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genesis_pig
08-29-2016, 07:19 AM
This is an excerpt from Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a young poet.

"Do not now strive to uncover answers: they cannot be given you because you have not been able to live them. And what matters is to live everything. Live the questions now."

I believe this is grammatically legit, but just wanted an explanation.

Thanks

YesNo
08-29-2016, 11:33 PM
I don't know if this is grammatically correct or not, but the advice seems to me to be in line with how our subjectivity works. But you want a grammatical explanation, right? Not an explanation of what the sentence means?

genesis_pig
08-30-2016, 03:13 AM
yes. I just want to know whether the absence of a "to" is legit and why

Whifflingpin
08-30-2016, 03:29 AM
"you" is being used in the dative case, meaning "to you." This is quite normal and common, e.g. "Give me the answer," "I have given you the answer" etc.


"given" is past participle of "give"; "be given" is passive voice.

desiresjab
08-30-2016, 07:49 AM
"you" is being used in the dative case, meaning "to you." This is quite normal and common, e.g. "Give me the answer," "I have given you the answer" etc.


"given" is past participle of "give"; "be given" is passive voice.

You have answered the question given you.

genesis_pig
08-30-2016, 07:52 AM
"you" is being used in the dative case, meaning "to you." This is quite normal and common, e.g. "Give me the answer," "I have given you the answer" etc.


"given" is past participle of "give"; "be given" is passive voice.

Thanks. That does explain it.