Versteher's Practical Russian Grammar

Versteher’s

Practical

Russian

Grammar

This book is written by Oleg Opara. All rights, including that of translation to other languages, reserved. This book or any part of it may not be copied (which also includes translated) without written consent of the author.

Copyright © by Oleg Opara

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To Autty

Foreword

0.1 On the main purpose of this work

Main purpose of this work was to sum up general tendencies in Russian language. I tried to do as clear and easy as I could. Thus, this work is a summary of rules of the Russian language, set forth in short and, I hope, logic, sentences.

Each rule is accomplished by a unique number, thus navigation between rules is easier. All rules with their numbers are given in the thesis plan, which serves as a content of this book.

One can never learn a language to perfection, even her/his mother tongue. But once one has clearly understood rules of a language, the language starts being useful. This book is intended to be an easy instrument for that purpose.

Russian language is an Eastern-Slavic tongue, which belong to the Slavic tongues, which belong to the Indo-European tongues. As all languages, Russian follows its logic. The logic of forming, changing and combining of words in Russian is quite similar to that in other Indo-European tongues, like German or Latin. Russian follows its logic in a quite a strict way: exclusions in one rule are usually caused by influence of another rule of a higher range. However, native speakers follow rules by their habit rather than their knowledge. Therefore, certain irregularities are present in any language; also in Russian. This work shall review the language in its three natural divisions: the changing of words; the formation of words, and the combining of words.

Thesis Plan

0.2: Church Slavonic presence in Russian

I.0.0: Introduction to the Russian alphabet. Russian is generally written as it is spoken.

I.0.0.1: No actual difference without stress between A and O; E and И

I.0.1: Vowels. Soft (I-vowels) consist of respective hard (plain) vowel pair and a I.

I.0.1.3: No difference in length among Russian vowels.

I.0.2.1: Consonants. Pairs of consonants in hard and soft.

I.0.2.4.1: Always hard consonants

I.0.2.4.2: Always soft consonants

I.0.3: Alphabet

I.1: Parts of speech

I.1.11: No article in Russian

I.2.4: Major declensions of substantives in Russian

I.2.6: Matrix of declension of substantives

I.2.7: The first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.1: Usual case of the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.2: Longer and foreign words of the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.3: Dropping of O and E in the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.4: Realization of []i in the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.5: Soft declension of the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.6: Realization of []’ of the Genitive Plural of the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.7: []á for []i in Nominative Plural of the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.8: Locative []ú

I.2.7.9: Super-soft declension in the first (masculine) declension

I.2.7.10: Declension of the first (masculine) declension of patterns ending in И

I.2.7.11: ЁНОК-ЯТ declension of the first (masculine) declension

I.2.8: The second (feminine) declension

I.2.8.3.1: Different stress positions in 2 syllable vernacular words of the second (feminine) declension

I.2.8.3.1.1: Declension of 3 syllable words of the second (feminine) declension which have Church Slavonic pair

I.2.8.4: Declension of 3 syllable words of words of the second (feminine) declension which are formed with suffixes

I.2.8.5: Rule for O and E insertion for the second (feminine) declension

I.2.8.7: Declension of words ending in –ия in the second (feminine) declension

I.2.9.1: The third (neutral) declension

I.2.9.2: Rule for insert O and E in the third (neutral) declension

I.2.9.6: Super-soft declension in the third (neutral) declension

I.2.9.7: Not declined words of the third (neutral) declension

I.2.10: The fourth (odd) declension

I.2.10.1.1: Singular of the forth (odd) declension does not distinguish between lifeless and living object, despite of the general rule of the language

I.2.10.2.2.2: Words that have OB suffix of the fourth (odd) declension

I.2.10.4: Words that insert EP in declension in the fourth (odd) declension

I.2.10.5: Words that have Я->ЕН suffix in the fourth (odd) declension

I.2.10.6: Declension of the word: путь in the fourth (odd) declension

I.2.11.0: Realization of []´ of the Genitive Plural in the third and fourth declensions

