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Grammar Notes
NOUNS
NOUNS: GENDER
Negation
To give a negative answer to a question formed without a special
question word, you have to use TWO negative words (or double
negation): «НЕТ» и «НЕ» . First, you have to say «НЕТ» (No,...)
and then repeat the negative particle «НЕ» preceeding negation.
Attention!
In the answer the negative particle «не» and the following word are
pronounced together as one phonetic unit or word. As a rule, the
stress does not fall on the particle «не».
Noun:
Это стол? - Нет, не стол.
Adverb:
Дом там? - Нет, не там.
Verb:
Ты знаешь? - Нет, не знаю.
Adjective:
Дом большой? – Нет, не большой.
Pronouns
NATIONALITY NOUNS
There are special words to indicate nationalities in Russian. To
describe males and females of the same nationality, different
masculine and feminine nouns will be used. To indicate nationality
of several people, in Russian a special plural form can be used.
Take a look at the table: masculine nouns are forned with the help of
suffixes -ец (канадец), -ан+-ец (американец), less often the suffix
анин is used: (англичанин). Some masculine nationality nouns have
special forms: француз, турок, грек. The form русский (русская,
русские) is also an exceptionРусский – is an adjective, not a noun
form!
As you can see there are many ways in Russian to form nationality
nouns. The most important thing to remember is this: nationalities in
Russian are expressed by special nouns, not by adjectives. And it is
best to memorize nationality nouns that are exceptions.
ADVERBS
To characterise an action, or describe a state, adverbs are used in
most cases. Adverb is a part of speech in the Russian language
which never changes it’s form.
Номер справа.
Лифт там, слева.
Ресторан внизу.
Most often, adverbs are used with verbs expressing states or actions,
with adjectives, and with other adverbs. Adverbs are placed in front
of these words and indicate intensity of an action, intensity of a state,
or characteristic.
You can also find adverbs in sentences with the word ЭТО (it, this).
Сегодня жарко.
Вчера было жарко.
Завтра тоже будет жарко.
банк – банки
этаж - этажи
девушка – девушки
книга – книги.
Borrowed nouns that end in vowels: "о", "-а", "-и", "-у" don't have a
separate plural form: такси (sing) = такси (pl) = taxi, метро =
метро (metro), пальто = пальто (coat), интервью (interview).
There are some nouns in Russian which have only the plural form:
"джинсы", "деньги", "очки", "часы".
Please, remember! These are exceptions.
Adjectives
Adjectives are words that describe objects, i.e. indicate objects’
characteristics and attributes. The adjective answers a question:
“«какой?» /”What kind?” or “Which one?” (see below). An
adjective’s grammar form is always identical to that of a noun it
characterizes, in other words, the adjective always has the same
gender, number and case, as the noun:
красивый дом
красивая девушка
красивое дерево
красивые цветы
Pay attention to the endings of the nouns and adjectives in the table:
CASES in Russian
Russian nouns change (are inflected) in a sentence. The noun's form
depends on the noun's role in a sentence. Such noun forms are
known as "cases". There are six cases in the Russian language, and
every case answers a specific case question for animate and
inanimate nouns, is distinguished by a set of case endings, and has
specific meaning and functions in the sentence.
Цветы в вазе.
Preposition В (in)
Preposition на ("at")
But if the masculine noun ends in "ь" or "й", this last letter will be
replaced by the ending -е:
музей – в музее, словарь – в словаре.
2) Likewise, if the feminine noun ends in -а or -я, this last letter will
be replaced by the ending "е".
2. If the neuter noun ends in-о (in the Nominative case), replace
this last letter with the ending -е:
письмо – в письме
But if the neuter noun ends in -е, it will not change its form at all and
will only acquire the preposition в or на:
All Russian verbs are inflected (modified) for person and number.
There are 2 sets of verb endings, or 2 Conjugation patterns. The
Infinitive verb form ( signaled by endings -ть, -ти, -чь) always
remains unchanged. This is the very form you see in a dictionary. In
a sentence the verb form will change because it has to "agree" with a
person and number of the verb's subject: I, you, he or she, it
(singular), we, you, they (plural).
Please, note that there is one third-person singular verbal form for
both animate and inanimate subjects of all three genders: masculine,
feminine and neuter. "Антон (Anton) работа║ет". "Магазин (a
store) работа║ет"."Анна (Anna) работа║ет". "Школа (school)
работа║ет". "Радио (radio set) не работа║ет". The third-person
plural form of a verb will also be the same for inanimate and animate
subjects :"Антон и Анна (Anton and Anna) работа║ют".
"Магазины (stores) работа║ют".
