The Accusative Case

The accusative case is an oblique case, which is used in the sentences like "Я ценю... Пушкина, дом, общество, страну" (I appreciate ... Pushkin, home, society, country). The nouns in the accusative answer such questions as Кого? Что? (Whom? What?).

Не надо винить кого? Не надо винить сына. - Whom one should not accuse? One should not accuse a son.
Катя читает что? Катя читает книгу. - What is Katya reading? Katya is reading a book.

Like the rest of cases (except prepositional) the accusative can be used with prepositions or without them. The typical prepositions for the accusative are: в, на, за, о/об, по, под, про, с, через. For example:

упасть в воду   to fall into water
знать про нас   to know about us
встать на ноги   to stand on feet

The principal meaning of the accusative is to designate a person or thing to whom or which and action is being done. For example: Люся любит брата (Lucy loves her brother); Мы видим море (We see the sea)

When used with the prepositions в and на, the accusative means motion towards or direction correspondigly.

To put nouns into accusative correctly you should know that Russian nouns are divided into animate and inanimate. Animate nouns are those which describe someone alive like человек, кошка (a man, a cat).

In general, the accusative is formed from the nominative singular nouns with the help of the following endings: -у, -ю, -а, -я (singular); -ей, -ой, -ов, -ев (plural). In most cases, you should remove the last letter from the nominative of the noun and add one of the mentioned endings (луна less plus = луну). The good news is that in some cases the accusative is similar to the nominative and genitive.

Remember, that the accusative is similar to the nominative!!

  • • for masculine inanimate nouns and neuter nouns
  • • for singular feminine nouns ending in
  • • for plural feminine nouns the singular form of which ends in -а, -я

Also remember, that the accusative is similar to the genitive!!

  • • for plural feminine and masculine nouns ending in -а, -я

The tables below sum up how the accusative of nouns is formed.

The Accusative of singular nouns

     Nominative
 singular
 Remove   Add   Accusative
 singular

inan-
imate

Accusative
is equal to
singular
Nominative

 masculine стол
чай
ветер
    стол
чай
ветер
neuter окно
море
    окно
море
feminine ночь     ночь
 animate      feminine      
ending in
Accusative
is equal to
singular
Nominative
дочь     дочь
masculine отец
журавль
--
ь
а
я
отца
журавля
feminine and masculine ending in -а, -я бочка
воля
а
я
у
ю
бочку
волю
inan-
imate
feminine ending in -а, -я вода а у воду



The Accusative of plural nouns

     Nominative 
singular
(plural)
 Remove   Add   Accusative 
plural

inan-
imate

Accusative
is equal to
plural
Nominative

 masculine стол (столы)
чай (чаи)
ветер (ветры)
    столы
чаи
ветры
neuter окно (окна)
море (моря)
    окна
моря
feminine ночь (ночи)     ночи
 animate      feminine      
ending in
дочь ь ей дочерей
masculine отец
журавль
--
ь
ов
ей
отцов
журавлей
feminine and masculine ending in -а, -я
Accusative
is equal to
plural
Genitive
бочка (бочки)
стая (стаи)
    бочки
стаи
inan-
imate
feminine ending in -а, -я
Accusative
is equal to
plural
Nominative
вода (воды)
книга (книги)
    воды
книги

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