I.2.11.1: Declension of words that are used only in plural

I.3: Notion of an adjective

I.3.1: Short and long ending of an adjective

I.3.2: Conjugation of the short ending of an adjective

I.3.2.2-3: Tendencies of stress position in the short ending of an adjective

I.3.2.4: Insert O and E in the short ending of an adjective

I.3.3.0: Matrix of declension of the long ending of an adjective

I.3.3.1.1: Observations on declension of the long ending of an adjective

I.3.3.2: Phonetic effect on declension of the long ending of an adjective

I.3.4: Possessive adjectives

I.3.5.1: Comparative

I.3.5.1.1.1: [ee] matrix of Comparative

I.3.5.1.1.3-4: Stress behavior in the [ee] matrix of Comparative

I.3.5.1.2: Forming of the Comparative with the help of the word бо́лее

I.3.5.1.3.1: [ejsh] matrix of Comparative and Superlative

I.3.5.1.3.2: Different phonetic effect between the [ee] matrix and the [ejsh] matrix

I.3.5.1.3.3: Forming of the Superlative with the help of the word са́мый

I.3.5.1.4: Adjectives which form Comparative and Superlative with other roots

I.3.5.1.6: Gradation Comparative

I.3.5.3: Qualitative

I.4.1: Personal pronouns

I.4.1.4: Neutral gender has Accusative like Genitive, contrary to the general rule of the language

I.4.1.5: Euphonic H in the third person personal pronouns, when used after prepositions

I.4.1.6: Endings of personal pronouns are the difference between adjectives of the shorter and the longer ending

I.4.2: Reciprocal pronoun

I.4.2.2: Difference between reciprocal and personal pronouns for the third person

I.4.3: Demonstrative – interrogative - relative pronouns

I.4.3.1: This

I.4.3.2: That

I.4.3.3: Who

I.4.3.4: What

I.4.3.5: Whose

I.4.3.6: Which

I.4.3.8: Possessive pronouns

I.4.3.9: All

I.4.3.10: ~ Self

I.4.3.11: Each

I.4.3.12: Some

I.4.3.14: No

I.4.4: General overview of declension of pronouns

I.5: On the Adverbs

I.5.1.0: Adverbs in uncertain and relative functions

I.5.1.1: Adverbs for negation of modality and adverbs for other negations

I.5.2.1: Adverbs formed from adjectives of shorter endings

I.5.2.2: Adverbs formed from frozen forms of declension of names

I.6.1: Cardinal numerals of the first ten

I.6.1.1: Declension of one

I.6.1.2: Declension of two, three and four

I.6.1.3: Use of Genitive after cardinal numerals

I.6.1.4: Collective numerals

I.6.1.6: Declension of five to ten

I.6.1.7: Declension of eleven to twenty

I.6.1.8: Declension of twenty to ninety

I.6.1.9.1: Declension of hundred

I.6.1.9.2: Declension of hundreds

I.6.1.9.3: Declension of thousands

I.6.1.9.4: Declension of complex cardinal numerals

I.6.2: Ordinal numerals

I.6.2.0: Declension of ordinal numerals

I.6.2.1: Greater ordinal numerals

I.6.3: Fractions

I.7: Prepositions

I.8: Verbs

I.8.1.1: Modes of verbs

I.8.1.2: Transitive and intransitive verbs

I.8.1.2.1 : Active, passive and other voices (including reflexive)

I.8.1.3: Participles and verbal nouns

I.8.2: Conjugation in present

I.8.2.0: Principle and the matrix of conjugation in present

I.8.2.1: Two conjugations

I.8.2.3: Relations of classes of verbs depending on voices

I.8.2.4: Conjugation of to be

I.8.2.4.1: There is expressions are the only way of appropriate use of the verb to be

I.8.3: Infinitive

I.8.4: Future. Two ways of forming future

I.8.5: Classes of verbs

I.8.5.1: И-verbs

I.8.5.1.0: Stress behavior in the И-verbs

I.8.5.1.1: Change of guttural consonants in the И-verbs

I.8.5.2: E-verbs

I.8.5.2.1: Many И-verbs are causative to their E-pairs

I.8.5.2.2: E(i)-verbs and E(ee)-verbs

I.8.5.2.6: A(i)-verbs

I.8.5.3: A-verbs

I.8.5.3.2.2: Mutual eliminations of J of a verb and its A-pair

I.8.5.3.3.1: A-pairs prefixed denote a process. Their simple pairs prefixed denote a result. A-verbs denote process or frequency both even when prefixed.

