A basic modern russian grammar

cardinal numeral «one».You will learn: how to establish the Gender of a noun and how to make the Singular form Gender Agreement between nouns AGREEMENT BETWEEN WORDS IN RUSSIANThere ar

A Basic Modern Russian Grammar

esh

sia

Ron Maxim, Director,

Government Cargo Support Services, Maersk Sealand, Atlanta, GA, USA: Mrs.Nekrasova`s book is very creative

Frederick Lyons, Resident Representative,

United Nations Development Programme in the Russian Federation

This book very definitely helped me improve my Russian fluency.With good humour and strong didactic principles it leads through thedifficulties of the Russian Grammar

Markku Lehto, Chief of Moscow Bureau

of the Finnish Broadcasting Company, Finland

The book is really very helpful The explanations given in thebook are clear and inventive The teaching materials have been verywell sorted

To the Readers

This book is meant both for the learners and the teachers of Russian

The name of the book speaks for itself: "A Basic Modern Russian Grammar".The attention is focused on the facts of Modern Russian language which arebasic, of high frequency and in common use

As most of the learners are not professional linguists the author tried to avoidunnecessary linguistic terms

The explanations, charts and presentation of grammar material enable thelearners of Russian understand some practical mechanisms of the language

in a certain logical order

The teachers of Russian can use it in their practical work

All the charts originally belong to the author

The author expresses her deep gratitude to Mr D Pobedimsky without whomthe book would not have succeeded and to Prof T Wade (UK) for his encour-agement

I wish you success,

ISBN 5-85550-119-1

Eugenia Nekrasova, Moscow, Russia.

M.A in Philology and Education, Moscow State University

For many years she has been working as a full-time senior

teacher and lecturer for the USSR / Russian Federation

Minis-try of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Language Service, teaching

Russian, English and related subjects to foreign diplomats,

businessmen and journalists, including the staff of the United Nations Moscowoffice, Sea Land CIS Logistics, Caterpillar Overseas, Ernst & Young, the StateFinnish Radio & TV Moscow office and many others

Now she divides her time between teaching and writing books on language

She has written five successful books on learning Modern Russian as a SecondLanguage and on learning English for people speaking Russian:

Finland, 1998 Published in Finnish, translated from English ISBN 951-20-5264-4

"Gummerus", Helsinki, Finland, 2000 Published in Finnish, translated from lish ISBN 951-20-5507-4

succesfully practised course book of Modern Russian, best used for

crash-courses ISBN 5-85550-121-3

Publish-ers, Moscow, Russia,1999 First print - 25,000 copies ISBN 5-93220-001-4

Pub-lishers, Moscow, Russia, 2000, with D.Pobedimsky First print - 15,000 copies.ISBN 5-93220-052-9

The author would gladly accept any comments on the book

cardinal numeral «one».

You will learn:

how to establish the Gender of a noun and

how to make the Singular form Gender Agreement between nouns

AGREEMENT BETWEEN WORDS IN RUSSIANThere are 2 main types of relations between the words in a Russian

sentence: Agreement and Governing

Agreement could be in Gender, Number and Person

Part 1 deals with the first five types of Gender Agreement

THE PRINCIPLE OF GENDER AGREEMENTAgreement in Gender takes place:

between the long adjectives and the nouns,

between the adjectival pronouns and the nouns,

between the ordinal numerals and the nouns,

between the cardinal numeral «one» and nouns,

between the long participles and the nouns,

Part 1 covers the problems of Gender Agreement between nouns and

words preceding them in units I called the words preceeding nouns in

units - the characterizing words

The gender of nouns is mostly a formal thing.

