{"id":488,"date":"2010-01-24T12:37:17","date_gmt":"2010-01-24T16:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/?p=488"},"modified":"2010-01-24T12:37:17","modified_gmt":"2010-01-24T16:37:17","slug":"russian-cases-%c2%ab%d1%81-%d1%87%d0%b5%d0%bc%c2%bb-with-what-or-%c2%ab%d1%82%d0%b2%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8c%d0%bd%d1%8b%d0%b9-%d0%bf%d0%b0%d0%b4%d0%b5%d0%b6%c2%bb-the-instrume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/russian-cases-%c2%ab%d1%81-%d1%87%d0%b5%d0%bc%c2%bb-with-what-or-%c2%ab%d1%82%d0%b2%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%bb%d1%8c%d0%bd%d1%8b%d0%b9-%d0%bf%d0%b0%d0%b4%d0%b5%d0%b6%c2%bb-the-instrume\/","title":{"rendered":"Russian Cases: \u00ab\u0441 \u0447\u0435\u043c?\u00bb [with what?], or \u00ab\u0442\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435\u0436\u00bb [the instrumental case]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0427\u0442\u043e \u044d<\/span>\u0442\u043e?\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> [what is this?] This is \u00ab\u043a\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0436\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0448\u043a\u0430\u0444 \u0421 \u041f\u041e<\/span>\u041b\u041d\u042b\u041c \u0421\u041e\u0411\u0420\u0410<\/span>\u041d\u0418\u0415\u041c \u0441\u043e\u0447\u0438\u043d\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430 \u0418\u043b\u044c\u0438<\/span>\u0447\u0430 \u041b\u0435<\/span>\u043d\u0438\u043d\u0430<\/a>\u00bb<\/strong> [a bookshelf WITH (THE) COMPLETE COLLECTION of works by Vladimir Il’ich Lenin<\/a>]. But in order to answer the question \u00ab\u0441\u043a\u043e<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043a\u043e \u0432 \u043d\u0451\u043c \u0442\u043e\u043c\u043e<\/span>\u0432?\u00bb<\/strong> [how many volumes are there in it (lit. \u2018in him’ since the noun \u2018collection’ in Russian is neuter)?] I’d recommend you to count them yourself…<\/em><\/p>\n

A fairly large amount of time here has been devoted to discuss \u00ab\u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435\u0436\u0438<\/span> \u0440\u0443<\/span>\u0441\u0441\u043a\u043e\u0433\u043e \u044f\u0437\u044b\u043a\u0430<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [the cases of Russian language]. And this is a fact that should not be shocking to anyone, considering that Russian language has no less than \u00ab\u0448\u0435\u0441\u0442\u044c \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435\u0436\u0435<\/span>\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [six cases] (now THIS kind of information might shock some!)<\/em>. Previously on the blog there have been posts on \u00ab\u0432\u0438\u043d\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u0436\u00bb<\/strong> [accusative]<\/a> and \u00ab\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u0436\u00bb<\/strong> [dative]<\/a>. And so it has finally come to this: \u00ab\u0442\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u0436<\/strong>\u00bb [instrumental case]. This particular case is also known as Russian language’s \u2018wildest case’<\/em>. To whom is it known as this, you might wonder; who considers it to be \u00ab\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043a\u0438\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> [wild, savage; barbarous, tameless]? Well, I think it this is such a common thought that it must have crossed anyone’s mind the first time they came face to face with it (implicitly \u2018anyone’<\/em> in this context means \u2018anyone who’s ever tried to learn Russian’<\/em>, but I think you got that, right?). \u00ab\u0422\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u043f\u0430\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u0436\u00bb<\/strong> [instrumental case] is \u2018wild’<\/em> first and foremost to people with native languages lacking anything like it. It changes the words in ways unheard of to us. Let me give you an easy example of this: take the tiny, nice, masculine noun \u00ab\u043f\u0443\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> [way, path; track, lane; road, avenue] and put it in the instrumental case and you’ll receive something that’s almost completely transformed: \u00ab\u043f\u0443\u0442\u0451\u043c\u00bb<\/strong>! Did you see that? Did you see how the instrumental case just changed HALF of the whole word? Now if that’s not \u00ab\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043a\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [wild] – I don’t know what is!<\/p>\n

The instrumental case affects (or – even better in my opinion – \u2018inflicts’<\/em>) Russian masculine and neuter nouns in one and the same way: adding to their ending \u00ab-\u043e\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> (if the noun has a hard<\/span> ending) and \u00ab-\u0435\u043c\u00bb <\/strong>or \u00ab-\u0451\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> (when the ending is soft<\/span>). I’ll give you a couple of examples to illustrate this:<\/p>\n

Neuter with a hard ending: \u00ab\u043f\u043e\u0432\u0438<\/span>\u0434\u043b\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> [jam, marmalade]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u042f \u043b\u044e\u0431\u043b\u044e<\/span> \u043f\u0438\u0440\u043e\u0433\u0438<\/span> \u0441 \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0438<\/span>\u0434\u041b\u041e\u041c\u00bb<\/strong> – [I love pirogues with jam].<\/p>\n

