The Determinative Pronouns

The words сам (oneself), весь (all), всякий (every), каждый (each/every), иной (other), другой (another), любой (any) are Russian determinative pronouns. They refer to definite but not specific actions and features of objects. Compare the following phrases to get the idea.

хороший ученик
(a good student)

      vs.

каждый ученик
(every student)

другой ученик
(another student)

Changes by cases, gender, and number

In the Russian language, the determinative pronouns change by gender, number and cases.

Singular masculine	Singular neuter	Singular feminine	Plural (any gender)
сам	само	сама	сами
весь	всё	вся	все
всякий	всякое	всякая	всякие
каждый	каждое	каждая	каждые
иной	иное	иная	иные
любой	любое	любая	любые
другой	другое	другая	другие

Case	сам
Nominative	сам
Genitive	самого́
Dative	самому́
Accusative	самого́ (animated) сам (inanimate)
Instrumental	сами́м
Prepositional	(о) само́м

*Note, that the singular neuter, singular femine, and plural forms also change by cases in Russian.

The determinative pronouns ка́ждый (each), любо́й (any), вся́кий (every) are used to single an object (person or thing) out of a number of similar ones. For example:

• Она экономит каждую копейку.
• (She saves every kopeck.)
• Мы в любом случае поговорим с ним.
• (We'll talk to him in any case.)

The pronouns весь, вся, всё, все are used not only with nouns (весь день) but also without them. They should be either neuter or plural when used separetely. For instance:

• Всё прошло очень быстро.
• (Everything happened very quickly.)
• Все спешат домой.
• (Everybody is hurrying up home.)

Related Lessons

• Interrogative Pronouns
• Indefinite Pronouns
• Personal Pronouns
• Reflexive Pronouns
• Cases of Russian Nouns

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