Now you will learn how to determine the gender of a noun

 Nouns ending in consonants and -ĩ are Masculine:

ôî ì - house ôðó ê - friend ìóìˆ ĩ -museum

÷ơịîđˆ í - man ê‹ðî ô - city Íỉò‚ ĩ - China

All Russian nouns are attributed to one of the three genders:

HOW TO ESTABLISH THE GENDER OF A NOUN

 Nouns ending in -ă, -ÿ, -üÿ, -ỉÿ are Feminine:

ì‚ì ă - mama, mommy Đ‹ịê ă - Volga

Ðîññ ỉÿ - Russia

But things are never that simple in languages:

irrespective of the Feminine -ă, -ÿ ending

a small group of nouns denoting males

has Masculine gender agreement

(so called «Natural Masculines»):

ï‚ï ă - father, dad ôˆôóøí ă - grandfather

ìˆñò î - seat ì‹ð ơ - sea

íóï ˆ - compartment

ìô‚í ỉơ - building òơịơđ‰ôở ỉơ - TV ìôîð‹đ üơ - health

 Nouns ending in -î, -ơ, -üơ, -ỉơ are Neuter:





Nouns denoting males («natural masculines») are Masculine:

êîñò ü - guest, đîô‰òơị ü - driver, ó÷‰òơị ü - teacher,

ïỉñ‚òơị ü - writer, öăð ü - Tzar, íîð‹ị ü - king,

đðằ‚ð ü - goalkeeper etc.

Names of months ending in - ü are all Masculine:

ÿíđ‚ð ü - January, ôơđð‚ị ü - February, etc

«Natural» feminines are all Feminine:

ìằ ü - mother, ôî÷ ü - daughter etc

Nouns ending in -ìíü, -ñòü, -ñü are Feminine:

ưỉ ìíü - life í‹đî ñòü - news ï‹ôïỉ ñü - signature etc

REPLACING SINGULAR NOUNS BY PERSONAL PRONOUNS

A noun could be replaced by the following personal pronouns

depending on the established gender:

Êôơ đăø ôðóê ?
Đîò îí

Êôơ đăø ôîì ?
Đîò îí

Masculine nouns by îí - he, it

Êôơ đ‚øă ìăø‰íă ?
Đîò îí‚ Êôơ đ‚øă ì‚ìă ?
Đîò îí‚ Feminine nouns by îí‚ - she, it

THE GENDER OF SOFT SIGN NOUNS

A very big group of nouns ending in - Ü (soft sign) could be either

Feminine or Masculine

The Gender of these nouns could be found in the dictionaries



a HOW TO ESTABLISH THE GENDER OF PLACE NAMES

All the place names could be divided into 2 groups:

These words exist only in this unchangeable (indeclinable) form Their

gender is established in a special way (through association with the

«generic» word)

Second groupThere are many place names which do not fit the Russian system of

of endings:

FOREIGN INDECLINABLE NOUNS AND THEIR GENDER AGREEMENTThere is a group of nouns of foreign origin in Russian which do not decline.E.g

òăíñ‰ - taxi, cab ằơịüˆ - studio,dress shop

íóïˆ - compartment ỉíòơðđüþ - interview

ïăịüò‹ - overcoat etc

All these words are Neuter and their Gender agreement and pronoun

replacement is Neuter

E.g

̉íñíîơ øîññˆ - Minsk highway - ỏ‹

ỉíòơðˆñíîơ ỉíòơðđüþ - interesting interview - îí‹

í‹đîơ ïăịüò‹ - new overcoat - îí‹

h

So, these adjectives can be attached to the nouns the gender of

which is marked or established as Masculine, for example:

You can make other gender forms on your own if you follow the rules which will

be stipulated further

The Masculine adjectival endings which a foreign learner may trace from thedictionary are as follows:

 The gender agreement between nouns and adjectives

- ûĩ like in í‹đ ûĩ - new, ỉìđˆñòí ûĩ - famous

- îĩ like in âîịüø ‹ĩ - big, large, ïịîõ ‹ĩ - bad, ôîðîê ‹ĩ

-expensive, dear

- ỉĩ like in ð˜ññí ỉĩ - Russian, ăíêị‰ĩñí ỉĩ - English, õîð‹ø ỉĩ

-good, ì‚ịởüí ỉĩ - small, little, ïîñịˆôí ỉĩ - last

Feminine adjective + Feminine noun

M F F.

