Russian grammar · the case system
The Russian cases, explained.
Six cases decide the ending of every Russian noun, adjective and pronoun. Here is what each one does, how to recognize it, and how to learn the system where it actually lives: inside real sentences.
What is a grammatical case?
A case is what a word wears to show its job in the sentence. English still does it with pronouns: you say he saw me, never him saw I, because he marks the doer and me the receiver. Russian does exactly that, but for every noun, adjective, pronoun and number, by changing the ending.
That is why word order is so free in Russian: the ending, not the position, says who did what to whom. Мама любит дочку and Дочку любит мама mean the same thing, because дочку stays accusative wherever it stands.
How many cases does Russian have?
Russian has six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and prepositional. Every noun, adjective, pronoun and number changes its ending to mark which case it stands in.
Each case answers its own pair of questions, and Russians themselves learn the system through those questions at school. Here are all six, in the order Russian textbooks use.
The Russian cases chart
Typical noun endings by gender and number, with the questions each case answers.
| Case | Questions | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural | Core role |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | кто? что? | ∅ / -й / -ь | -а / -я / -ь | -о / -е | -ы / -и / -а | Subject; dictionary form |
| Genitive | кого? чего? | -а / -я | -ы / -и | -а / -я | -ов / -ей / ∅ | Possession, absence, quantity |
| Dative | кому? чему? | -у / -ю | -е / -и | -у / -ю | -ам / -ям | Recipient, indirect object |
| Accusative | кого? что? | = nom / = gen* | -у / -ю | = nom | = nom / = gen* | Direct object, direction |
| Instrumental | кем? чем? | -ом / -ем | -ой / -ей | -ом / -ем | -ами / -ями | Instrument, company, becoming |
| Prepositional | о ком? о чём? | -е / -и | -е / -и | -е / -и | -ах / -ях | Location, topic; never without a preposition |
Simplified on purpose: these are the common hard- and soft-stem endings, and ∅ means no ending. * In the accusative, animate masculine singular nouns and all animate plurals borrow the genitive ending. NuanceDeck shows the exact declension of every word on its card, so you never have to guess from a generic table.
The nominative case in Russian
кто? что?Answers кто? что? (who? what?)
The nominative is the form words have in the dictionary, and the case of the subject: whoever or whatever is doing the action stands in the nominative. If you can ask who does this? and the word is the answer, it is nominative.
The subject of the sentence
The doer of the action: Бабушка живёт (grandma lives), поезд идёт (the train is coming).
The dictionary form
The shape you look up and the shape flashcard apps usually stop at. It is the starting point of the whole declension, not the whole story.
Naming and pointing
After это in sentences like Это мой брат (this is my brother), the named thing stays nominative.
Grandma lives in Moscow.
The genitive case in Russian
кого? чего?Answers кого? чего? (of whom? of what?)
The genitive marks the possessor, the thing that is absent, and the thing being counted. It is the busiest case in Russian and the one learners meet everywhere: after нет, after numbers, after у меня есть, after half of the prepositions.
Possession and of-phrases
книга брата (my brother's book), центр города (the center of the city).
Absence with нет
What is missing stands in the genitive: нет времени (there is no time), не было денег (there was no money).
Having: у + genitive
Russian says by me there is instead of I have: у брата есть машина (my brother has a car).
Quantity and numbers
After много, мало and most numbers: много работы (a lot of work), пять минут (five minutes).
My brother has no time.
Prepositions that take it
Verbs that govern it
The dative case in Russian
кому? чему?Answers кому? чему? (to whom? to what?)
The dative marks the receiver: the person something is given, said, shown or sent to. It also carries age and those very Russian impersonal states where the feeler is dative and the feeling just happens to them.
The recipient
After verbs of giving and telling: дать другу (give to a friend), звонить маме (call mum).
With к and по
к врачу (to the doctor's), по телефону (by phone), по городу (around the city).
Age
The person having the age is dative: мне двадцать лет (I am twenty).
Impersonal states
мне холодно (I am cold), ей нужно работать (she needs to work): the experiencer stands in the dative.
Mum bought her son a bicycle.
