Это дали собак

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble making sense of this sentence.

Here's the context:
Person 1: А откуда удочка у Мамы Свинки?
Person 2: Это дали собак.

I understand собак is the genitive plural of собака. I'm wondering if the reason it's in genitive form is to give the effect of "some", as in, "some dogs gave it". Am I close?

Comments

[arnold3.livejournal.com]

"Это дали собак" - it is a typo.

[dragon-flying.livejournal.com]

I agree with Arnold3, probably a typo: и missing "дали собаки"

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

Thank you both!

This is actually from a recording of a kid and her mom speaking. So it makes sense that it would be wrong, because the kid is young and has some speech errors. But if she had been right, I needed to understand why. Thanks again! :)

[dragon-flying.livejournal.com]

you're welcome :) and feel free to ask if you have any questions!

The sentence is wrong

[lion-casserole.livejournal.com]

.
I would propose some reasonable versions of this wording :

- Это подарок [ от ] собак. -- This is a gift from hounds.
- Это [ ей ] дали собаки.

Please be careful with kid's sentences, children are great inventors :).

Re: The sentence is wrong

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

I'm definitely treading uneasy waters with this task. For one, I'm a little rusty with my own Russian skills, so it's hard for me to make a judgment about grammatical accuracy without looking it up first. Even then, sometimes there are colloquial usages I wouldn't know, so I have to make sure I'm not overlooking them. Plus, children speak so quickly and tend to have immature speech sounds. This is quite the challenge for me! But so interesting, all the same. :)

Indeed it is :)

[lion-casserole.livejournal.com]

.
This is why we are entering here - it is both fun and productive.

[vld-sergio-jr.livejournal.com]

Btw, "Это дали собаки", like as calque from English, for example.
More correct will "Её дали собаки" (удочка - она/she).

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

Interesting! But it's unlikely a calque. The little girl has no English whatsoever and only speaks Russian. If I'm being precise, she was hesitant between "Это" and "дали," as if she was trying to remember first. Maybe if she'd thought a moment before responding, she'd have used "её." Thank you for your input!

[a-nefiodova.livejournal.com]

Looks quite meaningless. I can imagine a situation where it makes sense, but not in this context.
You're right, "собак" is gen. pl. of "собака", but "дали собак" does not mean "some dogs gave it", it's rather "some dogs were given".
Is the quote from Peppa Pig?

Это псковские дали

[lion-casserole.livejournal.com]

.
some dogs were given == "собакам дали" или же "дали собакам"

The word "дали" in Russian could serve plural of "даль" - some flat surface where one could see objects at unusually great distances. In this context, which is far away from the given dialogue, the sentence in question would make sense :

- Это дали собак.
- This is a broad view at territories, which are owned ( or occupied ) by dogs.

[gnomygnomy.livejournal.com]

Probably not a quote. This is an excerpt from a transcript of a conversation between a little girl and her mom. She's retelling the story, sort of. :)