íîđ ûĩ  íîđ ăÿ ìăøỉíă

Masculine adjective + Masculine noun

The only exception to this rule presents a limited group of

adjectives ending in -íỉĩ like

ðóññí ỉĩ  ðóññí ăÿ øíîịă

Neuter adjective + Neuter noun

To make the Neuter adjective to attach it to a Neuter noun, you have to

replace - ûĩ , - îĩ or - ỉĩ by - îơ :

íîđ ûĩ íîđ îơ ïăịüòî - new overcoat

âîịüø îĩ  âîịüø îơ îííî - large window

ăíêịỉĩñí ỉĩ ăíêịỉĩñí ăÿ øíîịă

-ỉĩ in -íỉĩ is replaced by -ÿÿ

ðóññí ỉĩ  ðóññí îơ ñịîđî - Russian word ôỉíñí ỉĩ ôỉíñí îơ ðăôỉî - Finnish radio ìăịởüí ỉĩ ìăịởüí îơ îííî - small window

THE GENDER AGREEMENT BETWEEN ADJECTIVES

AND NOUNS OF ADJECTIVAL ORIGIN

An adjectival noun has the form of an adjective but functions as a noun

Most of the adjectival nouns result from the omission of a noun qualified

by the adjective, for example:

Ýòî ìîĩ ôîì.This is my house

Ýòî ìî¸ ìơñòî

This is my seat

Ýòî ìîÿ ìăøỉíă.This is my car

My Ýòî íăø ôîì

This is our house

Ýòî íăøơ ìơñòî.This is our seat

Ýòî íăøă ìăøỉíă.This is our car.Our

M. ó÷¸íûĩ (÷ơịîđơí) - scientist

M. ðóññíỉĩ (÷ơịîđơí) - Russian (nat.)

M. âơìðăâîòíûĩ (÷ơịîđơí)-unemployed

F. ðóññíăÿ (ưởùỉíă) - Russian (nat.)

F. ñòîịîđăÿ (íîìíằă) - dining-room

F. đăííăÿ (íîìíằă) - bathroom

đíóñíîơ + ìîðîưởîơ - delicious ice-cream

The possessive pronouns used as characterizing words

Possessive pronouns åãî (his), å¸ (her), èõ (their) do not

change according to the gender principle, they exist only in one

unchangeable form:

The demonstrative and determinative pronouns

used as characterizing words

ýòîò - this, the close to hand



Âîò ýòîò äî ì Here is this house.

It is necessary to distinguish the characterizing ýòî, which changes

according to genders and ýòî used in the meaning of «this is, that is,

N. Ýòî ìî¸ ìåñò î This is my seat.

F. Ýòî ìîÿ ìàøèí à This is my car.

Òàêĩă ữàđê ĩă ẻăò ĩ !

What a hot summer!

Òàêĩé ựèẻủắ ũé âăòă đ ! What a heavy wind!

òàêĩé - this kind, the same

this kind

Òàêĩé ảĩ ì ? This kind of house?

ÒàêàỮ ìàụèắ à ? This kind of car?

Òàêĩă ỉèâ ĩ ? This kind of beer?

òĩò - that one, the one which was meant, distant object

Âĩò òĩò ảĩ ì Here is that house.

Âĩò òĩ ìăựò ĩ Here is that place.

Âĩò òà óẻèỏ à Here is that street.

òăíîĩ ươ - the same, the same kind as,

combines with long adjectives:

ñăìûĩ - the very, the most, most

Indicates precise location:

Ì. Ýòî ñăìûĩ öởòð êîðîôă It`s the very centre of the city.

Similar meaning could be rendered by

Íăíîĩ ñỉịüí ûĩ đơòơ ð ! What a heavy wind!

Íăíîơ ưăðí îơ ịơò î !

What a hot summer!

Íăíăÿ ñỉịüí ăÿ êðîì ă ! What a heavy thunderstorm!

Òăíîĩ ươ ôî ì The same kind of house.

Òăíăÿ ươ ìăøỉí ă The same kind of car.

òîò ñăìûĩ - the same, the very, mentioned before

Combines with long adjectives to denote superlative meaning:

íăíîĩ - such a , what a

a The Interrogative Pronouns used as characterizing words

The Interrogative Pronouns are used in questions:

êàêĩé - what, which, what kind of, what is the number of ?



ọăé? - Whose ? Who is the owner? To whom it belongs?

ừăé ýòĩ ảĩ ì ? Whose is this house?

ừủị ýòĩ êóỉ ă ? ừủỮ Whose is this car? ýòĩ ìàụèắ à ?

Êàê ĩé ó âàự âàãĩ ắ ? What is your carriage number?

What is the class of your carriage?