I.8.5.3.5: A-pairs are used in negation and prohibition of their simple pairs

I.8.5.3.6: Simple verbs that denote result when unprefixed

I.8.5.3.7: A-verbs that have no simple verb pair

I.8.5.4: Ё-verbs and their A-pairs

I.8.5.5: OVA-verbs

I.8.5.5.2.1: Observations on stress behavior in the OVA-verbs

I.8.5.5.4: ИРОВА-verbs

I.8.5.6: IVA-verbs

I.8.5.6.2: Effect of I in IVA on consonant of root of verbs

I.8.5.6.2.2: Effect of I in IVA verbs other than И-verbs

I.8.5.6.4: Effect of IVA suffix on vowel in root of verbs, where O may turn to A.

I.8.5.7: Contrast of И-verbs and ТИ-verbs

I.8.5.7.3.1: Unprefixed verbs of movement distinguish between continuous and indefinite actions

I.8.5.7.5.1: ЧЬ-verbs

I.8.5.8: Other verbs of movement that distinguish between continuous and indefinite actions

I.8.5.9: НУ-verbs

I.8.5.9.3: НУ-verbs that have a PF meaning

I.8.5.10.1: Ь-verbs

I.8.5.10.2: ОЛО-verbs

I.8.5.10.3: Ы-О-verbs I

I.8.5.10.4: Few special cases of VA suffix of A-pairs of E-verbs

I.8.5.11.1: Verbs that have mixed forms of the conjugation

I.8.5.11.2: Verbs that have archaic forms of the conjugation

I.8.5.11.3-6: Conjugation of verbs derived from ять, to take

I.8.5.12.1-4: Verbs that have different roots for their pairs

I.8.5.12.5: Verbs that insert НУ in conjugation

I.8.6.1: Division of classes of verbs among the two conjugations

I.8.6.2.2.2: Which verbs have A-verb and which IVA-verb as the A-pair

I.8.6.3.1: OVA-verbs often may mean process, frequency and result

I.8.7: Imperative

I.8.8: Conjugation in the past

I.8.8.2-4: Stress behavior in Л-participles

I.8.8.5: Imperative-like past

I.8.9: Subjunctive

I.8.10: Optative

I.8.11: СЯ-verb

I.8.11.3: Purely passive СЯ-verbs

I.8.11.3.1: СЯ of destruction

I.8.11.4: Reflexive СЯ-verbs

I.8.11.4.1: СЯ of intensification of senses

I.8.11.5: Active СЯ-verbs

I.8.11.5.1: СЯ of aggression

I.8.11.5.2: СЯ of capability of materials

I.8.11.6: Reciprocal СЯ-verbs

I.8.12: On the participle

I.8.12.1: Present active participle

I.8.12.1.1: Adjectives which are close in form to present active participles

I.8.12.2: Present passive participle

I.8.12.6.2-3: Meaning of possibility of present passive participles

I.8.12.3: Past active participle

I.8.12.4: Past passive participle

I.8.12.5: Future participle of the verb to be

I.8.13: On verbal adverbs

I.8.13.3: Present verbal adverbs

I.8.13.4: Past verbal adverbs

I.8.14: On verbal noun

I.8.14.3.1: One pair of verbs usually has one verbal noun, unless special need in specific verbal noun for the A-pair

I.8.15: On the stress in verbs and verbal forms

I.8.16: Behavior of J in verb forms

II.1: Formation of verbs

II.1.2: Major meanings of verb prefixes

II.1.3: Table of verb formation

II.1.4.1: Pure result form

II.1.4.2: Pure frequency form

II.1.4.3: Formation of result forms by the verbs (ИР)ОВА-verbs

II.1.4.4: O- and обез-verbs

II.2: Formation of substantives

II.2.1.1: Substantives derived from original roots

II.2.1.2: Substantives formed from verbs of movement

II.2.2: Substantives formed with the help of suffixes

II.2.2.14: Some further observations on diminutive suffixes and derived forms

II.2.3: Table of substantives and adjectives formation

II.2.4: Formation of adjectives

II.2.4.1: Major formative suffixes of adjectives

II.2.4.13: Spelling of H in adjectives and participles

II.2.4.14: Formation of adjectives with the help of prefixes

II.2.4.14.3: Spelling of HE in adjectives and participles

II.2.4.15: Adjectives formed from same root that have different meanings

II.2.5: Formation of adverbs

II.2.5.2: Adverbs written separately

II.2.5.3: Adverbs written with a hyphen

II.2.5.1.3: Adverbs written in one word

III.1: On cases

III.1.1: Nominative

III.1.2: Genitive

III.1.3: Dative

III.1.4: Accusative

III.1.5: Instrumental

III.1.6: Prepositiotive

III.2: Table of set expressions

III.3.1: Rules of punctuation

III.3.1.1: Comma

III.3.1.1.1: Conjunctions for independent clauses

III.3.1.1.2.2: Rule for combinations of conjunction

III.3.1.1.3: Independent clauses are separated by commas unless they have shared part of speech

