Russian Cases: «Родительный падеж»
The graffiti on a wall above: «Я без тебя умру» [I will die without you] shows that after the preposition «без» [without] the noun is always in the genitive case because of the rule we’re going talk about today – genitive in sentences with negation!
Today we’re going to start our extensive discussion about the thrilling genitive case in the Russian language – «родительный падеж». Since this case is no «именительный падеж» [nominative case] but a little bit «потруднее» [harder], I have decided to make three posts about this exciting case. The first one, today’s post – “part I” as I have chosen to call it – contains two basic and essential moments: genitive with possession and genitive in sentences with negation. The first one-possession – will not be too difficult for anyone with a native language belonging to the Indo-European family of languages, since that’s the one case that almost all of those languages have, though it might be the ONLY case that’s remained until this very day (for example, the genitive ‘s in English and Swedish, the two other languages I know fairly well). That’s part I, thus today. In part II we’ll take a closer look at the different prepositions that demand genitive, other than just the ones about negation, and in part III I’ll try and give an «обзор» [roundup] of a few Russian verbs that also command genitive case from nouns paired with them. But before we go any further today, let’s have a look in «этимологический словарь М. Фасмера» [M. Vasmer’s etymologic dictionary] (did you see how I slipped in some genitive right there – smooth, eh?):
«Родительный падеж – калькирует от латинского слова genitivus, «род, вид», первоначально «падеж, обозначающий вид». (Сравни ещё вариант родъно падение старый «родительный падеж», как предложил Роман Якобсон.)» [Genitive case – it is a loan translation from the Latin word genitivus, which means “family; sort; kind; gender; genus; and look; appearance; state; condition; view; kind; sort; form; aspect”, originally “the case that indicates appearance”. (Compare also with the possibility of ‘family decline’ as the old “genitive case” suggested by Roman Jakobson.)]
Let’s have a look at genitive with nouns in sentences about possession. Note that in Russian language the genitive attribute always stands AFTER the noun. In other words – it’s the complete opposite word order in comparison with English language, for example, something that can be a little tricky at first, but is more than possible to get used to. With time and practice, of course! Here are a couple of sentences to illustrate this grammatical rule:
«Поэма Пушкина» [A (long) poem by Pushkin; Pushkin’s (long) poem].
«Роман Толстого» [A novel by Tolstoy; Tolstoy’s novel].
«Стихи Лермонтова» [Poetry by Lermontov; Lermontov’s poetry].
«Балет Чайковского» [A ballet by Tchaikovsky; Tchaikovsky’s ballet].
«Картина Репина» [A painting by Repin; Repin’s painting].
«Фильм Эйзенштейна» [A movie by Eisenstein; Eisenstein’s movie].
«Парк культуры и отдыха имени Горького» [Park of Culture and Rest named in the honor of Gorky].
«Проспект Ленина» [Lenin Prospect (there’s one of those in every single Russian and/or former Soviet city!)].
«Улица Маяковского» [Mayakovsky Street (also a very common name for a street in Russia)].
«Переулок Гагарина» [‘Gagarin’s Side Street’ (now, honestly, I think this name for a ‘side street’ is impossible logically speaking, considering this country’s enormous respect for the first man in space, though the name is grammatically correct and all)].
Here we have another genitive paired with both a verb and a preposition requiring just this very case: «Как предохраняться от нежелательной беременности?» [How to protect oneself from unwanted pregnancy?]. I came across this sign on an information stand in the female section of a Russian hospital, a fact that I think will surprise little to no one…
Another rule worth remembering by heart already right now when trying to figure out this case, is that it ALWAYS affects the noun after the verb «быть» [to be; exist; in present tense it is almost always left out in Russian!] when paired up with the negation «нет» [no; in speech you’ll often hear «нету», which means the exact same thing] and «не» [not]. Let’s take a closer look at how this works, shall we not? Note that the verb, when paired with genitive case, is always in the second person singular; both in future and past tenses! In the present tense, you should only remember the first rule – to leave out the verb entirely and be happy with that. And perhaps feel a little more Russian because of it!
«У меня нет времени» [I don’t have time].
«У меня не будет времени» [I will not have time].
«У меня не было времени» [I didn’t have time] (note how the stress falls only on the «не» and not on the verb in this construction!).
There are a couple of other verbs that mean pretty much the same thing in Russian; thus they are all about the fact that something is missing, nonexistent, lacking and so on and so forth. They all also need to be followed by the genitive case. Here are a few of them in sentences:
«Совершенных людей не существует» [‘Perfect people don’t exist’; or more accurately – there are no perfect people].
«В кассе театра не осталось ни одного билета» [In the theater’s ticket office there was not even one ticket left].
«Ничего особенного не произошло» [Nothing special happened].