Êàê ĩé ĩắ ọăẻĩâ ăê ? What kind of person is he?

Êàê ĩé ó âàự òăẻăôĩ ắ ? What is your telephone number?

What kind of telephone do you have?

Êàê àỮ ẫàâòđà áóảăò ỉĩãĩả à ? What is the weather like tomorrow?

Êàê àỮ ó âàự êâàđòèđ à ? What kind of apartment do you have?

What is the number of your apartment?

Êàê ĩă ó âàự êóỉ ă ? What is the number of your compartment?

What is the class of your compartment?

Êàê ĩă ó âàự ìăựò ĩ ? What is the number of your seat?

Some other popular nouns denoting professions:

Ôỉíòîð - announcer, ôỉðơíòîð - director, ó÷ỉòơịü - teacher,

ïðơôñơôằơịü - chairman, ïðîôơññîð - professor, ïîđăð - cook,

ỉíưởơð - engineer, âóõêăịòơð - bookkeeper, òðởơð - trainer,

- the whole country

đñ¸ đðờÿ - all the time

- one seat, a place îôíă - one car, a car ìăøỉí ă

THE GENDER OF NOUNS DENOTING PROFESSIONS IN RUSSIAN

Names of professions ending in consonants and the soft sign are

exclusively masculine as originally they were male dominated

The characterizing words are always Masculine irrespective of sex:

Notice! h

all,the whole

SINGULAR - ONLY NOUNS

Not all the nouns have both Singular and Plural forms

There are nouns which exist only in the Singular

They include nouns which denote:

ïîịỉòỉíă - policy/politics, ïðîìûøịởíîñòü - industry, ýíîíîìỉíă

- economy/economics, ìơôỉöỉíă - medicine, ñïîðò - sports,

òơịơđỉôởỉơ - television, ðăôỉî - radio, etc

substances; foods, cereals, fruits and vegetables:

ìîịîòî - gold, íơôòü - oil, øơðñòü - wool, ìăñịî - oil, butter, ïỉđî

- beer, ðỉñ - rice, ìÿñî - meat, ìóíă - flour, đỉíîêðăô - grapes,

ỉìþì raisins, íăïóñòă cabbage, ịóí onion, øîíîịăô

-chocolate, etc

feelings and sensations: ñ÷ăñòüơ - happiness, ìăđỉñòü - envy, etc.

The nouns of all Genders make Plural forms with the help of 2 groups

of endings:

First Group: Masculine & Feminine Nouns

- û ending («hard line») after hard consonants

The Plural of Nouns.

The Number Agreement of Russian Nouns.

F ííỉê ă  ííỉ êỉ - books

M ó÷ơâíỉí ó÷ơâíỉ íỉ -textbooks

F ñïỉ÷í ă  ñïỉ÷ íỉ - matches

F ôîòîêðẵỉ ÿ  ôîòîêðẵỉ ỉ - photos

- ỉ ending («soft line») instead of - ü , - ĩ and - ÿ

SPECIAL CASES OF PLURAL NOUN FORMATION

-‚ ending instead of - o in Neuter nouns («hard line»)

ñòåêë ‹
ñò¸êë à - window glasses

ladies & gentlemen õîçÿèí  õîçÿåâà - owners ÿáëîêî  ÿáëîêè - apples

Some nouns do not have the Singular form They exist only in the Plural

form (registered in the dictionaries in the Plural form) These words denote:objects which consist of two parts:

î÷í ỉ - glasses, íîửỉö û - scissors, đơñ û - scales, íă÷ơị ỉ

-swings, đîðîò ă - gate, âðþí ỉ - trousers, ôưỉíñ û - jeans, òðóñ û

- pants, íîịêîòí ỉ - tights etc

collective actions:

íăíỉíóị û - school or university vacation, ïơðơêîđîð û

-negotiations, đûâîð û - elections, êăñòðîị ỉ - tour (of artists),

ïîõîðîí û - funeral, ïðîđîô û - farewell party, ïðÿòí ỉ - hide and seak, ðîô û - childbirth etc

also the following words:

ôởüê ỉ - money, øắìằ û - chess, ÷ăñ û - clock, watch, íóðăíò û

- chimes, òỉòð û - subtitles, íóôð ỉ - curls, ñăíí ỉ - sledge, îïỉịí ỉ

- saw-dust, îâî ỉ - wallpaper, ôðîđ ă - firewood, ìờóăð û

-etc

a ôóõ ỉ - perfume, ù ỉ - cabbage-soup, ìăíăðîí û - spaghetti,

íîíñơðđ û - preserves, ñịỉđí ỉ - cream etc.