III.3.1.1.4: Rule for comma setting in dependent clauses

III.3.1.1.5.4: Comma after conjunctions of contrast

III.3.1.1.5.5: Comma after paired conjunctions

III.3.1.1.5.7: Comma in expressions of comparison

III.3.1.1.5.8: Comma in adjectives and participles

III.3.1.1.5.9: Comma in verbal adverbs

III.3.1.2.: Semicolon

III.3.1.3.: Colon

III.1.3.1: Colon before enumeration

III.1.3.2: Colon before direct speech

III.1.3.3: Colon after verbs of feeling

III.1.4.1: Dash as a substitution for the verb to be

III.1.4.2: Dash that represents id est

III.1.4.3: Dash of consequence

III.1.4.4: Dash after enumeration

III.1.4.5: Dash as a substitution for omitted part of speech

III.1.4.6: Combination of dash and comma

III.1.4.7: Dash for internal of space and time

III.3.1.5.: Brackets

III.3.1.6-8: Sign of exclamation, Sign of question and Three dots

III.3.1.9.: Quotes

III.1.9.1: Quotes for quotes

III.1.9.2: Quotes in direct speech

III.1.9.3: Quotes for figurative meaning

III.1.9.4: Quotes for names

III.3.2.1: Spelling of Э

III.3.2.2-3: Spelling of vowels after always hard and always soft consonants

III.4.1: Choice between adjectives short and long endings

III.4.2: Difference in meaning of word that mean each

III.4.3: Difference in meaning of word that mean any

III.4.4: Negation

III.5: Some prefixed СЯ-verbs

Annex A: 33 useful Russian proverbs with explanations

Annex B: Observations on Е/Ё choice

Annex C: Major differences of the pre-1918 spelling from the modern one

0.2 On the Church Slavonic presence in Russian

0.2.1 All languages have vernacular and foreign (loan) words: English has to deem as a vernacular; and impute, from the Latin imputare, loaned from Latin. Besides this general phenomenon, Russian has significant presence of a kindred, but anyway, foreign tongue. The letters, which Russian is written with, are called Cyrillic, by the name of their inventor Cyril, a Byzantine preacher. He and his brother Methodius invented a new writing system, based on the Greek letters, in order to spread the Christian faith among the Slavs. The Slavs that the brothers preached to were not Eastern Slavs (whom Russians belonged and belong to), but Moravian and Bulgarian Slavs. So, the Church language for the Slavs was the Southern Slavic tongue, called in the truest way: Old Bulgarian. This language became the language of the Church, when Christian Church was brought to Russians. So, thus happened that two languages have been in use in Russia: language of everyday speech: East-Slavic Russian; and the literature language: Church South-Slavic Bulgarian. Quite a long time they were used separately: the former for casual aims of live: laws, commerce; and the latter for higher spiritual tradition of Christianity. Only in the XVIII century secular literature became independent from the Church; and a need in one language became essential. Russian and Bulgarian were kindred tongues, and they had numerous parallel forms. As one language for literature was created in the XVIII Russian adopted many Old-Bulgarian forms. Generally they would differ from proper Russian ones, belonging to the so called higher style: denoting things in a pathetic way; whereas the Russian word, which still remained in the language, started to denote the thing in a common way. So, Church Slavonic, i.e. Old Bulgarian, remaining a Church language up today, has contributed to the secular language. Beside the parallel forms for common and higher style a more significant influence was made by the Church Slavonic. In some cases its forms have suppressed the proper Russian ones, which were either abandoned, or found another place in the language. Besides, certain grammar processes from Old Bulgarian were kept in Russian.

Chapter I. The Changing of the words

§I.0 On the Russian alphabet and its pronunciation

Before starting to consider words, one has to know letters. As the brothers introduced the new writing system, it was intended to write a word as it was spoken. The same principle is retained in the modern Russian orthography; but there is a practical shift from this general rule.

I.0.0 As the time ensued the spelling of words changed, and the writing fell more and more behind the pronunciation: it became to reflect the origin of a word rather than the way it was spoken. As the English word light, whose spelling still reflects a sound GH, which has been once spoken, but was afterwards abandoned (compare German word "Licht"). But the distance between writing and speaking has never become so big in Russian; and one may state that the original principal of writing as one speaks is still in use. There is another problem.

