The dative case is a grammatical case that is used to indicate the indirect object or receiver of an action in a sentence. There are various synonyms that refer to this particular grammatical feature. For instance, some grammarians simply refer to it as the indirect case, while others call it the recipient case. In addition, the dative case is sometimes referred to as the third case, since it is typically the third case in the inflectional system of many languages. Finally, it is sometimes called the ethical case, since it is often used to show concern or social distance between speakers in certain contexts.