Hi, Angelo) You have to use it for the indirect object of a sentence. For example: In the sentence "Adam gave flowers to Anna", the word "Anna" should be in the dative case. The indirect object is normally the person who receives the direct object. Do you undertsand?

It is used after certain verbs (you have to learn them I'm afraid) and very often means transmission of an object/ a piece of information: - Мама дарит сыну подарок. - Мама покупает сыну новый свитер. - Мама говорит сыну, что надо хорошо учиться. - Учитель сообщает маме результаты экзаменов. - Учитель даёт маме дневник её сына. ... It's also used to indicate the age and in some constructions after нужно/нельзя/можно... I'm sure there was a similar topic on italki.

Take a look here http://masterrussian.com/aa070100a.shtml and http://www.italki.com/entry/132600

The dative case is used in Russian for the indirect object of a sentence. In the sentence "Adam gave flowers to Anna", the word "Anna" should be in the dative case. The indirect object is normally the person who receives the direct object. Можно задать вопрос: кому, чему? Example: Принеси мне цветы (Мне- дательный падеж) Джастину подарили машину (Джастину- дательный падеж)

To make it clear, you should make a question from a sentence: 1) John gave a flower to Anna Джон дал цветок кому? Анне. 2) My cat is 5 5 лет кому/чему? Моей кошке.