I.0.0.1 Vowels are articulated carefully only under stress; without it there is no distinctive difference between O and A, I and E. Here, spelling cannot help; and one will have to know the origin of a word in order to write it correctly.

I.0.0.2 Each letter of Russian corresponds to a certain sound. There are no cases, when combinations of letters are employed to reflect one sound (like the English TH in "there; or German EU in Eule"). A letter will always have same sound, the only way of a deviation is that without a stress, some different vowels will have one sound; or some consonants due their position will sound voiced, or not. Such deviations are caused by natural qualities of speech, and not by a certain grammar law.

I.0.0.3 There are vowels, consonants and semi-vowels in Russian. Vowels and consonants have the same notion and purpose as in English. All semi-vowels in Russian denote sound J, as in the English word yell (the letters of a word employed as an example, which form a sound in question, shall be hereinafter underlined: so the English letter Y in the word yell makes the same sound as Russian semi-vowels, and is therefore underlined). The choice between the three letters denoting this sound: Й, Ь and Ъ – is made basing on simple phonetic rules.

I.0.1 Vowels of Russian are: А, О, У, Ы, Э and Я, Ё, Ю, И, Е. The first group is called plain vowels; the second one – the I-vowels, because their sounds consist of the sound I and a sound of a plain vowel. Thus, each plain vowel has its I-pair. Plain vowels are often called also hard vowels; and I-vowels are often called soft vowels; and so they will be called from time to time in this work.

A is [a] whereas Я is [ja] as in yard

O is [o] whereas Ё is [jo] as in yonder

У is [u] (as in foot) whereas Ю is [ju] as in you.

Э is [æ] (as in glad) whereas E is [je] as in yes.

I.0.1.1 However, the letter Э is written rarely, and the letter E often stays both for [e], and [je]. See the rule for Э in III.3.2.1.

I.0.1.2 The sound of Ы is peculiar. It a hard variant of И [i], like in ship. И is [i] in sleep.

I.0.1.3 As the reader may observe, both long and short English examples are employed to reflect Russian vowels. It is done, because Russian doesn't know such difference; and all vowels are of same length; probably, it is reason, why Russians so often ignore this difference in the languages, which have it.

I.0.2.1 Like vowels, many consonants may be divided in pairs. The main contrast is between mute and voiced consonants. The mute ones are: П, Ф, К, Х, Т, Ш, С; the voiced are: Б, В, Г, Д, Ж , З. Comparing to English, voiced are B, V or D, as opposed to the mute P, F and T. Б is [b] as in be, whereas П is [p] as in put. In a scheme:

В [v] – Ф [f]

Г [g] – К [k]

Д [d] – Т [t]

Ж [zh] – Ш [sh]

З [z] – С [s].

I.0.2.2 The mute X has no voiced pair reflected by a letter. Voiced X is still present in the speech, but since it is not supported by the writing, it is suppressed by the kindred sound Г. Ukrainian language has a special letter for this voiced X: Ґ.

I.0.2.3 If a sounded consonant stays at the end of a word, it is usually pronounced as a mute one: воз, a vehicle, [vos]. If a sounded consonant is immediately followed by a mute one, it becomes mute too (is assimilated to it): везти́, to carry, to transport [vesti]. If a mute consonant is immediately followed by a sounded, it gets sounded like it: сде́лать, to make, [zdelatj].

I.0.2.4 Besides being mute or voiced a consonant may be hard or soft. As with the vowels, the difference between hard and soft is in presence of a semi-vowel sound. The semi-vowel Ь makes preceding consonant soft. After consonants this semi-vowel sound is shortened even more (from I.0.0.3 we know that semi-vowel sound is the shortened sound of И); and what remains after such (soft) consonant is a shadow of the sound of И. It may be marked as [j] in order to show that it has only a portion of a whole J. English lacks an example of such. Дар, a gift, has the consonant P hard [dar], as in the English war; whereas зверь, beast, has the same consonant soft, as in the English worry. The second R of that worry in English is soft, because of the following Y. In Russian softness may be provided to a consonant by special letter of softness. Such softness is denoted by the Ь. But, strictly speaking, what we have here is, a consonant P, which itself is neither soft nor hard, and semi-vowel Ь, which makes it soft. The majority of Russian consonants is hard, and can be made soft by means of a Ь.

