Russian/Grammar/Nominative
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[edit] Nouns
The nominative case is used for a sentence's subject. In "Bob eats lunch," Bob is the subject. This is the case you find in dictionaries.
Nominative case masculine nouns end in a consonant. Remember that й is a consonant. Some masculine nouns in the nominative case end in ь.
Nominative case feminine nouns end in а or я. Some feminine nouns in the nominative case end in ь.
Nominative case neuter nouns end in о or е.
[edit] Plural Nouns
Nominative case plural masculine and feminine nouns with "hard endings" end in ы. For masculine nouns ending in a consonant, add ы. For feminine nouns ending in а, replace the а with ы.
Nominative case plural masculine and feminine nouns with "soft endings" end in и. For masculine nouns ending in a й or ь, replace that letter with и. For feminine nouns ending in я or ь, replace that letter with и.
Nominative case plural neuter nouns end in а or я. Change the о to а, or the е to я.
[edit] The 7-letter spelling rule
Now it gets complicated. After the letters к, г, х, ш, щ, ж, and ч, always add (or change a or я to) и, not ы. E.g., книга (book) becomes книги (books).
[edit] Exceptional plurals
Some masculine nouns drop the last vowel before adding ы or и. E.g., подарок (present or gift) becomes подарки.
Some masculine nouns add a for plural. E.g., дом (house) becomes дома (houses).
Words of foreign origin ending in o, и, or у don't change between singular and plural. E.g., радио means "radio" or "radios." Note that foreign nouns with these endings also don't change in prepositional case (e.g., Colorado, Kentucky, and Peru).
[edit] Adjectives
Dictionaries show adjectives in their form for modifying a nominative case masculine noun.
[edit] Hard endings
Adjectives modifying masculine nouns in the nominative case usually end in ый (pronounced "ee"). These are called "hard ending" adjectives. E.g., "new pencil" is новый карандаш (pronounced "no-vee karandash"). As a memory aid, remember that masculine nouns have two possible endings: any consonant, which you'll have to associate with ы, or the consonant й. Put these two endings together and you have ый.
With feminine nouns, the adjective ends in ая. E.g., "new car" is новая машина (pronounced "no-vah-yah masheena"). As a memory aid, remember that feminine nouns have two possible endings: а or я. Put these two endings together and you have ая.
With neuter nouns, the adjective ends in ое. E.g., "new dress" is новое платье (pronounced "no-vo-yeh plat-yeh"). As a memory aid, remember that neuter nouns have two possible endings: о or е. Put these two endings together and you have ое. ("Oh yeah, that's easy to remember!")
With plural nouns, the adjective ends in ые. E.g., "new students" is новые студенты (pronounced "no-vih-yeh studentih"). As a memory aid, think of plural as one masculine and one neuter object. Take the first letter from the masculine ending (ы) and the second letter from the neuter ending (е) and you have ые.
[edit] Soft endings
Some nominative case masculine adjectives end in ий, not ый. These are called "soft ending" adjectives. An example is синий костюм (dark blue suit, pronounced "seenee costume").
When a "soft ending" adjective modifies a feminine noun, the adjective ends in яя. An example is синяя сумка (dark blue purse, pronounced "seen-yah-yah soomka").
When a "soft ending" adjective modifies a neuter noun, the adjective ends in ее. An example is синее платье (dark blue dress, pronounced "seen-yeh-yeh plat-yeh").
When such an adjective modifies a plural noun, the adjective ends in ие. This maintains the memory aid that you take a masculine object and a neuter object to get two objects. An example is синие ботинки (dark blue shoes, pronounced "seenee-yeh boteenkee").
[edit] 5- and 7-letter spelling rules
Recall that with plurals, after the letters г, ж, к, х, ч, ш, and щ, you use и, not ы. This 7-letter spelling rule also applies to adjectives. As a memory aid, ч, ш, and щ are together in the alphabet.
The 5-letter spelling rule is that after the letters ж, ц, ч, ш, and щ, don't write an unstressed o, but instead write e. As a memory aid, ц, ч, ш, and щ are together in the alphabet.
