ablative plural. This is convenient because you don’t have to memorize a separate ending. However, it can get confusing, because in order to figure out whether the noun is in the ablative or dative, you have to figure out the context of the sentence.

Another thing to consider is that the “to” in the accusative (direct object) contains a different meaning from the “to” in the dative. The “to” in the accusative indicates direction or location, but the “to” in the dative indicates who did the receiving.

Let’s do some translation practice. Try to figure out whether the sentence calls for the dative or the ablative.

1) Servus casam nōn ambulat

2) Virīs cum terram trānsportās

3) Cervō cibum dāmus

Answers:

1) The servant is not walking to the house.

2) You are transporting the soil with the men.

3) We are giving food to the deer.