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 adhere to this opinion. So, how many cases are there in Russian? Let's try to figure this out.
Case system
The term “case” in translation from Greek sounds like “fall”, and from Latin - “fall”.
Case (declension) is a grammatical category intended to show the syntactic role of nouns and their interaction with other sentence words. In addition to the noun, adjectives, participles, numerals, and pronouns also change in cases. It is worth noting that the case of these adjective words depends on the declension of the determined noun. It is expressed by changing the ending.
How many cases in Russian?
Considering the morphology of the Russian language, as a rule, six main cases are called:
- Nominative (the initial form of declination).
- Genitive.
- Dative.
- Accusative.
- Instrumental.
- Prepositional.
The listed cases are called the main ones due to widespread use. In addition, it is worth noting that their prevalence is due to the fact that the parts of speech that were mentioned earlier have grammatical forms for the listed cases.
For the correct declension of words, you need to know that all cases answer questions. In addition, each of them expresses several meanings. We will get acquainted with each in more detail.
Nominative
The questions are “who?”, “What?” To recognize this case, you need to add the word "is" to the noun. For example: there is (what?) A light bulb. Used without pretexts. The singular has the following endings:
- 1 declension:
- 2 declension: -o, -e or zero.
- 3 declension: zero ending.
And in the plural: s, s, s, s.
Since the nominative case acts as the initial case form of the word, its duties include:
- give a name to the subject of the action or condition (the mother cleans, the children are tired );
- define, 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
The questions are “who?”, “What?” To recognize this case, you need to substitute the word "no" to the noun. For example: there is no (what?) Snow. Used with prepositions near, at, after, without, about, from, for, around, before, from, with . The singular is determined by such endings:
- 1 declension.
- 2 declension:
- 3 declension: -and.
The plural has an ending: zero, s, s, s.
Genitive may indicate:
- Belonging to the subject ( son's car ).
- Carrier properties ( blue sky ).
- The object to which the action is directed ( watching TV ).
- Subject committing the action ( arrival of the mother ).
- Parts of the whole ( piece of cake ).
Dative
Words in the dative case answer the questions "to whom?", "Why?" To recognize this case, you need to substitute the word "lady" to the noun. For example: I’ll give (to whom?) My sister . Used with prepositions to, by . In the singular, the words in the dative case end in:
- 1 declension: -th, -and.
- 2 declination: -u, -u.
- 3 declension: -and.
The plural of declination is characterized by endings: -am, -y.
The words in the dative case are intended to mean:
- The recipient of the action ( gave the magazine to a friend, wrote a letter to mom );
- The subject of the action or condition (the guys could not sleep ).
Accusative
The questions are “who?”, “What?”. To recognize this case, you need to substitute the word “see” to the noun. For example: I see (who?) Mom. Used with prepositions in, for, on, pro, through . The singular matches the endings:
- 1 declination: -u, -u.
- 2 declension: -o, -e.
- 3 declension: zero ending.
Plural: zero ending, s, s, s, s.
Accusative case, in turn:
- Designates an object of action ( clean the room, sew a dress ).
- It expresses the quantity, space, distance, measure of time (drive a kilometer, weigh a ton, wait a year, cost a penny) .
Instrumental case
The questions are “by whom?”, “By what?”. To recognize this case, you need to put the word "proud" to the noun. For example: proud of (who?) Son. Used with prepositions for, above, under, before, p . The singular has endings:
- 1 declension: th (th), th (th).
- 2 declension: th, th.
- 3rd declension: th.
Plural: s, s.
The instrumental case is intended to indicate:
- Permanent or temporary employment by any activity ( serves as a soldier, worked as a plumber ).
- The subject of action is for passive constructions (the house is demolished by the workers ).
- Object of action ( breathe oxygen ).
- Instrument or means of action ( treat with peroxide ).
- Locations of action ( walk the path ).
- Method, mode of action ( singing with bass ).
- Measures of time or quantity of something ( carry in buckets ).
- The parameter of the subject (the size of a fist).
- The compatibility of persons and objects ( brother and sister ).
Prepositional
The questions are “about whom?”, “About what?”. To recognize this case, you need to put the word "I think" to the noun. For example: I think (about whom?) About my beloved. Used with prepositions in, on, about, about, about, at . The singular has endings:
- 1 declension: -th, -and.
- 2 declension: -and.
- 3 declension: -and.
Plural cases end in: -ah, -y.
The prepositions used with nouns in the prepositional case help to determine what it means. Namely:
- Object of action ( think of a girl ).
- Place of action, condition ( sit on a chair ).
- Time after performing any action ( upon arrival ).
Additional cases
In the Russian language, in addition to the six main cases, there are several forms that have a controversial status, close to the case. They are also called cases of nouns, as they are intended solely for their decline. These include: the second genitive (partitive or quantitative-separative), the second prepositional (locative, local), the second accusative (transformative, inclusive, collective), the vocal form (vocative), the countable, the waiting, the derogatory cases. A feature of these forms is that each of them is found in a limited circle of words. Moreover, they can exist in certain contextual conditions. Let's study these cases a little. Examples will help us better deal with them.
The second genitive is intended for the declension of some masculine words in the singular related 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 bag of sugar or a bag of sugar ). An exception is certain cases: we will drink a seagull . Quite a lot of masculine nouns are not used in the form of a partitiva: an ice cube, a piece of bread.
The second prepositional declension is characterized by special endings of the group of nouns in the singular having a masculine gender. The case is used, for example, in such words: on the shore, in the closet, in battle . Also, the locative is characterized by the transfer of stress to the ending in certain nouns of the 3rd declension, which are feminine and singular: quiet, aground, in the furnace.
The second accusative case occurs in some verbs ( sign up, ask, choose, go, prepare, break out, mark , etc.) after the preposition "c". Moreover, its endings are the same as in the nominative plural: ( enroll in pilots) .
Waiting case almost coincides with genitive, but it can be distinguished due to the declension of some words with the same grammatical form in the form of accusative case: wait (who? What?) Telegrams and wait (whom? What?) Brother .
The counting case is slightly different from the genitive and is used in the calculation: two steps, three dining rooms .
The vocal case is almost identical to the nominative form, but differs in the formation of an independent speech turnover, similar to interjection: Wan, Mash, Sing, Tan . That is, it is more often used in colloquial speech to appeal to the interlocutor.
The derogatory case is a type of accusative case, however it is used only with negation in the verb: not have the right, not know the truth .
How many cases in Russian are of an additional character? According to our estimates, there are seven of them. But the most interesting thing is that some linguists consider only two full-fledged cases: local (second prepositional) and transformative (second accusative). Others argue that the waiting case also makes sense. But since the derogatory and second genitive cases can very often be replaced by the genitive, they can only be called variants of the genitive form of declension. Vocal and counting are also often not considered cases. In the first case, it is simply a noun in the nominative case, and in the second, it is a noun formed from an adjective.
To summarize
After reviewing the above information, you can answer the question of how many cases are in the Russian language. So, at school we study six main cases. They are used daily for any type of communication: conversation, correspondence, etc. But, besides them, there are seven more forms of declension that are found mainly in colloquial speech. How many cases do you get in total? We can safely say that there are thirteen of them. Given that additional forms of declination are basic variants, they are not offered for study at school to simplify the learning process. But you can offer familiarization with them in an extracurricular time for general development.