| nom. | gen. | dat. | acc. | inst. | prep. |
| Язык до Киева доведёт. A clever tongue will take you anywhere. (saying) |
| Завтра будет второе сентября. Tomorrow will be the second of September. |
| В гараже машины нет. There is no car in the garage. |
| Purpose |
The genitive case is the second case in Russian. It answers the questions чего? and кого? Its purpose is to indicate possession in a sentence. However, it has so many more uses in Russian. In fact, this case is a must to learn. Okay, all cases need to be learned, but this one especially! It has such high usage because of its endless versatility. The majority of Russian prepositions take this case. That, however, is a topic for another day.
| For more info on how to use the genitive case, click here. |
| To learn the genitive plural, click here. |
| Formation |
You should notice a similarity in declension between this case and the accusative. For masculine nouns!
Masculine
| consonant + а | сад [garden] дом [house] мяч [ball] стол [table] | сада – дома – мяча – стола – |
| –й becomes –я | трамвай [tram] май [May] урожай [harvest] | трамвая – мая – урожая – |
| –ь becomes –я | дождь [rain] медведь [bear] | дождя – медведя – |
Feminine
| –а becomes –ы | голова [head] вода [water] корова [cow] | головы – воды – коровы – |
| –я becomes –и | неделя [week] земля [ground] | недели – земли – |
| –ь becomes –и | постель [bed] жизнь [life] | постели – жизни – |
Neuter
| –о becomes –а | место [place] окно [window] дерево [tree] | места – окна – дерева – |
| –е becomes –я | море [sea] платье [dress] | моря – платья – |
Exceptions
Be careful with these common exceptions:
| мать [mother] дочь [daughter] | матери – дочери – |
| время [time] имя [name] | времени – имени – |
That covers the genitive case for singular nouns. What about plural nouns? We will not be covering the genitive plural anytime soon. That will likely be the last plural covered. It’s rather complex – many endings and many exceptions.
Edit: You can now find the genitive plural on this blog.
And there you have it! Stay tuned for the dative plural. That will be our next case post.
| Click the link below to download a grammar summary of this lesson. |
| Last Edit: 10/03/2026. |