The noun is one of the main parts of speech in the Russian language. A noun in a sentence may be expressed subject, addition, definition and circumstance. This part of speech includes everything that surrounds us - people, objects, elements of nature. However, nouns are divided into a large number of forms, have characteristic features. Let’s figure out what is the unique noun in the Russian language, and what you need to know about it for its correct use and spelling.
Main characteristics
So, to understand the meaning of this part of speech, consider its main features.
The definition of a noun is as follows:
Noun - part of the speech that answers the questions "who?" So what?". Unlike pronouns that answer the same questions, nouns always contain some kind of meaning (for example, denote a person, an object, sometimes an action). Nouns, as a rule, depending on the form, have zero endings or endings consisting of one letter (-a, -i, -o). In phrases and sentences, adjectives, pronouns, other nouns with a preposition may depend on nouns. Let's look at some examples.
Examples of nouns in sentences
And today, as I jumped up and looked at my watch, I immediately realized that it was necessary to dress like a fire. And I got dressed in one minute forty-eight seconds all, as it should, only laces laced through two holes. In general, I was in time for school and on time also rushed to class a second before Raisa Ivanovna.
However, the most interesting in the study of nouns are their forms, namely: gender, number, declension and case.
Case
Cases of nouns are the basis of the grammar of the Russian language. Cases are also characteristic of adjectives, pronouns, ordinal numbers and participles. What cases stand out in Russian?
Nominative. The main case in which the noun (or other part of speech) answers the questions "who?", "What?" (e.g. book, bird, star, carriage). The subject in the sentence is always expressed by the noun in the nominative case.
- Genitive. Answers the questions of "whom?" and what?". As a rule, nouns in the genitive have the endings -s, -i (foxes, villages) or -a (grains, wheels). To make it easier to remember questions and forms of the genitive case, you can use the word "no." That is, before using the form of the noun in the genitive case, ask the question - "there is no one? What? - pictures."
- Dative. The name of this case seems to speak for itself and answers the questions "to whom?", "What?". It is not difficult to remember it, because you can ask the corresponding question - "give to whom? What?". Nouns in the dative case have the following endings: -u (airfield, tulip), -e (girl, countertop), -i (encyclopedias, reconstruction). The forms of some nouns in the dative case coincide with the forms of the genitive case, so it is important to always ask questions to the used nouns.
- Accusative. One of the most difficult cases of nouns. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that at the same time it is similar both to the nominative case and the genitive. The first case is characterized by the coincidence of nouns, and the second by the coincidence of one of the questions. So, the accusative case answers the questions of "whom?" So what?". How to distinguish accusative from nominative? As mentioned earlier, when using data, the forms of nouns in some cases coincide. For example, in the sentence "The building looked impressive." the noun "building" is used in the nominative case, and in the sentence "He saw this building from afar." - in the accusative. Thus, the noun in the accusative case cannot be subject. In the proposal, it is an addition or part of the circumstances. At the same time, in order to distinguish the accusative from the genitive, one simple method can be used. It helps when you need to determine the case of a noun in a sentence. Instead of the "controversial" noun we substitute the word "mother". If in this sentence it gets the ending -u, then the noun is used in the accusative case, if the ending -s appears in the genitive. Also, nouns in the accusative case are determined by the end of the i-th (I see the recreation) or by the end of the nominative case.
- Instrumental case. Answers the questions “by whom?”, “By what?”. The so-called "control" verbs for memorizing the form of the instrumental case are the verbs "create" and "admire." Typical endings: th (dog), th (pencil), th (mouse).
- Prepositional. This case is always used with prepositions. The main questions of the prepositional case are the questions "about whom?" and "what about?" There are endings -and, -e (a story about a man, dreams of circumnavigation).
Examples of sentences with different cases of nouns
Nominative:
The weather was inclement and cold; it was wet snow, in half with rain.
Genitive:
Having asked the prince for an apology , I began to dress.
Dative:
It was not a reflection of the heat of emotional or playful imagination: it was a luster similar to that of smooth steel, dazzling, but cold; his gaze was short, but insightful and heavy, it left an unpleasant impression of an immodest question and might have seemed bold if it hadn’t been so calm.
Accusative:
The clothes on her could be called rags; thick black hair was unkempt and messed up.
Instrumental:
All this morning I was busy with my papers, taking them apart and putting them in order.
Prepositional:
It was a dirty, black and always dark staircase, one of those that are usually found in capital houses with small apartments.
So, we sorted out the cases and got acquainted with the case endings of nouns. Next, we consider what gender the nouns are divided into, and what are the features of such a feature as the number of the noun.
Kind
There are three kinds in the Russian language - female, male and middle. Each of them corresponds to one of the singular third person pronouns: the feminine gender is “she”, the masculine gender is “he” and the middle gender is “it”. Examples of nouns:
- Story, anthem, hit, theater, space, child, candlestick - masculine;
- Shelf, head, mouse, Anna, conscience, indulgence, servant - feminine;
- Thinking, knowledge, skill, indifference, the sun, plexus - the middle gender.