I.0.2.4.1 But, there are consonants, which are always hard: Ж, Ш, Ц. This results in that I-vowels after them sound as their plain pairs. So, Я sounds like A; И like Ы and so on. Writing does not always reflect this effect.

I.0.2.4.2 There are consonants, which are always soft: Ч, Щ. This results in that plain vowels after them sound as their I-pairs. So, А becomes like Я, Ы like И. Writing likewise does not always reflect this effect. Some letters are employed for the whole pair (А for А/Я; У for У/Ю), since the other letter historically is not written after this or that consonant. There is no need to tarry on it now. Such cases are reviewed separately in: III.3.2.2 and III.3.2.3.

I.0.2.4.3 There are consonants, which are beyond the contrast of voiced and mutes. These are Р, Л, М and Н, which correspond to the English R, L, M and N respectively.

I.0.3 Below is the table of Russian alphabet. As the alphabet was invented, each letter got is name. For general knowledge these names with translations are included in this table.

§ I.1 Types of words in the Russian language

Russian language has following types of words:

I.1.1 Substantives: names of things (animated or not). Substantives have gender (masculine, feminine or neutral), number (plural or singular). Substantives are declined in six cases (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental and prepositiotive).

I.1.2 Adjectives: names of quality, which things may have. They have three genders, two numbers, six cases that substantives have. Adjectives have two types of declension: of shorter ending and of longer ending, depending on the function an adjective has.

I.1.3 Numerals, names of figures: cardinal and ordinal, as in English.

I.1.4 Substantives, adjectives and numerals are also collectively called Names.

I.1.5 Pronouns: short words used instead of the Names; and for other functions that pronouns serve in English. Pronouns in Russian may be: personal, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, reciprocal; and they do not differ much in their use from those of English.

I.1.6 Verbs: names of action. They have three persons (first, second and third, as in English); three tenses (present, past and future), and several aspects and voices depending on the type of a verb.

I.1.7 Adverbs: words of circumstances, not declined, referring to place, time, and mode. Adverbs refer to verbs; as adjectives to substantives.

I.1.8 Participles: words, stemming from verbs, in form of an adjective, with all its functions.

I.1.9 Verbal adverbs: word, stemming from verbs, in form of an adverb, with all its functions.

I.1.10 Servile words as: prepositions, conjunctions and interjections, which all are in no way declined; and correspond to similar notions of English.

I.1.11 There is no such a type of word in Russian as Article. There is not given any exact indication on whether an object of speech is definite or not. This has to be understood from the context

I.1.12 A word may consist of: a root, a prefix, a suffix, and an ending. Root is the origin of a word, which bares its core meaning. Prefixes and suffixes are servile additions to the root, with the help of which one may derive new words. As in English, the word give consists of one root only. By adding the prefix for-, one gets the new word: forgive. Root with suffixes and prefixes are called pattern of a word. An ending expresses a relation of a word in a sentence. One does not make a new word by changing an ending, but operates one and the same one. So, the ending -s in the form forgives expresses the relation of the word forgive as: third person, singular.

§I.2 Declension of Substantives

I.2.1 A substantive denotes a thing. A thing normally has only one gender; and, therefore, a substantive denoting a thing usually has only one gender. What it may change are numbers and cases. A thing may be one, or there may be many such things. As English, Russian employs the singular number for the former, and the plural number for the latter.

I.2.2 A feature, in which Russian does significantly differ from English, is the case. Prepositions and cases have one function: to express relations in a sentence. Some languages prefer to use cases more than prepositions; some otherwise. For instance, in the English expression I am giving to the brother the preposition to expresses that my giving refers to the object brother. If we compare the same expressions in German and Latin: Ich gebe dem Bruder and do fratri, we will see no preposition at all. Instead, the substantives der Bruder and frater have changed to dem Bruder and fratri respectively in order to express the relation, which is expressed with the preposition to in the English variant. This change of substantives (in fact, of all Names) is called declination, because what we do is similar to bending (inclining) of same word in different directions in order to express different relations in a sentence. Different states of same Name in process of declension are called cases. As said, Russian has 6 cases. They are:

I.2.3.1 Nominative: the case of the subject. A substantive (since we review here declension of substantives, let us abide by this term, notwithstanding the fact the said holds true for all Names) denoting a thing (either animated or not), which is a doer of an action, should be in the Nominative. Corresponds to the English subject.