«На вечернике не встречалось ни одной симпатичной девушки» [At the party there wasn’t even one pretty girl].
The last thing we’re going to have a look at today is called ‘object genitive’ and is used in sentences with the negation of the following kind: (Compare with the ‘positive’ sentences, in which the case to use is accusative!)
«Я не понял вопроса» [I didn’t understand the question].
«Я понял вопрос» [I understood the question].
«Я не видел картины» [I didn’t see the painting].
«Я видел картину» [I saw the painting].
«Я не получал письма» [I didn’t receive the letter] (note that the verb is in imperfect!).
«Я получил письмо» [I received the letter] (but now it is in perfect – I guess we’ll have to discuss that rule sooner or later, too!).
I hope I’m not boring you all to tears with this heavy load of Russian grammar? I know a few of you might find posts like these useful, whereas others will be shaking their head to and fro in deep boredom, and some will not even read them out of pure fear to face their dread of grammar (I should know – I used to be one of them!). But in the next post we’ll take a break from all of these rules and regulations, and direct our attention to the fact that the month of April has lots and lots of great dates of importance to Russian history – Gagarin becomes the first man in space, Mayakovsky commits suicide and, of course, who could ever forget? – Lenin’s b’day!
This picture is an old favorite of mine, taken on a beach in Siberia back in 2005: «Пьянство у воды – причина беды» [Drunkenness by the water – a reason for sorrow]. I know you noticed the preposition «у» in this sentence, that’s always followed by genitive!
Добрый день, дамы и господа! [Good day, ladies and gentlemen!] Today it is high time for part II out of the three posts I’ve decided to dedicate to «родительныйпадеж русского языка» [the genitive case of Russian language] – this part is about the different prepositions that are always followed by this case. The Russian word for preposition is «предлог», but you all already know that, right? Since there are quite a lot of prepositions to go through today, I think we should just jump right in and cut this introduction to a minimum.
«у» – 1. by; at; near, 2. at the home of, 3. indicating possession, 4. from:
«Сегодня мы будем обедать у Ивановых» – [Today we’re going to have lunch at the home of the Ivanov family].
«У моего дома есть большой двор» – [Near my house there is a big yard].
«до» – 1. to; up to, 2. as far as, 3. before; until, 4. to the point of:
«Почему он всегда работает до изнеможения?» – [Why does he always work to the point of exhaustion?]
«Мне не до этого» – [I’m not in the mood for that; or I’m not of a mind for that].
«из» – 1. from, 2. out of, 3. made of; consisting of; of (paired with a noun that demands the preposition «в» when indicating location):
«Я знаю, что он дружит со мной только из жалости» – [I know that he’s only friends with me out of pity].
«Они приехали из Минска» – [They arrived from Minsk]. (Compare with: «Они были в Минске» – [They were in Minsk].)
«с» – 1. from, 2. off, 3. down from; up from, 4. since (paired with a noun that demands the preposition «на» when indicating location):
«Мы приходим домой с работы поздно» – [We come home from work late]. (Compare with «на работе» – [at work].)
«С вашего позволения скажу ему, что всё в порядке» – [With your permission I’ll tell him that everything is in order (is okay)].
«от» – 1. from, 2. indicating cause, 3. to; belonging to:
«Где у тебя ключ от комнаты?» – [Where do you have the key to the room?]
«Это письмо от мамы?» – [Is this the letter (a letter) from mom?]
«Надо купить что–нибудь от кашля» – [It is necessary to buy something for the cough].
«для» – 1. for, 2. to (in certain combinations):
«Мне кажется, что она хорошо выглядеть для своего возраста» – [It seems to me that she looks good for her age].
«Я согласен с тобой, что он опасен для общества» – [I agree with you that he is dangerous to society].
«около» – 1. near; close to, 2. about; approximately:
«Ходить вокруг да около» – [to beat around the bush].
«после» – 1. after, 2. since; (adverb: afterward):
«Может быть, после завтрака погуляем?» – [Maybe we’ll go for a walk after breakfast?]
«Мы было не узнали её после её возвращения» – [We almost didn’t recognize her after her return (since her return)].
«вокруг» – 1. around, 2. (fig.) over; (adverb: around; about):
«Так хорошо сидеть вокруг костра после длительного дня в подходе» – [It is so nice to sit around the fire after a long day of hiking].
«кроме» – 1. except (for), 2. but; besides, 3. in addition to:
«Ему всё нравится в России, кроме общественных туалетов» – [He likes everything in Russia except for the public restrooms].
«среди» – in the middle of; among:
«Ты уверена, что Павел был среди них?» – [Are you sure that Pavel was among them?]
«возле» – 1. by; near, 2. beside; alongside; next to:
«Сядь возле меня!» – [Sit next to me!]