[edit] Personal Pronouns
| English | Nominative | Prepositional | Genitive |
| what | что ("shto") | о чём (about what? "o chyom") | |
| who | кто ("keh-to") | о ком (about who? "o kom") | у кого (who has? "oo kovo") |
| I | Я ("yah") | oбо мне (about me, "o mnyeh") | у меня (I have, "oo mnyah") |
| you (informal) | ты ("tee") | о тебе (about you, "o tyehbyeh") | у тебя (you have, "oo tyehbyah") |
| he | он ("on") | о нём (about him, "o nyom") | у него (he has, "oo nyeh-vo") |
| she | она ("ona") | о ней (about her, "o nyay") | у неё (she has, "oo nyeh-yo") |
| we | мы ("mee") | о нас (about us, "o nas") | у нас (we have, "oo nas") |
| you (form. plur.) | вы ("vee") | о вас (about y'all, "o vas") | у вас (you have, "oo vas") |
| they | они ("onee") | о них (about them, "o neech") | у них (they have, "oo neech") |
[edit] Possessive pronouns
| English | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
| Whose? | чей ("chay") | чья ("chyah") | чьё ("chyo") | чьи ("chee") |
| My | мой ("moy") | моя ("moyah") | моё ("moyo") | мои ("moee") |
| Your (informal) | твой ("tvoy") | твоя ("tvoyah") | твоё ("tvoyo") | твои ("tvoee") |
| His | его ("yehvo") | его ("yehvo") | его ("yehvo") | его ("yehvo") |
| Her | её ("yeh-yo") | её ("yeh-yo") | её ("yeh-yo") | её ("yeh-yo") |
| Our | наш ("nash") | наша ("nasha") | наше ("nashyeh") | наши ("nashee") |
| Your (formal or plural) | ваш ("vash") | ваша ("vasha") | ваше ("vashyeh") | ваши ("vashee") |
| Their | их ("eehch") | их ("eehch") | их ("eehch") | их ("eehch") |
"His," "her," and "their" (его, её, ех) are the same in all genders and cases.
[edit] Memory aids
Think of Che Guevara drinking a chai to balance his chi. But then he walks away, leaving his chai on the table, and someone asks "Whose chai is this?" A waiter responds, "It's Che's chai." "Che" (pronounced "chay") is masculine, because Che Guevara was a man (a very masculine man, with a moustache and a motorcycle!). "Chi" (pronounced "chee") animates many forms of life so it's plural. "Chai" is a nice warm drink your mother might make, so it's feminine, and Russians pronounce it "chyah") (not really, "chai" in Russian means "tea"). If you just want to "get by," say "chee" and you'll be right about 50% of the time.
Мой {"my") sounds close enough to "my" to be a cognate. It sounds vaguely like a New York Yiddish version of "my."
Твой ("your") is confusing because it looks like ты ("you," pronounced "tee") but the former has a в and the latter has a ы. These letters are pronounced very differently!
Remember that его ("his") is pronounced "yevo," not "yego." "Yevo" sounds more masculine "yego."
Think of a woman playing with a yo-yo. It's her yo-yo.
In Yiddish, "nosh" is a light meal or snack (it's both a noun and a verb). Think of meeting a friend to share a plate of lox and bagels. It would be "our nosh," or in Russian "наш nosh" (pronounced "nosh nosh").
Think of opening the hood of an important Russian official's car and finding a washing machine instead of an engine. You would ask ваша машина ("vasha masheena")? That sounds like "washing machine" but means "your car?".
If you speak German, think of их as pronounced the same as "ich" (I). If you don't speak German, think of two women standing on one chair, while a mouse runs around the room. The women are screaming, "Eek! A mouse!" Remember that there are two on the chair. They are screaming "Eek!"
[edit] Demonstrative Pronouns
это ("ehta") translates to "this" or "these."
Note that it starts with э ("eh"), not е ("yeh") or з (z).
When это is followed by a nominative case noun, это changes to match the gender of the noun:
| English | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
| This | этот ("etot") | эта ("eta") | это ("eto") | эти ("etee") |
For example, Этот чемодан мой ("This suitcase is mine.").
However, when a possessive pronoun is between это and the noun, the possessive pronoun changes but это doesn't change. For example, Это мой чемодан ("This is my suitcase").
Also note that for neuter nouns, changing word order doesn't change это.
[edit] Demonstrative Adjectives
| English | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
| That | тот ("tot") | та ("ta") | то ("to") | те ("tyeh") |
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