Protonation of hydridic hydrogens has attracted increasing interest from chemists over the past decade. This review, focusing on key physicochemical data, describes general rules governing proton transfer to hydride ligands and discusses kinetic schemes for the protonation as a process starting from dihydrogen-bonded adducts and H-bonded contact ion pairs and ending in dihydrogen complexes as solvent-separated ion pairs or free ions. It has been shown that the particulars of proton transfer to hydride ligands and to conventional organic bases are similar. The difference between them is apparent in the contact ion pair formation step. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheirn, Germany, 2005).