«вблизи» – 1. near; nearby; close by, 2. up close:
«Посёлок находится вблизи кирпичного завода» – [The village (community; settlement) is located nearby the brick factory].
«ниже» – below; beneath:
«Она ниже меня ростом» – [She’s shorter than me].
«вместо» – instead of; in place of:
«Почему ты не сходишь в магазин за пивом вместо меня?» – [Why don’t you go to the store and get beer instead of me?]
«вдоль» – along:
«Мы исследовали эту проблему вдоль и поперёк» – [We studied this problem backwards and forwards (far and wide; thouroughly; inside out)].
«прежде» – before; ahead of:
«Прежде всего, узнай, а попусту не болтай!» – [First of all find out, don’t talk for nothing (to no purpose)].
«внутри» – inside; within:
«Внутри коробочки не оказалось шоколада. Странно!» – [Inside the (small) box there was no chocolathe. Strange!]
«вследствие» – as a result of; on account of; owing to:
«Нам пришлось переехать вследствие пожара» – [We had to move as a result of the fire].
«относительно» – regarding; concerning:
«А вам относительно чего необходимо написать ему заявление?» – [And regarding what do you have to write him an statement?]
«напротив» – 1. opposite, 2. facing:
«Кладбище находится напротив церкви» – [The graveyard is located opposite the church].
«впереди» – in front of; ahead of:
«И всё же, впереди его было столько горя!» – [And still ahead of him was such much sorrow!]
«вне» – 1. outside; out of, 2. in:
«Пенсионеры и инвалиды обслуживаются вне очереди» – [Pensioners and invalids get service out of turn].
«Он прекрасный мужчина, это вне всякого сомнения» – [He is a wonderful man, that’s beyond any doubt].
«из–за» – 1. from behind; from, 2. because of; on account of; over:
«Я же говорила – из–за тебя я вечно опаздываю на работу!» – [I’ve already told you – because of you I’m eternally late for work!
«Мы не должны спорить из-за денег» – [We shouldn’t argue over money].
«из–под» – 1. from under, 2. from somewhere (near a city):
«Вот тогда–то ситуация вышла из–под контроля!» – [And it was then the situation got out of control!]
«В середины ужина он вылез из–под стола, и как все удивились!» – [In the middle of the dinner he crawled out from under the table, and everyone was so suprised!]
«ради» – for; for the sake of:
«Сделай это ради меня» – [Do this for me].
I know, I know – a lot of grammar today too! But I hope these my couple of humble example sentences were helpful for those of you still trying to figure out which prepositions to combine with what case when speaking Russian. Of course, to learn these prepositions one must do more than just read a sentence with it, one must read a lot more sentences (of different kinds, since many of the prepositions above have more than just one meaning) and try to speak with them. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes! I make mistakes all the time. That’s the only way you’ll ever learn a language – from your own mistakes.
During the last two years, it has become more and more popular to make old Soviet propaganda serve capitalistic ends here in Russia. This is just one twist on the current theme of ‘economic crisis’ worldwide: «Сервис отличный, нормальные цены, пусть не пугают тебя перемены!» [The service is excellent, the prices are normal, don’t let the changes scare you!]. Under the picture (with a boot added in photoshop as the ad above is for a shoe store) it says: «Служим народу» [We serve the people]. Anyone who remembers, i.e. knows, what it says in the original version?
After taking a little break from Russian grammar to celebrate Orthodox Easter, read Bunin and be fascinated with alternative Russian slang used on the internet, I think that we now all are ready to pick up where we left off last time we discussed grammar – to round things up with «родительный падеж» [genitive case] of Russian language. As we’ve already discussed two important things concerning this case earlier, both negation and what prepositions demand to be followed by genitive, we are now fully equipped with enough knowledge to start part III and learn about the certain verbs in Russian language that must always be followed by genitive. With no time to loose let’s get started already! The verbs «хотеть» [to want], «ждать» [to wait], «просить» [to ask for] and «требовать» [to demand] are followed by genitive if the object is abstract or a part of something. If the object after these verbs is a person or an item, than the case you should always use is accusative. This rule can be a little tricky to understand at first, especially if you’ve been learning Russian for a while already yet never even heard of such a thing before, and that’s why I suggest we should learn from a couple of examples: (P.S. when figuring out this rule you could ask yourself – can this ‘object’ be touched? If not, then it’s probably abstract.)
Accusative: «Я ищу новое платье» [I am looking for a new dress].
Genitive: «Я ищу покоя» [I am looking for peace of mind (quiet; rest)] – (abstract!)
Accusative: «Он ждёт подругу» [He is waiting for his friend/girlfriend].