Masculine noun with a hard ending: \u00ab\u043f\u0440\u0438\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u00bb <\/strong>[greeting; regard; remembrance; compliment]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u042f \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0448\u0451<\/span>\u043b \u043a \u0442\u0435\u0431\u0435<\/span> \u0441 \u043f\u0440\u0438\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u041e\u041c…\u00bb<\/strong> – [I’ve come to you with a greeting… (the first famous lines from the poem with the same name<\/a> by \u00ab\u0410\u0444\u0430\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u0441\u0438\u0439 \u0410\u0444\u0430\u043d\u0430<\/span>\u0441\u044c\u0435\u0432\u0438\u0447 \u0424\u0435\u0442<\/a>\u00bb<\/strong> [Afanasy Afanas’evich Fet<\/a>])<\/em>].<\/p>\n

Masculine noun with a soft ending: \u00ab\u0442\u043e\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u0449\u00bb<\/strong> [comrade]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u041c\u044b \u0441 \u0442\u043e\u0432\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u0449\u0415\u041c \u0432\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0435\u0447\u0430<\/span>\u0435\u043c\u0441\u044f \u0447\u0430<\/span>\u0441\u0442\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> – [I and (<\/em>my<\/em>)<\/em> comrade meet often].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0427\u0442\u043e \u044d<\/span>\u0442\u043e?\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> [what is this?] This is \u00ab\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u0432\u0443\u0448\u043a\u0430 \u0441 \u0440\u0443\u0436\u044c\u0451<\/span>\u043c\u00bb<\/strong> [a girl with a gun]. \u00ab\u0420\u0443\u0436\u044c\u0451\u00bb<\/strong> [gun, rifle] is a neuter noun with a soft ending.<\/em><\/p>\n

Feminine nouns are also inflicted with just as much of a \u2018heavy’<\/em> change in their endings because of the instrumental case. Female nouns with a hard ending receive \u00ab-\u043e\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> whereas those with soft get either \u00ab-\u0435\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> or \u00ab-\u0451\u0439\u00bb<\/strong> or simply \u00ab\u044e\u00bb<\/strong> (the last goes for ALL abstract feminine nouns that end with \u00ab\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c\u00bb<\/strong> and should be considered as kindness on behalf of this otherwise rather cruel case)<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Feminine noun with a hard ending: \u00ab\u0432\u043e\u0434\u0430<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [water]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0423 \u0442\u0435\u0431\u044f<\/span> \u0435\u0441\u0442\u044c \u0431\u0443\u0442\u044b<\/span>\u043b\u043a\u0430 \u0441 \u0432\u043e\u0434\u041e<\/span>\u0419?\u00bb<\/strong> – [Do you have a bottle of (lit. with)<\/em> water?]<\/p>\n

Feminine noun with a soft ending: \u00ab\u0443\u0447\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430\u00bb<\/strong> [teacher]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u042f \u043f\u043e\u0433\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0440\u0438<\/span>\u043b \u0441 \u0442\u0432\u043e\u0435<\/span>\u0439 \u0443\u0447\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u0435\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0415\u0419\u00bb<\/strong> – [I have spoken with your teacher].<\/p>\n

Feminine noun with a soft ending: \u00ab\u0437\u0435\u043c\u043b\u044f<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [earth; land; ground, dirt, soil; territory]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0427\u0442\u043e \u043f\u043e\u0434 \u0437\u0435\u043c\u043b\u0401<\/span>\u0419?\u00bb<\/strong> – [What is under the (here)<\/em> ground?]<\/p>\n

Abstract feminine noun with a soft ending: \u00ab\u043e\u0442\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c\u00bb <\/strong>[responsibility, accountability, liability; amenability; trust]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u041d\u0435\u043e\u0431\u0445\u043e\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043c\u043e \u043e\u0442\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0438<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u0441\u044f \u043a \u044d<\/span>\u0442\u043e\u043c\u0443 \u0441 \u043e\u0442\u0432\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u0441\u0442\u044c\u042e\u00bb<\/strong> – [It is necessary to refer to this with responsibility].<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0427\u0442\u043e \u044d<\/span>\u0442\u043e?\u00bb<\/em><\/strong> [what is this?] This is \u00ab\u0434\u0435<\/span>\u0442\u0438 \u0441 \u0432\u043e\u0437\u0434\u0443<\/span>\u0448\u043d\u044b\u043c\u0438 \u0448\u0430<\/span>\u0440\u0438\u043a\u0430\u043c\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> [children with balloons].<\/em><\/p>\n