Prepositions that take it
Verbs that govern it
The accusative case in Russian
кого? что?Answers кого? что? (whom? what?)
The accusative marks the direct object: the thing the action lands on. It also marks direction after в and на, and it hides the famous animacy twist: animate nouns borrow their genitive form in the accusative.
The direct object
читать книгу (read a book), видеть друга (see a friend): друг is animate, so its accusative looks like the genitive.
Direction with в and на
Movement into or onto takes the accusative: иду в школу (I am going to school), едем на море (we are going to the sea).
Time expressions
каждый день (every day), всю ночь (all night): stretches and repetitions of time stand in the accusative.
She is reading an interesting book.
Prepositions that take it
Verbs that govern it
The instrumental case in Russian
кем? чем?Answers кем? чем? (with whom? with what?)
The instrumental marks the tool the action is done with and, after с, the company it is done in. It also follows a family of verbs learners meet constantly, стать and заниматься first among them, and it colors the set expressions for times of day and seasons.
The instrument
писать ручкой (write with a pen), ехать поездом (go by train): no preposition needed.
Company with с
гулять с другом (walk with a friend), кофе с молоком (coffee with milk).
After стать, заниматься, гордиться
What you become, do or take pride in stands in the instrumental: стать врачом (become a doctor).
Times and seasons
утром (in the morning), вечером (in the evening), зимой (in winter): frozen instrumentals Russians use daily.
The children are drawing with a pencil.
Prepositions that take it
Verbs that govern it
The prepositional case in Russian
о ком? о чём?Answers о ком? о чём? (about whom? about what?)
The prepositional is the only Russian case that never appears without a preposition, which is also the kindest thing about it: see в, на, о or при before a noun ending in -е, and you have almost certainly found it. It marks where things are and what things are about.
Location with в and на
Being somewhere (not going there): в Москве (in Moscow), на работе (at work). Compare the accusative, which the same prepositions take for direction.
Topic with о
говорить о работе (talk about work), думать о лете (think about summer).
With при
In the presence of, attached to, under: при детях (in front of the children).
We are talking about work.
Prepositions that take it
How to learn the Russian cases
A declension table answers a question no conversation will ever ask you.
Real Russian works the other way around: the sentence is already there, and the right ending has to come out at speed. Memorizing the chart above gets you recognition; it does not get you production. What does is meeting every word, again and again, inside sentences where its case is doing visible work.
That is exactly how NuanceDeck teaches. Every example sentence in the dictionary is annotated like the ones on this page, so you absorb government and agreement by seeing them, and spaced repetition brings each word back right before you would forget it. The endings stop being rows in a table and become habits.
Case brackets under every sentence
Every example in the dictionary carries the same case braces you see on this page, on every word, in thousands of hand-verified sentences.
A dedicated cases drill
Produce the form a real sentence demands, name the case of a highlighted word, or decline any noun to a random cell. Every answer explains the why.
Declension tables on every card
The full declension of every noun and adjective, one tap away, with moving stress marked so you also say the form right.
Learn the cases in context, from day one
Questions about the Russian cases
How many cases does Russian have?
Six: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and prepositional. Every noun, adjective, pronoun and number declines through them, in the singular and in the plural.
Does Russian have a vocative case?
Not anymore as a living seventh case. Old vocatives survive in frozen forms like Господи! and Боже!, and colloquial Russian has grown a new short form of address: Мам! for мама, Тань! for Таня. You will hear it, but you never have to decline for it.
Which Russian case is the hardest?
Most learners name the genitive: it has the most uses, and the genitive plural has the least predictable endings in the language. The accusative's animacy rule, where animate nouns borrow the genitive form, is the other classic stumbling block.
In what order should I learn the Russian cases?
A common classroom order is nominative, then prepositional and accusative, then genitive, dative and instrumental, from most to least frequent. But the honest answer is: not one by one. Cases stick when you meet them mixed together in real sentences, which is exactly what spaced repetition over annotated examples gives you.
Do Russian adjectives decline too?
Yes. An adjective always agrees with its noun in case, gender and number: интересную книгу is accusative on both words. That is why NuanceDeck draws one case bracket over the whole phrase, not over the noun alone.