Gary -
Your question, as it is worded, is difficult to answer - since you
use the word 'or' when,
really, 'and' works better since both possibilities both different and
correct.
Consider the clause:
"Svart calls"
which requires no object at all. However,
"Svart calls me"
does have an object - that is - the thing that Svart's action is working
on.
Again -
"Svart calls to me"
has no object as in the first instance. Here Svart simply calls with the
added
little feature of the fact that this call is in MY direction - or TO ME.
Therefore,
this 'to me' is the indirect object and, in Old Norse, would be in the
dative case - or -
'mér'.
This fact is recorded in English when you tack the little qualifier word
'to'
before the 'me'. In this way:
"Svart calls me" = 'Svartr kallar mik' - and -
"Svart calls to me" = 'Svartr kallar mér'
are both correct - but do not have the same meaning just as is the case
in English. Use of
the Dative case is confusing at first (and later as well) since our
native language uses other
means of expressing this feature of more highly inflected languages.
Confusion is good -
since it implies the prospect of another point of view just around the
corner.

Raymond

-----Original Message-----
From: Gary Penzler
To: norse_course@yahoogroups.com
Sent: 10/28/2003 2:01 PM
Subject: [norse_course] Trouble with dative case

I'm having a little trouble writing something, as I'm not sure of all
the instances in which dative case is to be used.

If I were trying to say, "Svart calls me" or "Svart calls to me,"
would I use

Svartr kallar mik

or

Svartr kallar mér

?

Thanks for any help you can offer.

~Gary