Hallo,
What´s the difference between “Ich bin” and “Mir ist”? It seems to me that the first construction is in the active voice while the second is in the passive, for the pronoun changes from Ich to Mir. But it’s not very clear to me how to use it.
It’s all about phrases. It’s no use explaining why a phrase uses a dative (mir) - a phrase has a particular meaning. You will find more and more of the same as you continue reading. So much for the question “What’s the difference between…”.
The phrases that go with the subject pronoun describe qualities of the subject, I would say.
eg. Ich bin Lehrer, ich bin groß und schlank, ich bin arbeitslos, ich bin größer als mein Vater…
or: Das Haus ist frisch renoviert, es ist einstöckig, es ist auf der rechten Seite der Straße…
The phrases that go with the dative object express something that is happening to the subject, so it seems you are right in saying that they have a passive meaning:
eg. Mir ist kalt (the cold is acting on me), mir tut etwas weh (something is hurting me), mir ist schlecht (I feel sick - the feeling is acting on my body)…
In English the difference between: “I am cold” and “I have a cold” and “Something is cold” should be obvious, but this is usually a difficult thing to learn for speakers of German. In German it’s “Mir ist kalt”, “Ich bin verkühlt/Ich habe eine Erkältung”, “Etwas ist kalt”. These are all phrases and phrase patterns.
There are other uses of dative objects: they are like indirect objects in Romance languages.
Still, it’s always good to ask for clarification. I appreciate your effort :))
Ich bin immer wieder angenehm überrascht, wie ausführlich Reinhard diese Fragen behandelt. Da wird es mir ganz warm ums Herz! My quality here is my being pleasantly surprised and the thing that is happening to me is that my heart is growing warm…
Thanks again! I’ll just keep going. In my country, we have a saying that goes like: I’m brasilian, I never give up!