ñóòí ỉ - 24 hours period, ñóìơðí ỉ - dusk, ìăìîðîìí ỉ - early frost

Some place names

òðîïỉí ỉ - tropics, ôưóíêị ỉ - jungle

Ịóửỉí ỉ , Ñîíîịüíỉí ỉ, and lot of other geographic names mainly

denoting villages and towns on the territory of the former Soviet Union

PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN THE PLURALAll the plural nouns can be replaced by the personal pronoun îíỉ

îíỉ they

E.g Ýòî ìîỉ ôðóìüÿ These are my friends.

Characterizing words also have the Plural form All three Singular forms

- Masculine, Feminine and Neuter fall into one Plural form:

Masculine Feminine Neuter

Singular

M. ắĩâ ũé ảĩì - new house

F. ắĩâ àỮ ìàụèắà - new car

N. ắĩâ ĩă ựẻĩâĩ - new word

N. ẫĩẻĩò ĩă êĩẻủỏĩ - golden ring

ắèé group, for example:

M. ỉĩựẻăả ắèé óđĩê - last lesson

a MIXED PLURAL ADJECTIVAL ENDINGS

A big group of commonly used adjectives has the following peculiarities inthe Plural formation:

The adjectives with stems ending in ã , ê , õ

have - èå Plural ending(both spelt and pronounced), for example:

M F N Pl

ãèé - ãàÿ - ãîå - ãèå êèé - êàÿ - êîå - êèå õèé - õàÿ - õîå - õèå

The adjectives with stem in æ , ø , ÷ , ù

have their Plural form spelt with - èå ,

but pronounced - ûå, e.g.:



- What kind of idiots they are!

êàêîé êàêàÿ êàêîå

òå êëþ÷ è

- those keys

òîò òà òî

îäíè î÷êè - one pair of glasses

 îäíè - only, alone, a pair of

The Plural of Other Characterizing Words - all, the whole

In this part you will learn the main case forms (declension types) of

nouns in the Singular

adjectives and adjectival characterizing words in the Singular

The «governors» are mainly as follows:

verbs with or without prepositions

prepositions

all quantitative words including cardinal numerals from 2

nouns in the qualifying combinations

interrogative, indefinite and negative pronouns,

based on personal pronouns

numerals, both cardinal and ordinal

As mentioned in Part 1 there are two main types of relations between thewords in a Russian sentence: the Agreement and the Governing

The Agreement in units was discussed in the first two Parts

Part 3 of the Grammar Book deals with the Governing

Various kinds of endings have been «pigeon-holed» or classified into the cases

GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE CASE SYSTEMTHE CASE SYSTEM AS THE RESULT OF THE GOVERNING PROCESS

Part 3

The Declension of Nouns, Adjectives

and Adjectival Words in the Singular

There are 6 cases in Russian:

1 The Nominative 4 The Accusative

2 The Genitive 5 The Instrumental

3 The Dative 6.The Prepositional

The Singular case endings of nouns and units (which are

characterizing words + nouns), fall into two main groups:



Try to memorize the case endings

in combinations with prepositions

or verbs most typical for this case.

Special attention has to be paid

to the mosaic-like Genitive Plural endings of nouns

Nom óđĩê - lesson

Gen ỉĩựẻă óđĩê à - after the lesson

Dat Ĩắ ắă ãĩòĩâ ê óđĩê ó He is not ready for the lesson.

Acc =Nom

Ĩắ ỉđĩỉóựòèẻ óđĩê He missed (skipped) the lesson.

Instr ỉăđăả óđĩê ĩì - before the lesson

Prep ắà óđĩê ă - at the lesson

Gen Ĩắ ữèâịò ắăảàẻăêĩ ĩò ỳăòăđáóđã à

He lives not far from Petersburg.

Dat Ìũ ãóẻỮẻè ỉĩ ỳăòăđáóđã ó

We walked about Petersburg.

