Re: What case is the inverse of the dative?

> Lars Finsen <lars.finsen@...> wrote:
>
> If you look at an active statement with an indirect object, like
> "John gives Lucy the book", the indirect object takes the dative.
> You can "invert" the statement by turning it into a passive
> one: "Lucy was given the book by John", so I think whatever case
> you use for the agent in this sentence will be the inverse of the
> dative.
It seems to me that the inverse passive should be "The book was given
to Lucy by John."

Is the construction "Lucy was given..." possible in other languages?
We have a similar situation with the verb "tell" and maybe with
others which don't come to mind at 0745 hours.

John told me a story.
A story was told to me by John.
I was told a story by John.

I should think that in a "true" passive, the direct object of the
active verb, not the indirect object, becomes the subject.  Is there
a name for the construction in which the indirect object becomes the
subject?

Charlie