# Dative Case vs. Preposition + Genitive Case Constructions



## Kos

Cześć wszystkim 

I have a question relating to the construction of certain phrases with verbs that can have the following forms:

1.) Verb + Preposition requiring Gentive case + Noun in Genitive Case
2.) Verb + Noun requiring Dative Case + Noun in Nominative case or other case

What I wrote above may seem confusing, but that's the best I can do.  On that note, I'll give some examples of this. 
The verbs I have in mind relating to this question are "_pasować_" and "_śmierdzieć_".  I've randomly come across instances in which both these verbs fall into the forms above.

_ex.  
Czy pasuje do mnie taka fryzura?
          Czy pasuje mi taka fryzura?
_
_ex.  
Śmierdzi piwem.
          Śmierdzi od niego piwem.
          Śmierdzi mu z ust piwem.  (I know this may not fit precisely into the above model, but I figured it involved the same idea.)_
_
_As for my question, what is the significant difference between the constructions?  I've been learning Polish for quite some years now and I still get a bit confused when it comes to phrases like these. 
If anything is unclear or wrong, I sincerely apologize for any confusion, so feel free to correct me/ ask questions.

Będę bardzo wdzięczny za odpowiedzi 
-Kos


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## majlo

_Czy pasuje do mnie taka fryzura _seems strange to me and I'm not sure if it's correct. I would use the latter. The meaning is the same, though.

As for the three sentences, they all mean something different.

By the way, in the last sentence it should be _z ust_, which is locative, I believe.


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## Kos

Thanks Majlo  It shoulbe be "ust". My mistake. I'll correct it now.

In regards to the three sentences, I think I understand their differences in meanings, but I'm not entirely sure about the difference between the first two.  To me, they both translate as "He smells like/of beer." I'm not a native speaker of Polish, however. If you could possibly explain their difference to me it would be greatly appreciated.


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## LilianaB

I agree with Majlo: _pasuje do mnie_ seems totally wrong. The first one about beer describes a general state, in a room, for example. The second one just says that he smells of beer, it could be his shirt, his hair. The third one specifically says that the smell comes out of his mouth.


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## BezierCurve

_



			The first one about beer describes a general state, in a room, for example
		
Click to expand...


_That's ine of possible interpretations, but I assume here that Kos meant "[on] śmierdzi piwem", with the obvious subject simply omitted (as we often do).
With that assumption we might try to translate them roughly as:

"He smells of beer"
"It smells beer from his direction"

I believe we had a similar thread about differences in expressions like "usiadła mi na kolanach" and "usiadła na moich kolanach" and the general conclusion was that the difference (and its significance) depends greatly on the verb and the context.


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## LilianaB

I think _usiadla na moich kolanach_ is a russicism. The pronoun should be dropped. I do not think you can drop the pronoun in the first example, unless in a very specific situation in which you are pointing to the person.


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## dreamlike

If you made up the sentences, I must say your Polish is very good!


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## Kos

*Bezier* is right. I just omitted the subject "on" in the first example. Sorry about that. I should have included it for clarity.  Also, I think I was actually the person who made the thread about the whole "usiąść komuś na kolanach" subject haha  This type of Dative Case vs. Locative Case construction gives me trouble from time to time.

Thank you for the explanation,* Liliana*. It makes things a lot clearer.

I'm not sure whether the last post was directed toward me, but if it was, then thank you, *Dreamlike*.  I appreciate it


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## kknd

i think, though, you can use _pasować do_ in the meaning 'to go with/suit/harmonize' when speaking about things as in _ten krawat będzie pasował do tamtej koszuli_.


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## LilianaB

Yes, definitely.


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