I.2.3.2 Accusative: the case of the object. A substantive denoting a thing, over which an action is done, should be in the accusative. Corresponds to the English object. In locative meaning this case often expresses movement to a place (as opposed to the movement from the place or remaining at the place). This locative use corresponds to that of German and Latin: ich lege auf den Tisch and pono super mensam both have Accusative for the movement to the table.

I.2.3.3 Dative: the case of the acceptor. A substantive denoting a thing, for which an action is done, should be in the dative. Corresponds to the relations expressed in English with the prepositions to, for.

I.2.3.4 Genitive: the case of origin. A substantive denoting a thing, which in a way belongs to or originates from another thing, should be in the genitive. Corresponds to the relations expressed in English with the prepositions of, from. In locative meaning often expresses movement from a place.

I.2.3.5 Instrumental: the case of means. A substantive denoting a thing, through or by which another thing is done, should be in the Instrumental.

I.2.3.6 Prepositiotive: the case for several relation, which all are expressed by a preposition. Differently to all other cases, which may be used alone, without a preposition (but also, they may follow one) – this case is used only after a preposition; which explains its name. Chief relations expressed by the Prepositiotive are: remaining at a place (corresponding to the relations expressed in English with the prepositions in, at) and being an object of narration (to the relations expressed in English with the preposition about).

I.2.3.7 It has to be understood that a relation in a sentence may be expressed by a case alone, or by a preposition with a following case. In the first example German and Latin sentences ich gebe dem Bruder and do fratri there is no preposition at all, but the meaning that the act of giving is done for the brother is expressed by the dative case alone. In the second examples ich lege auf den Tisch and pono super mensam the prepositions auf and super let the following the substantives stay in the Accusative case. The meaning of movement to the table is rendered by the prepositions and the case. The original condition of all substantives is the Nominative Singular form: all words stay in it in dictionaries.

I.2.3.8 Let us review for example declension of the substantives кот, cat in the singular number:

Nominative: кот, a/the cat (remember I.1.11: there is no article in Russian).

Genitive: котá, of/from cat.

Dative: котý, to cat.

Accusative: котá. Cat [being an object, like in: I see the cat].

Instrumental: котóм, with/by cat.

Prepositiotive: o котé, about Cat.

I.2.4 One may divide all substantives in several types of declension, all members of such types decline in one or similar way. There are 4 major types of declension in Russian. Not only the ending of a substantive undergoes a change, but often the position of the stress as well. It seems that Russian substantives used to consist mostly of 2 syllables, because original Russian (i.e. not loaned from other tongues) substantives consisting of 2 syllables are mostly inclined to shifting of the stress during declension (ко́т, but кота́).

I.2.4.1 During the declension it often happens that 1 syllable of ending is added to a substantive (кот -> кот:а́), whose nominative singular form consists of only syllable; it also often happens that a substantive, consisting of 2 syllables (1 for the root and 1 for the ending of the Nominative Singular form) loses during the declension the ending, and in some forms happens to consist of only 1 syllable (So, the substantive ры́ба, fish, has in the Genitive Plural form рыб). Longer (longer than 2 syllables) and foreign substantives are more reluctant to shift the stress during declension: they tend simply to change their endings.

I.2.5 So, they are 4 major types of declension. The first three of them correspond to the three natural genders in the language: one may say that there are types of declensions, to which belong the majority of masculine, feminine and neutral substantives respectively. The remaining type does not refer to a specific gender, and includes substantives of all genders (chiefly neutral and feminine), which follow its example. One may imagine a comparative matrix of the three gender types of declensions, which applies for the bigger part of substantive declension of substantives:

§I.2.6. The Matrix of the declension of Substantives:

where [] shall mean the pattern of a substantive. [´] shall mean stress resting on the root, []´ - shall mean stress resting on the ending. Some consonants in some grammatical relations need different vowels after them, it means that a same grammatical relation may be expressed by different letters because of phonetic features of the language. So, for example, in the majority of Instrumental Singular forms of masculine substantives the ending OM is employed: кот -> кото́м, with/be cat; but the consonant Ж makes this ending ЕМ: cто́рож -> сто́рожЕМ, by/with watchman. Therefore, Latin letters are employed for this matrix, as well as for all similar matrixes in this work: in order to present a grammatical process, without regard to a phonetic one. So []óm shall mean both OM and EM, as the phonetics will demand.

