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Russian Cases Cheat Sheet by

Different cases in Russian language

Cases and functions

Case
Function
Question
Nominative
Subject of the sentence
кто? что?
Genitive
The 'of' case: Posses­sion, Quantity & Negation
кого? чего?* чей?
Dative
The 'to/for' case: Indirect object, Recipient
кому? чему?
Accusative
Direct object
кого? что?
Instru­mental
The 'by/with' case: Means of doing something
кем? чем?
Prepos­itional
The 'at/about' case: Location
о ком?
о чём?
где?
* - differ­ent­iated by context. Genitive is equivalent to the second case in English: the Possessive ('s)

Conjug­ation (verbs / tegusõna)

Person
I conj others
II conj и
Я ('I')
у/ю
у/ю
Ты ('You')
ешь
ишь
Он/она/оно ('Him/­Her­/It')
ет
ит
Мы ('We')
ем
им
Вы ('You')
ете
ите
Они ('Them')
ут/ют
ат/ят
"to ..." is the infinitive of a verb, and keeps the -ть, while "I am ..." requires conjug­ation

Conjug­ation exceptions

I conj
II conj
держать ('to keep')
брить ('to shave')
видеть ('to see')
вертеть ('to twirl')
стелить ('to lay')
обидеть ('to offend')
зависеть ('to depend')
 
ненавидеть ('to hate')
терпеть ('to tolerate')
 
смотреть ('to watch')
слышать ('to hear')
 
дышать ('to breathe')
гнать ('to drive')

Past

Gender
Ending
Male
л
Female
ла
Neutral
ло
Plural
ли
Gender is determined by the subject (I was speaking, She was eating)

Pronouns

I
Я
Me
Меня
You
Ты
You (informal)
Тебя
He, It (m)
Он
Him, It (m,n)
Его
She, It (f)
Она
Her, It (f)
Её
It
Оно
We
Мы
Us
Нас
You (forma­l/p­lural)
Вы
You (forma­l/p­lural)
Вас
They
Они
Them
Их
Вы is used as the formal singular "­you­", and the plural "­you­" (slang: "­you­s" or "you all") when talking to more than one person.
 

Nominative case (nimetav)

Gender
Nouns
Adjectives
Posessives
Male
const., й
ый ий ой
Мой Твой Наш Ваш
Female
а or я
ая яя
Моя Твоя Наша Ваша
Neutral
о or e
ое ее
Моё Твоё Наше Ваше
Plural
+ы;
й а я > ы;
ь > и;
о > а;
е > я;
ый
ой > ые;
ий > ие
Мои Твои Наши Ваши
Имени́­тельный паде́ж

The nominative case is the default case of a word, as found in dictio­naries and when no other case is specif­ically used. It is also used for the subject of a sentence: in "Bob eats lunch", Bob is the subject of the sentence, so would be in its default nominative form.

Genitive case (omastav)

Gender
Nouns
Adjectives
Posessives
Male/N­eutral
const., о > а;
й, е, ь > я
ого его
Моего Твоего Нашего Вашего
Female
а > ы
ь, я> и
ой ей
Моей
Твоей Нашей Вашей
Plural
ов, ев, ей
ых их
Моих Твоих Наших Ваших
Роди́т­ельный паде́ж

- Counting - When counting objects ("I have six sheep"), the thing being enumerated is usually put in the genitive case.
- Possession - If something is owned by something else, the owner is in the genitive case.
- Negation - To say something is there, we generally use the nominative case. If it isn't there, we use нет followed by the genitive.
- Prepos­itions - Locations (in/on­/ne­ar/­etc); Also used for "I have"

Dative case

Gender
Nouns
Adjectives
Posessives
Male/N­eutral
const., о > у
й, е, ь > ю
ому ему
Моему Твоему Нашему Вашему
Female
а > е
я, ь > и
ой ей
Моей Твоей Нашей Вашей
Plural
const., о, а > ам
й, е, я > ям
ым им
Моим Твоим Нашим Вашим
Да́тельный паде́ж

The dative case is used to denote indirect objects, which are objects that indicate "to whom", or "to what" an action is done. So in the sentence, "I am writing a letter to you", "(a) letter­" is the direct object of the verb, while "(to) you" is the indirect object.
 

Accusative case

Gender
Nouns
Adjectives
Posessives
M obj
As nom.
As nom.
As nom.
M alive
As gen.
As gen.
As gen.
Female
a > у
я > ю
aя > ую
яя > юю
Мою Твою Нашу Вашу
Neutral
As nom.
As nom.
As nom.
Pl obj
As nom.
As nom.
As nom.
Pl alive
As gen.
As gen.
As gen.
Вини́т­ельный паде́ж

The accusative case is used for the direct object of a verb. In "Bob eats lunch,­" "­lun­ch" is the direct object.

NB! Masculine nouns denoting people or animals (i.e., animate nouns) take their genitive form, while neuter nouns and inanimate masculine nouns take their nominative form. Plural nouns of any gender take their nominative plural form if inanimate, or their genitive plural form if animate.

Instru­mental case

Gender
Nouns
Adjectives
Posessives
Male/N­eutral
ом ем ём
ым им
Моим Твоим Нашим Вашим
Female
ой ей ёй
ой ей
Моей Твоей Нашей Вашей
Plural
const., о, а > ами
й, е, я > ями
ыми ими
Моими Твоими Нашими Вашими
Твори́­тельный паде́ж
пoд ('under') нaд ('abov­e'/'on top of') зa ('behind') мeждy ('betw­een'), and пepeд ('befo­re'/'in front of').

The instru­mental case is used to denote the object by which something is done.

Prepos­itional case (kohak­ääne)

Gender
Nouns
Adjectives
Posessives
Male / Neutral
e
ом ем
Моём Твоём Нашем Вашем
Female
а, я > е
ь > и
ой ей
Моей Твоей Нашей Вашей
Plural
const., о, а > ах
й, е, я > ях
ых их
Моих Твоих Наших Ваших
Предло­́жный паде́ж
в (in), на (on), and о/обо (about; it's обо in the phrase "­about me" or "­about my").

Commonly used to denote a sentence's object's location or an activity.
However, these prepos­itions can also call other cases, in which case their meaning changes. For instance, в + prep means 'in', as in, "I live in Englan­d". в + acc, however, means 'into' or 'to', as in, "I'm flying to New York".
       
 

Comments

Thank you - this is a really helpful and easy to read/understand cheat sheet.

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