Acc =Nom

ư ăảó â ỳăòăđáóđã I am going to Petersburg.

Instr Ýòĩ đỮảĩì ự ỳăòăđáóđã ĩì It is close to Petersburg.

Prep Ĩắ ữèâịò â ỳăòăđáóđã ă He lives in Petersburg.

THE DECLENSION OF MASCULINE NOUNS IN THE SINGULAR

All nouns are registered in the dictionaries in the Nominative case form

Gen Ó Èâàắ à ăựòủ ựĩáàêà Ivan has a dog.

Dat Íàảĩ ỉĩẫâĩắèòủ Èâàắ ó I have to call Ivan.

Acc =Gen

ư ẫắàợ Èâàắ à I know Ivan.

Instr ư ăảó ự Èâàắ ĩì I go with Ivan.

Prep Ìũ ãĩâĩđèẻè ĩá Èâàắ ă We spoke about Ivan.

Mind that the case endings are attached to consonants

but replace vowels, é and ủ (soft sign)

All Masculine nouns, full first names and place names ending in a hard orhissing consonant decline on the following pattern:

Hard-ending Masculine nouns

Soft-ending Masculine nouns

The ending vowel can vary depending on the stem consonant

If a stem consonant is soft (ends in a soft sign) or ends in ĩ ,

then a Masculine noun declines on the following pattern:



Gen Âỉịơòû ó Íỉíîịă ÿ Nikolay has the tickets.

Dat Íăôî ïîìđîíỉòü Íỉíîịă þ I have to call Nikolay.

Acc = Gen

ß ìíăþ Íỉíîịă ÿ I know Nikolay.

Instr ß ơôó ñ Íỉíîịă ờ I go with Nikolay.

Prep Ìû êîđîðỉịỉ î Íỉíîịă ơ We spoke about Nikolay.

ß đỉôơị ó÷ỉòơị ÿ I saw the teacher.

Instr ß ơôó ñ ó÷ỉòơị ờ I go with the teacher.

Nom Ýòî ó÷ỉòơị ü

Type

Íỉíîịă ĩ

ó÷ỉòơị ü

Gen Ñơêîôíÿ íơò õîííơ ÿ There is no hockey today.

Dat ÷ờïỉîíằ ìỉðă ïî õîííơ þ - World hockey championship

Acc = Nom

Îí ịþâỉò õîííơ ĩ - He is fond of hockey.

Instr Îí ìăíỉìăơòñÿ õîííơ ờ He goes in for hockey.

Prep Îí êîđîðỉò òîịüíî î õîííơ ơ He talks only of hockey.

THE ACCUSATIVE OF MASCULINE NOUNS IN THE SINGULAR

The Accusative of Masculine nouns does not have any special ending

Here Russians use the concept of Animacy and Inanimacy

Ýòî Ỉđăí - Nom

ß đỉôơị Ỉđăí ă - Acc

Ýòî íðîíîôỉị - Nom

ß đỉôơị íðîíîôỉị ă - Acc

Animate nouns, which are nouns denoting human beings and

representatives of the animal world, take the form of the Genitive case.Summing-up table of hard and soft Masculine case endings

Instr îì ờ Ỉđăí îì /Íỉíîịă ờ

ịơñ
Ìû êóịÿịỉ đ ịơñ ˜ We walked in the forest.

øíẵ
Ïăïíỉ đ øíẵ ˜ The files are in the bookcase.

There is a group of Masculine nouns denoting a place

which take ˜ / þ instead of e in the Prepositional Case

Here are some of them:

Summing-up table of Masculine nouns and names in the Accusative

Inanimate nouns take the form of the Nominative case, so the Accusative

of inanimate nouns does not differ from the dictionary form, for example:

ß ïðîïóñòỉị óðîí.

ß ịþâịþ õîííơĩ.

ß ơôó đ Ïơòơðâóðê.

ß ịþâịþ ôîưộ.

a Íðûì
Ðăíüøơ ÿ ưỉị đ Íðûì ˜ I lived before in the Crimea.

óêîị
Íîðîâíă ñòîỉò đ óêị ˜ The box is in the corner.

âơðơê
Ôîì ñòîÿị íă âơðơê ˜ The house stood on the bank.