Conjugation I
For Conjugation I verbs, to form the verb conjugation in the present
tense one must:
Conjugation II
For Conjugation II verbs, the verb conjugation in the present tense is
formed in exactly the same way, as for Conjugation I verbs - but the
personal verb endings are different:
Please, note the following spelling rule: letters "ч" and "ш" are never
followed by letters "ю" or "я"; instead, you should write "y" or "a":
"я пиШ║у", "я уЧ║ у", "они пиШ║ут", "они уЧ║ат".
Demonstrative Pronouns
To specify an object found in a group of objects, you can use a
demonstrative pronoun "этот, эта, это, эти" ("this, these"). The
demonstrative pronoun has to "agree" in gender and number with the
noun denoting the object. With the singular masculine noun, you use
"этот": "этот дом" (this house); with the feminine noun, "эта" is
used: "эта комната" (this room); and with the neuter noun, "это":
"это окно" (this window). Plural nouns require the form "эти": "эти
часы" (these clocks). Thus, there are four demonstrative pronoun
forms in Russian. The demonstrative pronoun is called for when you
point to a specific object you have chosen among several other
objects and to answer a question: Какой? (какая? какое? какие?) -
"which one?" or "which ones"?
To answer the question: "What is it?", you can use just one pronoun
form "это", and in this case, it does not have to agree with the noun
neither in gender, nor in number:
Позвони мне!
Скажи мне!
Дай мне!
I LIKE
The construction "Мне нравится… " (I like) or "Мне не
нравится…" (I don’t like) is used to express the speaker's attitude
toward an object or action. In this construction a logical subject is
expressed by a noun or pronoun in the Dative case while an object is
expressed by a noun or pronoun in the Nominative case.
Let's see how you can ask and answer such questions:
ACCUSATIVE CASE
A noun or pronoun in the Accusative case indicates a direct object.
Verbs "читать" (to read), "понимать" (to understand), "to know"
(знать), "любить" (to love or like) will be followed by the noun or
pronoun in the Accusative case. Nouns or pronouns in the
Accusative case answer the question: "what?" or "whom?"
– Что ты хо́чешь?
– Я хочу́ сала́т.
– Кого́ ты зна́ешь?
– Я зна́ю А́нну.
Masculine nouns
Neuter nouns:
Please, note! For masculine and feminine nouns which end in "–Ь",
the Accusative case endings stay the same.
IMPERATIVE
The Imperative is used to express a request or an order.
Please, remember!
If the verb stem ends in a vowel ("a", "о", "у", "и", etc.), then the
suffix "-Й-" is added to the stem. If the stem ends in a consonant
("б","в", "г", "д", "ж", etc.), then the suffix "-И-" is added.
To form the Past Tense verbal forms: first, drop the verb Infinitive
ending and add to the verb stem the Past tense suffix "-л", then
follow the suffix with the ending "-а" for feminine nouns, with the
ending "-о" for neuter nouns, and the ending "-и" for plural nouns.
Please, remember! The Past tense verbal form agrees with the noun
in gender and number.
Ordinal Numerals.
The first place!
следствие Я ем икру
причина Я люблю икру.
This is a cause. 2. Here is an effect.
Я люблю икру, поэтому я ем икру.
Я ем икру, потому что я люблю икру.
For example:
BUT!
Please, remember!
Compare:
Сегодня понедельник.
В понедельник я обычно работаю.
Во вторник, в среду, в четверг и в пятницу я тоже
работаю.
Когда я отдыхаю? Я отдыхаю в субботу и в воскресенье.
Вокресенье было вчера. Вчера, в воскресенье, я отдыхал.
Compare:
GENITIVE CASE
Expressing absense: Genitive in negative sentenses with the word
"НЕТ".
Please, note!
To put such a phrase in a different case, you will need to change
the first noun form. But the second noun in the Genitive case will
not change. For example:
один час
одна минута
одно такси
If there are more objects than one, the construction "a numeral
+ a noun in Genitive singular or plural" is used. Please, study
the tables.
Например:
Это человек. Он меняет деньги.
Какой это человек? – Это человек, который меняет деньги.
Это девушка. Она работает в банке.
Какая это девушка? – Это девушка, которая работает в
банке.
человек – он – который
девушка – она – которая
люди – они – которые
стол - он - который
книга - она - которая
дерево - оно - которое
книги - они - которые
Please, remember!
Я в кино.
Анна на работе.
Книга на столе.
Вчера в пять часов мы ехали домой.
идти на работу
ехать в театр
ехать отдыхать
Иди сюда!
Мы идём домой.
