Russian Vocabulary (and Wisdom)

How to say "case" in Russian

This Russian word is one of the top 1000 words in Russian. The complete list of most common Russian words is available here.

случай

Meaning: case, event, accident, occasion, chance, opportunity

Pronunciation: [SLOO-chiy]

Part of speech: noun (masculine noun)

Rank: #168 (see frequency list)

Flu cases have become more frequent.
Photo by @thewtb, licensed under CC SA 2.0

Example sentences:

Это óчень стрáнный слу́чай.
It's a very strange case.
На дорóге с ним произошëл несчácтный слу́чай.
He had an accident on the road.
Как вы поступáете в таки́х слу́чаях?
What do you do in these cases?
Слу́чаи заболевáния гри́ппом участи́лись.
Flu cases have become more frequent.
В лу́чшем слу́чае он позвони́т нам по телефóну.
At the best he'll just call us on the phone.
У меня́ ещë нé было удóбного слу́чая, чтóбы предупреди́ть егó.
I haven't had an opportunity to warn him.
В слу́чае возникновéния серьëзных проблéм, срóчно звони́те в мили́цию.
In case of serious problems, immediately call the militia.
В ресторáне был огрóмный прáздник по слу́чаю юбилéя извécтной актри́сы.
There was a huge party in the restaurant on the occasion of the anniversary of a famous actress.
Он слу́чаем не шпиóн?
Isn't he a spy by chance?
Во вся́ком слу́чае, ме неплóхо отдохну́ли.
At any rate, we had a nice holiday.

Idioms and set expressions:

в подóбном слу́чае = in a case like that
в нéкоторых слу́чаях = in certain cases
в отдéльных слу́чаях = sometimes
не тот слу́чай = (it's) a different case
тяжёлый слу́чай = a difficult case
упусти́ть (удóбный) слу́чай = miss the opportunity, lose the chance
при слу́чаe = when an opportunity presents itself
при всяком удóбном слу́чаe = whenever an opportunity presents itself
ждать удóбного слу́чая = bide one's time
literal wait for a convenient ocasion
в слу́чаe, éсли = if; in the event if
в такóм слу́чаe = if so
literal in that case
ни в кóем слу́чаe = on no account, by no means
в проти́вном слу́чаe = otherwise
в лу́чшем (ху́дшем) слу́чаe = at the best (worst)
в слу́чаe необходи́мости = in case of need
на вся́кий слу́чай = just in case
во вся́ком слу́чаe = anyway
на слу́чай = in case of
по слу́чаю = on the occasion of
от слу́чая к слу́чаю = occasionally

Related words:

дéло = case
cобы́тие = event
происшécтвие = accident
случáйный = accidental, casual, random
cлучáться = happen, occur

Proverbs and sayings:

Всем прáвит слу́чай.
Chance governs all.

Other forms of the word (declensions):

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	слу́чай	слу́чаи
Genitive	слу́чая	слу́чаев
Dative	слу́чаю	слу́чаям
Accusative	слу́чай	слу́чаи
Instrumental	слу́чаем	слу́чаями
Prepositional	слу́чае	слу́чаях

Phrase recordings: Copyright(c) 2011 MasterRussian.com. All rights reserved.
Word recordings: Copyright(c) 2006 Streit Goulnara, Streit Eric, Vion Nicolas. Copyright(c) 2007 S. Sakhno, N. Vion. Distributed under CC-BY.

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