How many cases are in Russian? Definition of the case. Case Studies - Examples

Some linguists believe that the Russian language is rich in cases. It means that there are not six of them, as schoolchildren study, but more. And, as it turns out, they have every reason to hold such an opinion. So, how many cases are in Russian? Let's try to understand this issue.

Case system

The term "case" in translation from Greek sounds like a "fall", and from Latin - "fall".

The case (declination) is a grammatical category intended to show the syntactic role of nouns and their interaction with other words of the sentence. In addition to the noun, the adjectives, participles, numerals, pronouns also change with cases. It should be noted that the case of these adjectival words depends on the declension of the noun being determined. It is expressed by a change in the ending.

How many cases are in Russian?

Considering the morphology of the Russian language, as a rule, there are six main cases:

• Nominative (the initial form of declension).
• Genitive.
• Dative.
• Accusative.
• Instrumental.
• Prepositional.

The enumerated cases are called basic in connection with widespread use. In addition, it should be noted that their prevalence is due to the fact that parts of speech that were mentioned earlier have grammatical forms for the cases listed.

For the correct declension of words, it is necessary to know that all the cases answer questions. In addition, each of them expresses several meanings. We will become acquainted with each of them in more detail.

Nominative case

Correspond to the questions "who?", "What?" To recognize this case, it is necessary to add the word "is" to the noun. For example: is there (that?) A light bulb. It is used without pretexts. The only number has these endings:

• 1 decline: -a, -ya.
• 2 declination: -o, -e or zero.
• 3 declination: zero ending.

And in the plural: -y, -y, -a, -y.

Since the nominative case is the original case word form, its duties include:

• Give the name to the subject of the action or condition ( mother removes, the children are tired );
• Identify, characterize an object, person, or action (our daughter is a doctor, war is a disaster );
• Name the subject of the message, subject, action, property (used in sentences of this type: Morning, Sun. );
• Express an appeal to the interlocutor ( Baby, how old are you ?).

Genitive

Correspond to the questions of "who?", "What?" To recognize this case, you need to substitute the word "no" to the noun. For example: no (what?) Of snow. It is used with prepositions near, at, after, without, about, from, for, around, before, from, with . The only number is defined by such endings:

• 1 decline: -y, -and.
• 2 declination: -a, -ya.
• 3 declination: -and.

The plural has an ending: zero, -ow, -ev, -y.

The genitive case may refer to:

• Affiliation of the object ( son's car ).
• The bearer of the property (the blue of the sky ).
• The object to which the action is directed ( watching TV ).
• The subject performing the action (the arrival of the mother ).
• Parts of the whole (a piece of cake ).

Dative

Words in the dative case answer questions "to whom?", "To what?". To recognize this case, it is necessary to substitute the word "ladies" for the noun. For example: ladies (to whom?) Sister . Are used with prepositions to, to . In the singular, words in the dative case end in:

• 1 declination: -е, -и.
• 2 declination: -y, -yu.
• 3 declination: -and.

The plural of declination is characterized by graduation: -am, -yam.

Words in the dative case are intended to mean:

• The addressee of action ( she gave a magazine to her friend, wrote a letter to her mother );
• Subject of action or condition (the guys could not sleep ).

Accusative

Correspond to the questions of "whom?", "What?". To recognize this case, it is necessary to substitute the word "see" for the noun. For example: I see (whom?) Mom. It is used with prepositions in, for, on, about, through . The only numbers correspond to the endings:

• 1 decline: -y, -yu.
• 2 declination: -o, -e.
• 3 declination: zero ending.

To the plural: zero ending, -y, -i, -a, -y, -y.

Accusative case, in turn:

• Indicates the object of action ( clean room, sew a dress ).
• It expresses the number, space, distance, the measure of time (travel a kilometer, weigh a ton, wait a year, cost a penny) .

Instrumental case

Correspond to the questions "by whom?", "What?". To recognize this case, it is necessary to put the word "proud" to the noun. For example: I'm proud (by whom?) My son. It is used with prepositions for, over, under, before, with . The only number has endings:

• 1 declension: -oy (-yu), -ye (-yu).
• 2 declination: -oh, -em.
• 3 declination: -yu.