Sentences with different nouns:
Male:
I wade along the fence and suddenly I hear voices; I immediately recognized one voice : it was the hang of Azamat, the son of our master; the other spoke less and less.
Female:
His skin had some feminine tenderness; blond hair, curling from nature, so picturesquely depicted his pale, noble forehead, on which, only by long observation, one could notice traces of wrinkles crossing one another and, probably, were indicated much more clearly in moments of anger or emotional restlessness.
Average:
However, these are my own remarks, based on my own observations, and I do not want to force you to believe in them blindly.
Number
In Russian, only singular and plural nouns can be distinguished. The first type includes: the ceiling, tablet, history, exit, stairs, drawer, etc. And the second - games, students, deeds, activities, groups, doubts.
It is worth noting that gender is a constant sign of a noun, and the number is unstable. That is, if you put a noun in the plural form, its gender will not change. And the number of a noun changes easily.
Now let's move on to the next part of the grammar of the Russian language - to the declension of nouns.
Declination
Declination is a characteristic sign, unlike the others, only for nouns. In total, there are three declensions in the Russian language. Let's consider each of them.
- The first decline. It includes feminine and masculine nouns with endings a, s. For example, Kolya, theory, toy, unskillful, Maria, pipe, sheet and others.
- The second declension. It includes masculine nouns with zero endings (knife, mole, case, stone, swift, comrade, prisoner) and middle nouns with endings -o, -e (sun, adventure, wheel, frustration, invention, miracle, plenty) .
- Third declension. It includes feminine nouns with a zero ending, that is, ending with a soft sign (s): notebook, oven, mouse, eternity, night and others.
So, we examined the declension of nouns. Now we will deal with various functions of nouns in a sentence.
Functions in the sentence
A noun in a sentence can act as a subject, additions, circumstances, definitions, and also be a part of a compound nominal predicate. In other words, a noun can be called a universal member of a sentence. We will examine in more detail with its syntactic functions.
Subject is the main role of the noun in the sentence. It answers the questions “who?”, “What?”; used only in the nominative case and performs the action that is reported in the sentence. Example:
In the newspapers, from which the old prince first learned about the defeat of Austerlitz, it was written, as always, very briefly and vaguely, that the Russians, after brilliant battles, had to take off and retire in perfect order.
The second most important function of a noun in a sentence. In the role of an addition, it is an object of action (as well as a place, the relation of an object to something, some auxiliary object) and answers questions of indirect cases (everything except nominative). An example of such a proposal:
When Princess Mary returned from her father, the little Princess was sitting at work and, with that particular expression of an inner and happy-calm look peculiar only to pregnant women, looked at Princess Mary.
Circumstance is a noun with a preposition denoting a place. However, there is one feature of the noun in the role of circumstance - it is very similar to complement. To correctly determine the sentence member, which is a noun with a preposition, you need to make sure that you can ask two questions to it: one case and one question, characteristic of adverbs (circumstances). For example, “I went to school.”: I went to what ?, where? - for school. So, "to school" in this case is a circumstance. Another example:
These phrases were made in the internal laboratory of Bilibin, as if purposely of portable nature, so that insignificant secular people could conveniently remember them and transfer them from living rooms to living rooms.
A noun acts as a definition when it is an application. That is, it complements the subject or supplement and has the same case form. For instance:
The gentleman sat in the chaise, not handsome, but not of a bad appearance, neither too fat nor too thin; it cannot be said to be old, but not so too young.
A compound nominal predicate includes a verb (which can sometimes be omitted) and a nominal part, i.e. noun, adjective, numeral, sometimes a pronoun. Examples of sentences with a compound nominal predicate (in the nominal part - a noun):
... however, there was a big man and sometimes even embroidered on tulle himself.
As soon as we found out that our unprecedented heroes in space call each other the Falcon and the Golden Eagle, we immediately decided that I would now be the Golden Eagle, and the Bear the Falcon.
Sometimes a sentence can consist of only one word - a noun (sometimes with dependent words). Such sentences are considered to be call letters. For example, Evening. Pink sunset. Warm air. The quiet sound of the waves. Grace.
Quotes of great men
Leo Uspensky:
The noun is the bread of the tongue.
Charles Williams:
The noun governs the adjective, and not the other way around.
Janet Winterson:
Nouns today are worthless if they are not matched by a pair of adjectives in superlative degree.
Victor Pelevin:
A man does not need three pines to get lost - two nouns are enough for him.
So, in this article we got acquainted with the definition of a noun - one of the most important parts of speech in Russian. Studying the linguistics of the native language allows a person to get deeper acquainted with the culture of his country and with the history of his language. Therefore, linguistics is considered an extremely interesting and useful science. Good luck in learning its basics!