Video Lesson: The Genitive Case of Singular Russian Nouns


Posted on March 29th, 2013

In our today’s lesson we will talk about the genitive case of the Russian nouns.

The genitive case is mainly used in Russian to denote possession or relationships between two objects. There are many other uses of the genitive case, and you can find more information about the uses of the genitive case in this wonderful reference book that I often use as one of my resources for the lessons – A Comprehensive Russian Grammar by Terence Wade. Now, let’s talk about  how the genitive case of the Russian nouns is formed.

Masculine Nouns

If a noun has an ending other then or -ь, then you will need to add -a to the end of the word: Врач-врача
Дом-дома

If a noun ends in or, then you will need to drop that letter and add:
Апрель – апреля
Зверь – зверя

Some masculine nouns change their stress when the ending is added.

Neuter Nouns

If a noun ends in -o, then you will need to drop that letter and add -a:

Плечо – плеча
Пиво – пива

If a noun ends in , then you will need to drop that letter and add :
Платье – платья
Бельё – белья

Feminine Nouns

If a noun ends in –а, drop that letter and add :
Морда – морды
Лампа – лампы

There is an exception to this rule:

If a consonant before the final –a is mentioned in the 7-leter spelling rule, add –и instead. If you are not sure what the 7-letter spelling rule is, click on this link and watch the video.
Here are examples:
Мышь – мыши
Краска – краски

If a noun ends in or then you will need to drop that letter and add :
Баня – бани
Тетрадь – тетради

Now, let’s practice. The following three nouns are in the nominative case, please form the genitive case of these nouns:

  • Март
  • Окно
  • Книга

Have fun learning Russian! :)

Viktoria.

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