I.2.6.1 It is manifest from the matrix that the Accusative has no own form: it borrows it either from the Nominative or Genitive. The choice between them depends on whether the object is a living thing or not. The former craves the Genitive; the latter – the Nominative.

Я ви́жу кота́ – I see the cat [living creature, that’s why genitive].

Я ви́жу стол. – I see the table [no living creature - nominative].

I.2.6.2 The sign []´ means that the word has no ending, however habitude of the language aims to drive the stress on it. But due to different grammatical and phonetic processes actual appearance of that []´ may look like differently.

I.2.6.3 The Latin [i] in the matrix stands both for И and Ы. After most of consonants there is both written and spelled Ы: namely, after: Б, В, Д, З, Л, М, Н, П, Р, С, Т, Ф. After Г, К, Х [all guttural sounds] there is both written and spelled И. Soft Ч and Щ naturally prefer the soft И to the hard Ы in all cases. Hard Ш, Ж, Ц have a distinct Ы after them, but there is almost always written И instead. No word is now written with an Ы after Ш and Ж; and there only few that have an Ы after Ц (see the rule in III.3.2.3.2).

I.2.6.4 The rule of stress shifting between syllables is not mandatory, it is a tendency. It is valid mostly in genuine Russian words [that is those of Slavic origin] consisting of one and two syllables (remember I.2.4). Some of those words tend to retain the stress as in the Nominative Singular form despite this rule. Longer [than two syllables] and foreign words tend to retain the stress of the Nominative Singular form. In some cases two ways are possible.

I.2.6.5 []e of the matrix stays always for Е, be it for the sound [e] or [je]. Э is never used in endings.

§I.2.7 The first (masculine) declension

Here one may observe the following:

I.2.7.1 Though the dictionary, i.e. Nominative Singular, form, consists of one syllable: the rest of declension has two syllables (in the Instrumental Plural – even three). As said, behavior of the stress in vernacular words consisting of two syllables is quite agile. General tendency for such masculine vernacular words (consisting of 1 in the Nominative Singular and of 2 [sometimes of 1, if the root vowel is dropped away in the declension, whereof below in I.2.7.3] in all¹ other forms) is to shift the stress both in singular and plural. The tendency of shifting the stress in plural is stronger, because there are many words that shift the stress in plural and leave in on the pattern in singular. But, there are masculine words, which do not shift the stress in any number, and leave it nominative plural but shift in other plural.

I.2.7.1.1 Some words which retain the stress in singular, but shift in plural:

волк, wolf (во́лком, волка́ми);

корм, food

час, hour

I.2.7.1.2 Some words which shift the stress both in singular and plural:

луч, ray

полк, regiment

холм, hill

I.2.7.2 It has to be understood that this higher activity of the stress is valid mostly for shorter words of vernacular origin. Longer and foreign words tend to retain the stress where it is in Nominative Singular. Shifting of the stress on the ending is though often; but may be considered to be vulgarism. So, the loan word порт, port, is declined in the literature language retaining the stress on the root: порт -> по́рта, по́ртов. Forms like *порта́, порто́в are in constant use in casual speech, but they are considered as vulgar and should be avoided.

For example: догово́р, contract, as a long (longer than 2 syllables) vernacular word ; аэропо́рт, airport, as a loan word.

I.2.7.3 An important process is dropping of a root vowel. One cannot guess from the appearance of a word, whether it drops its root word or not. Only vowels O and E undergo this process. Some words, having received an additional syllable, when under declension, drop their O and E of the root, leaving no vowel in it. When so, O is reduced always to nothing; E – to semi-vowels: Ь after Л, Й – after vowels; elsewhere – likewise to nothing. Let us consider the three cases for the words: лев, lion; лоб, forehead, and бое́ц, fighter.

I.2.7.3.1 Below is the lift of some of the most common masculine substantives with one example from declension (all other forms will follow the same scheme):

ве́тер, wind -> ветра́ми, with/by winds;

лёд, ice -> льда́ми, (differently to English, Russian may imagine ice in plural);

ого́нь, fire -> огня́ми;

оте́ц, father -> отца́ми;

пёс, male dog -> пса́ми;

рот, mouth -> рта́ми;

сон, sleep, slumber -> сна́ми,

у́гол, corner -> угла́ми;

у́голь, coal -> угля́ми²;

шов, seam -> шва́ми.

Formation of substantives in the [II.2.2.14]