Multiple: -am, -yami.

The instrumental is intended to mean:

• Permanent or temporary employment by some activity ( serves as a soldier, worked as a plumber ).
• The subject of the action is for the passive constructions (the house is demolished by the workers ).
• Object of action ( breathe oxygen ).
• Instrument or means of action ( handle peroxide ).
• Places of action ( go by footpath ).
• The way, the mode of action ( to sing with bass ).
• Measures of time or quantity of something ( carry buckets ).
• Parameter of the object (the size of a fist).
• Jointness of persons and objects ( brother and sister ).

Prepositional

Correspond to the questions "about whom?", "About what?". To recognize this case, it is necessary to put the word "think" to the noun. For example: I think (about whom?) About my beloved. It is used with prepositions in, on, about, about, about, when . The only number has endings:

• 1 declination: -е, -и.
• 2 Decline: -e. -and.
• 3 declination: -and.

The plural cases end in: -ax, -yah.

Prepositions used with nouns in the prepositional case help determine what it means. Namely:

• Object of action ( think of a girl ).
• Place of action, condition ( sit on a chair ).
• Time after the performance of some action ( upon arrival ).

Additional cases

In the Russian language, apart from the six basic cases, several forms are distinguished that have a controversial status, close to the case. They are also called cases of nouns, since they are intended solely for their declension. These include: the second genitive (partitive or quantitative-separating), the second prepositional (local, local), the second accusative (transformative, inclusive, collective), the calling form (vocative), countable, awaiting, depriving cases. The peculiarity of these forms is that each of them occurs in a limited circle of words. In addition, they can exist under certain contextual conditions. We will study these cases a little. Examples will help us better understand them.

The second genitive is intended to induce certain words of the masculine gender in the singular relating to the second declension: a cup of tea, a spoonful of sugar. The end of this case, namely "-y", is more often used in colloquial speech and is not mandatory (you can say a sack of sugar or a bag of sugar ). An exception are individual cases: we will drink a seagull . A lot of masculine nouns are not used in the form of a partitive: a cube of ice, a piece of bread.

The second propositional declension has special endings of a group of nouns, in the singular having masculine gender. The case is used, for example, in such words: on the shore, in the closet, in battle . Also for the locative is the transfer of stress on the ending of certain nouns of the third declension, having a feminine gender and a single number: in silence, in shallows, in the furnace.

The second accusative case occurs with some verbs ( enroll, ask, choose, go, prepare, get out, label , etc.) after the preposition "in". In addition, his grades are the same as in the nominative plural: ( enroll in the pilots) .

The expectant case practically coincides with the genitive, but it can be distinguished due to the declension of certain words with the same grammatical form in the accusative form: to wait for (who? What?) Telegrams and to wait for (who? What?) Of the brother .

The counting case is slightly different from the genitive case and is used when counting: two steps, three dining rooms .

The vocative is almost identical to the nominative form, but it differs in the formation of an independent speech turnover, like an interjection: Wan, Mash, Singing, Tan . That is, he is more often used in colloquial speech to address the interlocutor.

The negative case is a kind of accusative, but it is used only with negation under the verb: not to have the right, not to know the truth .

How many cases of additional character are in Russian? According to our calculations, they turned out to be seven. But the most interesting thing is that some linguists consider only two cases: local (second prepositional) and transformative (second accusative). Others argue, then the wandering case also makes some sense. But since the negative and the second genitive case can very often be replaced by the genitive, they can only be called variants of the genitive form of declension. Writing and counting are also often not considered cases. In the first case, this is simply a noun in the nominative case, and in the second it is a noun formed from an adjective.

Let's sum up the results

After reading the above information, you can answer the question about how many cases are in Russian. So, in school we study six basic cases. They are used daily for any kind of communication: conversation, correspondence, etc. But, apart from them, there are seven more forms of declension, which are found mainly in colloquial speech. How many cases are obtained? We can safely say that there are thirteen of them. Given that additional forms of declension are basic options, they are not offered for study at school to simplify the learning process. But we can offer acquaintance with them during extra-class time for general development.