From the school bench, we clearly know that in the Russian language there are 6 cases. But it turns out that this is not entirely true, there are much more cases in grammar. Many of them remained in a residual state, having come into Russian from Old Slavonic and Old Russian. One of these phenomena is the vocative case in Russian.
Vocative Case: Acquaintance
In order to indicate an appeal to a person, object or object, the vocative case in Russian is used. The examples are quite diverse:
- Masha, go look at the cat!
- Twist, bring firewood!
- Van, call your dad soon!
- Lord, help me in this difficult situation!
- Oh God give me strength!
Examples have shown that an object in a vocative case is expressed by a noun, represents its short form.
From the history of the case
In the Indo-European language - the ancestor of our modern - this case was on an equal footing with other cases. However, when the Indo-European was divided into many language families, Sv. in most cases it began to coincide with the nominative and ceased to be an independent case. However, in the grammars of 1918, this case was still mentioned.
Now it is He who is used to refer to man . item, but partially preserved vocal case in Russian. Examples are:
- Marin, please bring a book from the library.
Compare: use of It. n. instead of Sound. n. in no way affect the meaning of the proposal: Marina, please bring a book from the library.
- Look around, older, everything is destroyed and put to fire.
Here the vocal form “older” is used to give the statement an elevated sound, this is the so-called high syllable. If you replace the form with Him. n., then the meaning will not change, but the phrase will no longer sound like that.
- Lord, help me go this way.
Such a word form is used in religious texts and prayers, heard by native speakers, and is not perceived as something unusual.
Features of the case form
We highlight several key features inherent in this case form:
- Coincides in form with Him. P.
- Used for the sole purpose of treatment.
- Its functions resemble interjection.
- The native speaker is perceived not as a noun, but as an exclamation.
Vocal case could be formed in various ways, the main ones are presented in the table.
Vocational formation methods| Way | Example |
| Adding the ending "e" | Husband, friend, human |
| Addition of the ending "o" | Wife, sister, virgo |
| Using the inflection "and" | Lord |
| By truncating the ending | Mom, Ira, Dad, Grannies, Kat |
With the formation of a novative case, the endings in such words can be reduced:
- Names, including diminutive and affectionate option (Van, Vanyush).
- Terms related to the family (moms, aunts, dads, grandfather).
- Some words form a vocative form even in the plural (guys, girls).
The ways of forming vocal forms are not diverse, but they are often used in oral speech.
Vocative forms
In the table, we present the main forms characteristic of words in the vocabulary case.
Vocational Formation| The form | Short form of name | Special form of the word |
| How is formed | Using truncation of endings in nouns | By alternation or flexion |
| Where is used | Used only to refer to a person. | Used in church use or outdated |
| Example | Mash, An, Vit, Light, Love, Mish and others | God, Lord, wife, older, father |
In addition to truncating endings in proper names, it is also possible to use short forms of names of relatives. A vocative case in Russian is also formed. Examples are given below:
- Mom, where's the tablecloth?
- Dad, help me solve the problem!
- Aunt, when will you come?
The form of the vocative case is preserved in the words "grandfather", "daughter":
- Daughter, come soon to visit!
- Grandfather, come here faster, help!
Similar sentences have a pronounced conversational connotation.
Vocative case in Russian: an example and interesting facts
- The second name is Sv. n - vocative.
- There is an old vocative (used as an equivalent case in the ancient form of the language) and a new vocative (formed in oral speech by native speakers by truncating the endings of nouns).
- Initially, it was in many languages: Sanskrit, Latin and Ancient Greek, but did not translate into modern languages.
- It is preserved in some languages: in Romanian, Greek, Ukrainian, Serbian, Polish and others.
- The vocal form disappeared from the Russian language early enough, in the XIV-XV century, preserved only as a respectful appeal to the boyars and princes.
Only nouns in the singular masculine and feminine could form a vocative case in Russian. Examples: Friendly! Oh god Prince!
Often, vocal forms are used in stable phraseological turns: Lord God Jesus Christ (all four words in the sound of the word), our lord.
In the literature of the 19th-20th centuries, the vocative case was also used for archaization. The examples are now quite diverse:
- In Pushkin’s text “What You Need, Older”, the form is used to create the effect of archaization.
- "Turn around, son." This form helps to recreate the features of the speech of Ukrainian Cossacks.
Vocative case in Russian: rule
Words in the vocabulary case in the sentence play the role of treatment, therefore, they are separated by commas in the letter.
Here is an example:
- Maroussia, come to the play today.
- Mom, help wash the dishes!
- Vanyush, where is the new book?
It can be seen from the above examples that this rule applies to any sentence - narrative, motivational or interrogative.
Often, in order to give the text an ironic coloring, the vocative case in Russian is used. Example: Man! When will you grasp your mind and work properly!
The vocal case in the Russian language, examples of the use of which were given above, is an amazing grammatical phenomenon, indicating that our language changes over time. If many centuries ago this form was commonly used in oral speech, now it is often used only in religious texts or to give the sentence a sublime coloring.