Russian grammar · the case system
The prepositional case in Russian
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.
Aurélien CuvelierAug 10, 2026The endings, with a declined example per ending
Masculine
-е / -и
столе · музее · словаре
Feminine
-е / -и
сестре · неделе
Neuter
-е / -и
окне · море
Plural
-ах / -ях
столах · словарях · окнах
The personal pronouns in this case
When to use it
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).
In a real sentence
Watch out
Two things bite here. The в/на choice is partly conventional: Russian says на почте (at the post office) and на работе (at work) where logic suggests в. And a set of short masculine nouns takes a stressed -у instead of -е for location: в лесу (in the forest), в аэропорту, на мосту. Both are memorized word by word, which is what the cards are for.
The other cases
- The nominative case in Russian
- The genitive case in Russian
- The dative case in Russian
- The accusative case in Russian
- The instrumental case in Russian
All six cases on one page, with the full chart ›Download this chart as a free printable PDF (A4) ›
Master the cases where they live: in real sentences
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Aurélien Cuvelier Founder, NuanceDeck
Aurélien Cuvelier builds NuanceDeck: the app, and the verification pipeline behind its dictionary. Every entry is grounded in the official TORFL lexical minimum and a 20,000-word frequency corpus, and every example sentence passes a certification review before it ships.
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