Genitive: «Она ждёт ответа на письмо» [She is waiting for an answer to her letter] – (abstract!)
Accusative: «Она попросила книгу в библиотеке» [She asked for a book at the library].
Genitive: «Он попросил извинения за опоздание» [He asked forgiveness for coming late] – (abstract!)
Note that the verb «ждать» [to wait] with the synonimic verbs «ожидать» [to expect; to wait for; await] and «дожидаться/дождаться» [to wait (as long as necessary); to wait (until someone comes or something happens: always with gen.)] often is followed by genitive when the object is a means of transportation:
«Мы ждали поезда, трамвая, автобуса, самолёта, парахода…» [We waited for the train, the tram, the bus, the plane, the ship (steamship)…]
Here’s a brief little (yet not too brief and little, I hope!) list of verbs that demand that the object after them is in genitive. If two verbs are given, then the first verb is always «несовершенный вид» [imperfect], whereas the second shows the «совершенный вид» [perfect]:
«пугаться/испугаться» [to be scared of; to be frightened of]:
«Ребёнок пугается темноты» [The child is scared of the dark].
«Волков бояться – в лес не ходить» [If you’re afraid of wolves you shouldn’t go into the woods].
«стыдиться» [to be ashamed of]:
«Не надо стыдиться своего акцента!» [You don’t have to be ashamed of you accent!]
«стесняться» [to feel uneasy; feel awkward; feel self-conscious; to be shy (in the presence of); be afraid (of)]:
«Я всегда стесняюсь строгого взгляда профессора» [I am always shy of (alt. afraid of) the professor’s stern look].
«избегать/избежать» [to avoid; evade]:
«Как нам с тобой избежать проблем?» [How should you and I avoid problems?]
«беречься» [to watch out (for); beware (of); guard (against)]:
«Берегитесь аварий!» [Watch out for (traffic) accidents!]
«лишать/лишить» [to deprive (of); rob (of)]:
«Он лишил себя жизни» [He took his own life].
«лишаться/лишиться» [to be deprived of; lose]:
Она лишилась зрения/слуха» [She lost her eyesight/hearing].
«желать/пожелать» [to wish]:
«Я желаю вам счастья [I wish you happiness], успехов [success], здоровья [health], всего хорошего [all the best], счастливого пути [a nice trip; a pleasant journey], спокойной ночи! [good night]»
«достигать/достигнуть/достичь» [to reach; to achieve; to attain]:
«Мы достигли вершины горы» [We reached the top of the mountain].
«Многие русские писатели и поэты в 20-ом веке достигнули известности и признания своего таланта лишь посмертно» [Many Russian writers and poets in the 20th century attained fame (notoriety; renown) and recognition of their talent only posthumously].
«добиваться/добиться» [to achieve; obtain; gain; get]:
«Она всегда добивается своего» [She always get’s her way (she always gains her own objective)].
«Наконец он добился справки о том, что он реабилитирован» [Finally he obtained a certificate that he’s been rehabilitated].
«касаться/коснуться» [to touch; to touch upon; to concern; to have to do with]:
«А что касается этого вопроса, то…» [And what concerns this question, then…]
«Я не коснулась его мировоззрения в нашем разговоре» [I didn’t touch upon his world outlook (alt. world view) in our talk].
«слушаться/послушаться» [to obey; to heed (advice)]:
«Слушайтесь родителей!» [Obey your parents!]
«Муж послушался совета жены, и не стал посылать свои стихи “Новому миру”» [The husband heeded his wife’s advice and didn’t send his poems to (the magazine) “New World”].
Even though these verbs are far from ALL the verbs in Russian language that demands to be followed by an object in genitive, I think that it’s high time to say «этого хватает!» [this is enough] for one post today. Next time we’ll jump right into the next exciting case (it was my favorite for a while, but now my heart belongs to all six of them equally much… except for maybe the instrumental case, that hold a special place deep down in it) – «дательный падеж» [dative]. Now you’re all excited, I just know it! Until then «наслаждайтесь изучением русского языка»!
Russian Cases: «Именительный падеж» [Nominative]
~ Josefina
Additional reading
Russian Cases - Made Simple Do you want to understand Russian cases? was it your biggest struggle in learning Russian? Do you want to improve your vocabulary? Then this is the book you need to read.
Russian Cases: The Workbook This workbook contains drills and exercises to perfect your understanding and application of Russian cases. A quick overview and primer of all six Russian cases is followed by systematic drills that optimize the understanding of each case by itself. Mini tests that mix various cases as well as the final exam allow the students to further evaluate their understanding. The focus of these exercises is to perfect the speed and accuracy of correct case usage in sentences, Answer keys to all exercises are included.
Russian Grammar Laminate Reference Chart Basics of the Russian language in our quick-access format.
