🚀 go-pugleaf

Sorry I haven't been following this discussion from the beginning, but as I
understand, the question is if there are correct sentences in some Slavic
(or other?) languages that have the construction MODAL VERB + PRONOUN in
DATIVE, where the dative serves as Subject. 

Well, here are examples from my native Croatian:

1) Kako ti je? = (how) (to you) (is)? = How are you doing?

More usual is "Kako si?" = (how) ([you] are)?  but the above is a perfectly
valid sentence. It sounds more natural if it also contains a modifier, like
"Kako ti je na novom poslu?" = "How are you doing at your new job?"

2) Bolje mi je. = (better) (to me) (is). = I am [feeling] better.

Again, "Dobro sam" = (well) ([I] am)  is more usual than "Dobro mi je" =
= (well) (to me) (is) , but the example (2) is the most usual way of
expressing a feeling of recovery.

3) \v{S}to nam je \v{c}initi? = (what) (to us) (is) (to do)? = What should we
									do?

I appologize to LaTeX non-initiated people for using LaTeX symbols, \v{S} is
S with a hacek (v above it), pronounced like English "sh", and \v{c} is c 
with a hacek, pronounced like "ch" or "tch" in English. 

The example is very common, although strictly speaking it sounds a little
bit poetic/archaic.

3a) Na nama je boriti se. = (upon) (us) (is) (to fight) = We must fight.

I didn't list this as a separate entry for two reasons. First, this is not a
Dative, it is a Locative. Second, although it answers the question in ex. (3),
which is in Dative, there is no affirmative sentence of this type with "to be"
and Dative. Only Locative can appear in the answer.

However, if we change the verb,...

(4) Valja nama preko rijeke. = (*) (to us) (over) ([the] river) = We must
							   cross the river.

Here * has no English equivalent; it is the impersonal 3rd p. sg. form of
"valjati" = to be good, to be valid, here meaning "it is necessary". (It is
the equivalent of French "il vaux" or Polish "trzeba" - indeed, its synonym
in Croatian is "treba".)

The last example was the last verse of the beautiful poem "Modra rijeka"
(Blue River) by Croatian/Bosnian poet Mak Dizdar.

Sven Hauptfeld