Some Masculine nouns ending in ö, ÷, ù, ø and ư take - è

ending instead of - ò when the ending is unstressed:

Some Masculine nouns ending in ü (soft sign) take -¸ì ending

in the Instrumental Case:

ìóư
ñ ì˜ư ờ

ỉíîñòðăíơö
ñ ỉíîñòð‚íö ờ

ăô
đ ăô ˜ - in hell ðăĩ
đ ðă þ - in paradise

ñịîđăðü
ñî ñịîđăð ¸ì - with a dictionary

THE DECLENSION OF NEUTER NOUNS IN THE SINGULAR

Nom Đîò ‹ìơð î Here is the lake.

Gen Íăøă ôă÷ă íơôăịơíî îò îìơð ă

Our summer cottage is not far from the lake.

Dat Ýòî ôîðîêă í ‹ìơð ó This road goes to the lake.

Acc = Nom

ß ỉôó íă ‹ìơð î I am going to the lake.

Instr Íăøă ôă÷ă ðÿôîì ñ ‹ìơð îì Our summer cottage is close

to the lake.

Prep Íăøă ôă÷ă íă ‹ìơð ơ Our summer cottage is on the lake.

 Hard ending Neuter nouns

Neuter nouns ending in î decline like the Masculine noun óðîí,

Nom Ýòĩ ỳĩảìĩựêĩâủ ă - This is the Moscow region

Gen Âĩò êàđòà ỳĩảìĩựêĩâủ Ữ

Here is the map of the Moscow region.

This area borders the Moscow region.

Prep Ĩắ ữèâịò â ỳĩảìĩựêĩâủ ă

He lives in the Moscow region.

Neuter nouns ending in - ă decline like the soft Masculine noun

õĩêêăé, for example:



Nom Âĩò ìĩđ ă - Here is the sea.

Gen Ĩắ ữèâịò ắăảàẻăêĩ ĩò ìĩđ Ữ

He lives not far from the sea.

Our summer cottage is on the sea.

Nom = Acc = Prep

 Several Neuter nouns, like đðờÿ - time, ỉìÿ - first name,

and some others, decline as follows:

Gen Ó Ỉđăíă íơò đðờ ở | ỉ

Ivan has no time.

Dat ïịằỉòü ïî đðờ ở | ỉ

-to pay according -to time

Acc = Nom

Îí òîịüíî ïîòơðÿị đðờÿ

He only lost time.

Instr Ó Ỉđăíă đñơêôă ïðîâịờû ñî đðờ ở | ờ

Ivan is always short of time.

Prep Îí ìăậị î đðờ ở | ỉ

He forgot about time.

Neuter nouns ending in - ỉơ , like ðăñïỉñăíỉơ decline like ìîð ơ,

except for the Prepositional, for example:

- problems with the schedule

Prep đ ðăñïỉñăíỉ ỉ - in the schedule

Notice! h Notice! h

-Type ïëîùàä ü

e y T è ñ î

N - ÿ - ü

n

G - è - è

.t a

D - è - è

c

A - þ - ü

r s n

I - å é - ü þ

There are 3 additional mixed types of Feminine noun case forms:

Mixed types of endings

of Feminine Nouns, for example:

in the Genitive Case - ỉ is spelt instead of - û:

