Usage of cases of Russian nouns

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Usage of Cases

In Russian, it is the case of a noun that shows what role the noun plays in a sentence. The table below shows how the noun Алексей (a male name) changes by cases.

CASES	EXAMPLE SENTENCES	ENGLISH EQUIVALENTS
Nominative	Это Алексей.	This is Alexei.
Genitive	Мы изучаем таблицу Алексея.	We are studying Alexei's chart.
Dative	Ученик дал Алексею таблицу.	A student gave a chart to Alexei.
Accusative	Анна ждёт Алексея.	Ann is waiting for Alexei.
Instrumental	Таблица написана Алексеем.	A chart is written by Alexei.
Prepositional	Друзья говорят об Алексее.	Friends are talking about Alexei.

First, you may see how important case endings are to show the role of a noun. Note, that the contrasting English equivalents have the name Alexei unchanged.

Second, it should be mentioned that the word order does not affect the meaning of a sentence significantly. For example, the sentence Анна ждёт Алексея has the same meaning as Алексея ждёт Анна as long as you use the accusative of Алексей.

Also see