Slavic languages are divided in three main groups as far as the ending of masculine dative singular for hard nouns is concerned: u group, ovi group, or either group. To the u group belong South Slavic languages, i.e., Slovenian, Serbian, Croatian, but not Macedonian and Bulgarian, as they have pretty much lost all their cases, and Russian. The ovi group is represented solely by Polish. The either group encompasses Czech, Slovak, and Ukrainian. In this group, animate masculine nouns end in ovi and inanimate masculine nouns end in u.
u group
Animate:
Slovenian/Crotian/Serbian:
profesoru (Serbian also Cyrillic професор)
Russian: професcорy
(transliterated as professoru)
Inanimate:
Slovenian/Crotian/Serbian:
telefonu (Serbian also Cyrillic телефон)
Russian: телефонu
(transliterated as telefonu)
ovi group:
Animate:
Polish: profesorowi
Inanimate:
Polish: telefonowi
either group:
Animate:
Czech: profesorovi/profesoru
(profesorovi is preferred)
Slovak: profesorovi
Ukrainian: професоровi
Inanimate:
Czech: telefonu
Slovak: telefónu
Ukrainian: телефоновi/телефонy (transliterated as
telefonovi/telefonu (телефоновi – telefonovi - is preferred)
It should be noted,
though, than Bohu (to God) and člověku (to man) are preferred to Bohovi and člověkovi in Czech,
and that in Polish these nouns don’t end in owi: pes – psu (dog), ojciec – ojcu (father), diabeł – diabłu (devil),
Bóg – Bogu (God), czart- czartu
(devil), świat - światu (world), brat - bratu (brother), osioł - osłu (donkey), lew - lwu (lion), chłop - chłopu (peasant), chłopiec - chłopcu (boy), pan - panu (sir), kat - katu (hangman), kot - kotu (cat), ksiądz - księdzu (priest).
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