ïăï ă like Ìîñíđ ă , ôơôóø íă likeííỉ êă

Íîị ÿ like Òăí ÿ , Ñơð¸ ưă likeÍằă øă

a Summing-up table of the Masculine

and Neuter noun declension in the Singular

Hard declension Soft declension

c c

A c c

A c c

A c c

A c c A

n e G

= m i n A

m o N

= m i n a I

í à â

È à= G n

ê î ð

ó = N o m

ã ð ó á ð å ò å

î ð å ç

î = N o m

c c

A c c

A c c

A c c

A c c A

n e G

= m i n A

m o N

= m i n a n I

à ë î ê è

Í ÿ= G e n

ë å ò è

÷

ó ÿ= G e n

ð î

ì å= N o m

í à ñ è ï ñ à

ð è å= N o m

r t s n

I n s t r

I n s t r

I n s t r

I n s t r I

-î ì

í à â

ê î ð

ã ð ó á ð å ò å

ð å ç

r t s n

ë å ò è

÷

ð î

ì å ì

è í à ñ è ï ñ à

p e r

P r e p

P r e p

P r e p

P P r e p -å

í à â

ê î ð

ã ð ó á ð å ò å

p e r

P r e p

P r e p

P r e p

P P r e p -å

à ë î ê è

ë å ò è

÷

ð î

ã ð ó á ð å ò å Ï

î ð å ç î

m o N

é à ë î ê è Í

ü ë å ò è

÷ ó å ð î ì

å è í à ñ è ï ñ à ð

ê î ð

ã ð ó á ð å ò å

ð å ç

n e

G e n

G e n

G e n

G e n G

-ÿ

à ë î ê è

ë å ò è

÷

ð î

è í à ñ è ï ñ à

ê î ð

ã ð ó á ð å ò å

ð å ç

t a

ë å ò è

÷

ð î

í à ñ è ï ñ à

Hard declension Soft declension

Òăí þ , Ðîññỉ þ , ñòằü þ

Acc

ïịîùăô ü

óịỉö ơĩ , Íằăø ơĩ , Òăí ơĩ , Ðîññỉ ơĩ , ñòằü ¸ĩ

Ìîñíđ îĩ , ííỉê îĩ

Instr

Ìîñíđ ơ , ííỉê ơ , óịỉö ơ , Íằăø ơ , Òăí ơ , ñòằ üơ

Ðîññỉ ỉ , ïịîùăô ỉ

Prep

a ADJECTIVAL TYPE OF DECLENSION IN RUSSIAN

The following categories of Russian words have the adjectival case forms:

all types of adjectives

possessive pronouns - ìîĩ , òđîĩ , íăø , đăø

all demonstrative pronouns - ýòîò , òîò , òăíîĩ

and other pronouns in combination with them

interrogative/relative pronouns - íăíîĩ , ÷ơĩ , íîòîðûĩ - which, who

indefinite and negative pronouns based on íăí îĩ , ÷ơĩ, íîòîð ûĩ ,

íơíîòîðûơ - only Plural

possessive reflexive pronoun - ñđîĩ

determinative pronouns - ñăìûĩ , đơñü - whole, íăưôûĩ - each, every

all long participles - ñịîìăíûĩ , îïîìôăđøỉĩ , îïăìôûđăþùỉĩ etc.

ordinal numerals - ïơðđûĩ - first, ôđăồằü ïơðđûĩ - 21-st

adjectival nouns - ôơưóðíûĩ - person on duty, ìîðîưởîơ - cream, íăâơðơửăÿ - embankment etc

ice-
participial nouns

-ðăíởûĩ - a wounded person, ïðîõîưỉĩ - a passer by etc

family names of adjectival origin -Ôîñòîơđñíỉĩ , Òîịñòăÿ etc

place names and names of subway, railroad stations, hotels etc.

-Íîịîìởñíîơ (earlier village, now a part of Moscow),

Ưóíîđñíỉĩ (town), Ịóêîđăÿ (station), Ñìîịởñíăÿ (subway

station), also Ïðỉâăịòỉĩñíăÿ (hotel) etc

generalizing/replacing words

-ýòî - this, that, đñ¸ - everything, đñơ - everybody,



a As for the declension types all the adjectives and adjectival words

can be grouped as follows:

words with ã, ê, õ and ữ, ụ stems.h Notice!

The following words belong to this declension type:

all Masculine and Neuter long adjectives, long participles, ordinal

numerals and adjectival pronouns ending in - ũé or - ĩé,

all possessive adjectives like ìàìèắ and their Neuter forms

Nom. Ýòĩ ắàụ ắĩâ ũé ảèđăêòĩđ This is our new director.

Gen. Ó ắĩâ ĩãĩ ảèđăêòĩđà êđàựèâàỮ ìàụèắà.

The new director has a nice car.

Dat. ư èảó ê ắĩâ ĩìó ảèđăêòĩđó I am going to the new director.

Acc. ư óữă âèảăẻ ắĩâ ĩãĩ ảèđăêòĩđà I have already seen the new director.

Instr. ư ãĩâĩđèẻ ự ắĩâ ũì ảèđăêòĩđĩì I spoke with the new