Now so far we’ve only discussed what happens to the three different kinds of Russian nouns in SINGULAR – \u00ab\u0432 \u0435\u0434\u0438<\/span>\u043d\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u043c \u0447\u0438\u0441\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u00bb <\/strong>– when they’re forced into the instrumental case. (Some of you diligent learners of Russian language might not think this case at all \u2018wild’ or \u2018cruel’ like I do, but you actually LIKE it – hey, whatever floats you boat!) <\/em>The most interesting thing with the instrumental case is, however, what happens to the same nouns \u00ab\u0432\u043e \u043c\u043d\u043e<\/span>\u0436\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0432\u0435\u043d\u043d\u043e\u043c \u0447\u0438\u0441\u043b\u0435<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong> [in plural]. When we’re talking plural in Russian you don’t have to worry any longer about whether a noun is feminine or masculine or neuter. All plural nouns in Russian are affected (or – once again – inflicted)<\/em> in the same way by the instrumental case. All you need to remember is whether the ending is hard or soft. If it is hard you add \u00ab-\u0430\u043c\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> to the ending of the word. If it’s soft, then you’ll add \u00ab-\u044f\u043c\u0438\u00bb<\/strong> instead. It is a little bit\u00a0difficult for me\u00a0to give you exact examples of this that have not only grammatically<\/em> but also semantically<\/em> correct structures, but I’ll give it a try. And you’ll see clearly that even NUMBERS in Russian are also affected by the cases!<\/p>\n

Feminine noun with a soft ending: \u00ab\u0441\u043f\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> (plural: \u00ab\u0441\u043f\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u043d\u0438\u00bb<\/strong>) [bedroom]:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u0423 \u043c\u0435\u043d\u044f<\/span> \u043a\u0432\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0438<\/span>\u0440\u0430 \u0441 \u0434\u0432\u0443\u043c\u044f<\/span> \u0441\u043f\u0430<\/span>\u043b\u044c\u042f\u041c\u0418\u00bb<\/strong> – [I have an apartment with two bedrooms].<\/p>\n

Masculine noun with a hard ending in singular: \u00ab\u0431\u0440\u0430\u0442\u00bb<\/strong> [brother], but SOFT ending in plural \u00ab\u0431\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u044f\u00bb<\/strong> (are you taking notes? well, you should be!)<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00ab\u042f \u0432\u0438<\/span>\u0434\u0435\u043b\u0430 \u0435\u0433\u043e<\/span> \u0441 \u0442\u0440\u0435\u043c\u044f<\/span> \u0431\u0440\u0430<\/span>\u0442\u044c\u042f\u041c\u0418\u00bb<\/strong> – [I saw him with three brothers].<\/p>\n

Neuter noun with a hard ending: \u00ab\u043c\u0435<\/span>\u0441\u0442\u043e\u00bb<\/strong> (plural: \u00ab\u043c\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0430<\/span>\u00bb<\/strong>) [place, location, position; standing, role, function]:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00ab\u0412 \u043f\u043e<\/span>\u0435\u0437\u0434\u0435 \u043a\u0443\u043f\u0435<\/span> \u0441 \u0447\u0435\u0442\u044b\u0440\u044f<\/span>\u043c\u0438 \u043c\u0435\u0441\u0442\u0410<\/span>\u041c\u0418\u00bb<\/strong> – [In the train there are compartments with four places].<\/p>\n

In today’s post I’ve tried to focus solely on sentences in which the instrumental case comes after the preposition \u00ab\u0441\u00bb<\/strong> [here:<\/em> with]. Of course that’s not the limit of this case in Russian language – far from it! The instrumental case only goes truly \u2018wild’<\/em> when it is used completely without any preposition whatsoever. But let’s save that grammatical moment for another day, shall we?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

\u00ab\u0427\u0442\u043e \u044d\u0442\u043e?\u00bb [what is this?] This is \u00ab\u043a\u043d\u0438\u0436\u043d\u044b\u0439 \u0448\u043a\u0430\u0444 \u0421 \u041f\u041e\u041b\u041d\u042b\u041c \u0421\u041e\u0411\u0420\u0410\u041d\u0418\u0415\u041c \u0441\u043e\u0447\u0438\u043d\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0439 \u0412\u043b\u0430\u0434\u0438\u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430 \u0418\u043b\u044c\u0438\u0447\u0430 \u041b\u0435\u043d\u0438\u043d\u0430\u00bb [a bookshelf WITH (THE) COMPLETE COLLECTION of works by Vladimir Il’ich Lenin]. But in order to answer the question \u00ab\u0441\u043a\u043e\u043b\u044c\u043a\u043e \u0432 \u043d\u0451\u043c \u0442\u043e\u043c\u043e\u0432?\u00bb [how many volumes are there in it (lit. \u2018in him’ since the noun \u2018collection’ in Russian…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":491,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1066,1217,1237,1248,1346,1626,1674,1688,1756,1829],"class_list":["post-488","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-language","tag-fet","tag-russian-cases","tag-russian-grammar","tag-russian-language","tag-the-instrumental-case","tag-1626","tag-1674","tag-1688","tag-1756","tag-1829"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/russian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}