Please, note that different cases and sets of adverbs are used to
indicate location vs motion direction!
Please, note! The words "надо. нужно" are adverbs, they never
change!
машина – нужна
билет - нужен
объяснение - нужно
деньги – нужны.
Expressiong a person's state
To describe a physical or mental state of a person, we use an
impersonal construction “verb + adverb”. The noun or pronoun
describing a person in this or that state or mood, changes to the
Dative case.
When we speak about the past, first, we name the time period - the
noun is in the Accusative (4) case - and then add the word "назад"
(ago): "минуту назад" (a minute ago), "два часа назад" (two hours
ago), "день назад" (a day ago", "неделю назад" (a week ago), "год
назад" (a year ago).
When we speak about the future, we start with the word "через" (in)
and then add an Accusative noun (4) to indicate the time period:
"через минуту" (in a minute), "через день" (in a day), "через
месяц" (in a month), "через год" (in a year).
Дава́й дружи́ть!
Дава́йте игра́ть вме́сте!
Давай познакомимся!
ХОДИТЬ-ЕЗДИТЬ
In the Russian language, beside the pair of imperfective verbs of
motion идти – ехать, there is another pair of verbs of
motion:пешком – ходи́ть (как идти́)on foot – ходи́ть (like идти
́)или на транспорте – е́здить (как е́хать):or by transport – е́здить
(like е́хать):
A street conversation.
Please, note: the verbs "идти" and "ехать" are used only to describe
a one-way motion, or motion in one particular direction:
идти в магазин
ехать на работу
ехать в Москву
идти в музей
The verbs "ходить" and "ездить" are also used when we describe
motion in different directions:
Compare:
Remember!
Please, note! To denote one and the same event that took place
before, is taking place now or will take place in the future, in the
Russian language three different verbs of motion are used:
Now that you know that there are perfective and imperfective verbs
in Russian, we should answer two most important questions:
Compare:
VERBAL ASPECTS
(CONTINUED).
Using imperfective verbs to express that an
action is, indeed, taking place and that it is
a process .
When we want to indicate that an action is/was taking place for a
specific time period, we always use imperfective verbs and
additional words to indicate the action duration. For example: долго
(for a long time), недолго (for a short time), пять минут (for five
minutes), целый год (the whole year) etc. Word combinations that
indicate duration must be put in the Accusative case (4).
Compare:
– Вы смотрели новый фильм Феллини?
– Да, смотрели.
– Вы посмотрели новый фильм Феллини, фильм вам
понравился?
– Да, мы посмотрели вчера этот фильм. Это прекрасный фильм!
In which month?
To indicate that an event happened or will happen in a certain
month, we use a name of the month in the Prepositional case (6) with
the preposition "b>в".
быть+инфинитив
я бу́ду чита́ть
ты бу́дешь чита́ть
он бу́дет чита́ть
мы бу́дем чита́ть
вы бу́дете чита́ть
они бу́дут чита́ть
Dative Case
Dative case indicating an addressee
When we speak, we usually address somebody. A person whom a
speech or action addresses is usually indicated by a noun in the
Dative case (3). The noun answers the question КОМУ? (to whom?)
In Russian animate and inanimate nouns indicating the adressee are
put in the Dative case (3) and after a verb.
1. In the Russian language, nouns in the Dative case are also used to
indicate an addressee of a letter/email or a telegram.
Памятник Пушкину
Памятник Чайковскому
Compare:
ПРИЙТИ, ПРИЕХАТЬ
When a motion is directed towards an objective, and we want to say
that we have (or haven’t) reached it, we use verbs with the prefix
ПРИ-: "прийти" and "приехать". These verbs are also perfective.
Please, note! To denote one and the same event that took place
before, is taking place now or will take place in the future, in the
Russian language three different verbs of motion are used:
УЙТИ, УЕХАТЬ
To indicate the point of departure, we use verbs with the prefix "У-"
(уйти́ or уе́хать), and a noun in the Genetive case with prepositions
"ИЗ" or "С" (from) to indicate the place of departure itself.
We use the Instrumental case with the preposition "с" to speak about
people who perform an action jointy.
For example:
– Тимур, с кем ты вчера играл в футбол?
– Я играл с Иваном, с Андреем, с Сергеем, с Виктором.
– С кем Маша ходила в кино?
– Маша ходила в кино с подругой Леной.
2. Description
For example:
Вот бутерброд с сыром, а вот бутерброд с колбасой.
(Какой бутерброд? С чем бутерброд?)
СТАТЬ
Instrumental Case
The Meanings of the Instrumental Case
(continued)
4. Instrumental case: denoting an object