Cases of Russian Nouns - Russian Language

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The Cases of Russian Nouns

In Russian language the nouns change their forms and get different endings. These forms (and their endings) are called cases. The case of a noun shows what role a noun plays in the sentence.

Look at an example of how the word поезд changes depending on the case:

много поездов (a lot of trains) - the genitive
ехать поездом (to go by train) - the instrumental

There are six cases in Russian: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional.

1. The nominative answers the questions "who?" or "what?". It is an initial form. All dictionaries give nouns in the nominative.

Студент читает The student is reading.

2. The genitive is used to show that something (somebody) belongs or refers to something (somebody). It can be translated by "of" in English.

берег реки the bank of the river

3. The dative designates that something is given or addressed to the person (object).

Я иду к врачу I go to the doctor
Я даю это другу I give it to the friend

4. The accusative designates the object of an action.

Я читаю газету I read the newspaper
Я встретил друга I met the friend

5. The instrumental is used to denote an instrument that helps to make something.

Я пишу карандашом I write with a pencil

6. The prepositional is used to designate a place, or a person (object) that is an object of speech and thought. This case is always used with a preposition.

Она мечтает о лете She dreams about the summer
Цветы стоят на столе The flowers are on the table

Very often the case of a noun is connected with a preposition which stands before it. The nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals may have different case forms in the sentence. Thus, to understand Russian speech and speak Russian correctly, it is necessary to learn how to use cases in Russian. You will learn more about cases in further lessons.

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