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Possessive Pronouns
| Pronoun | Nominative (subject) | Genitive (of my) | Dative (give) | Accusative (direct object) | Instrumental | Prepositional |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| My | ||||||
| Masculine | мой | моего | моему | мой / моего | моим | моём |
| Feminine | моя | моей | моей | мою | моей | моей |
| Neuter | моё | моего | моему | моё | моим | моём |
| Plural | мои | моих | моим | мои / моих | моими | моих |
| Your (informal) | ||||||
| Masculine | твой | твоего | твоему | твой / твоего | твоим | твоём |
| Feminine | твоя | твоей | твоей | твою | твоей | твоей |
| Neuter | твоё | твоего | твоему | твоё | твоим | твоём |
| Plural | твои | твоих | твоим | твои / твоих | твоими | твоих |
| Your (formal/plural) | ||||||
| Masculine | ваш | вашего | вашему | ваш / вашего | вашим | вашем |
| Feminine | ваша | вашей | вашей | вашу | вашей | вашей |
| Neuter | ваше | вашего | вашему | ваше | вашим | вашем |
| Plural | ваши | ваших | вашим | ваши / ваших | вашими | ваших |
| Our | ||||||
| Masculine | наш | нашего | нашему | наш / нашего | нашим | нашем |
| Feminine | наша | нашей | нашей | нашу | нашей | нашей |
| Neuter | наше | нашего | нашему | наше | нашим | нашем |
| Plural | наши | наших | нашим | наши / наших | нашими | наших |
| Their | ||||||
| Masculine | их | их | их | их | их | их |
| Feminine | их | их | их | их | их | их |
| Neuter | их | их | их | их | их | их |
| Plural | их | их | их | их | их | их |
| Accusative: |
- For animate nouns, the accusative case matches the genitive.
- For inanimate nouns, the accusative case matches the nominative.
Tidbits
“Вы” can refer to a single person formally OR to multiple people (like “you all”). Regardless of which one it is, gender/number agreement must be plural!
Russian Cases
For the following cases, Де́вушка will be our example word.
Nominative Case
The bare form of everything. Indicates the subject of the sentence, often indicated using “the” in English.
The girl threw the ball.
Де́вушка бро́сила мяч.
Prepositional Case
Used when referring to a noun in the context of certain prepositions like “about”, “in”, or “on” (о, в, на). These indicate directional proximity. It shows the noun is an object of orientation for the subject.
Example: книга о девочках, “a book about (the) girls”
The butterfly is on the girl.
Ба́бочка на де́вушке.
I am thinking about the girl.
Я ду́маю о де́вушке.
Accusative Case
The direct object of a sentence. In English the subject often comes at the beginning of a sentence and the direct object follows.
The boy loves the girl.
Ма́льчик лю́бит де́вушку.
Genitive Case
Indicates possession or quantity. Like “of” or “of the” in English, e.g. “Door of the house,” “A lot of questions,” “I have a thousand (of) questions.” It may be helpful to know that there is no apostrophe s (‘s) in Russian, possession always takes the form “of the.”
This is the car of the girl. (As opposed to This is the girl’s car.)
Э́то маши́на де́вушки.
Dative Case
Origin: Dative comes from Latin “dare” (in Russian, дать) meaning “to give.” So the case literally has to do with giving something an object. It indicates the recipient of an action. In English, prepositions “to the,” “by the,” and “for the” are comparable to dative case.
The boy gave flowers to the girl.
Ма́льчик подари́л цветы́ де́вушке.
I was amazed by the girl. (I am the recipient of amazement.)
Я удивляюсь де́вушке.
Example 1: “I (subject) gave (action) the dog (indirect object) water (direct object).”
Example 2: “I (subject) gave (action) the dog (direct object) to my wife (indirect object)”
In most cases, only animate nouns (people, animals) will have a dative form.
Dative Endings
| Masc./Neut. | Fem. |
|---|---|
| -у, -ю | -е |
Instrumental Case
Indicates that something is being done with this particular noun. Comparable to “with the” in English.
The boy went to the store with the girl.
Ма́льчик пошёл в магази́н с де́вушкой.
Declension Groups
A way to simplify learning cases is to realize most nouns actually fall into 3 declension groups which cover about 80% of nouns. After being comfortable with these, then we can move on to learning exceptions.
First Declension Group - Маши́на (car)
This group consists of all nouns ending in а/я regardless of gender.
Second Declension Group - Забо́р (fence)
The second declension group consists of masculine and neuter nouns, unless the noun is already part of the first group.
Third Declension Group - Дверь (door)
The third declension group consists of feminine nouns ending in ь.
Soft Partners
Lastly, to get started we must cover soft partners. Each vowel has a soft partner, and when a noun has a soft ending, you use the soft partner instead of the normal vowel.
| Vowel | Soft Partner |
|---|---|
| а | я |
| о | ё |
| у | ю |
| э | е |
| ы | и |