У тебя на лбу написано, что ты врёшь.
It’s written all over your face that you’re lying. (saying)
Заруби это себе на носу.
Mark my words. (saying)
| Purpose |
The locative case doesn’t exist in modern Russian, with the exception of a small group of nouns. Thanks to them, remnants of this case live on. Modern Russian has 6 cases. Yes, there used to be more!
| When talking about location, answering the question где?, hence locative, you will use a special ending – the stressed у. This is only used with location, not with anything else! If you are speaking, dreaming, learning about something, you will not use it. Instead, you will use the much more common prepositional case. |
| Formation |
| Nom. | Prep. | Loc. |
|---|---|---|
| лес (forest) | лесе – | лесу – |
| порт (port) аэропорт (airport) follows the same pattern | порте – | порту – |
| мост (bridge) | мосте – | мосту – |
| сад (garden) | саде – | саду – |
| двор (courtyard) | дворе – | двору – |
| угол (corner) | угле – | углу – |
| берег (coast) | береге – | берегу – |
| снег (snow) | снеге – | снегу – |
| шкаф (closet) | шкафе – | шкафу – |
| луг (meadow) | луге – | лугу – |
| ад (hell) | аде – | аду – |
| пол (floor) | поле – | полу – |
| рот (mouth) | рте – | рту – |
| нос (nose) | носе – | носу – |
| круг (circle – fig.) | круге – | кругу – |
| дым (smoke) | дыме – | дыму – |
| ряд (row) | ряде – | ряду – |
| пруд (pond) | пруде – | пруду – |
| год (year) | годе – | году – |
| бок (side) | боке – | боку – |
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This is not a complete list – there are more! As I remember them and revisit this post, I will add them in.
One thing to reiterate is that these nouns only decline like this when you talk about location. If you, for example, are thinking, talking or dreaming about these nouns, you instead add the usual ending –e that nouns in the prepositional case take. Observe:
| Prepositional | Locative |
|---|---|
| –О чём вы говорите? –О новом мосте в центре города. -What are you talking about? -About the new bridge in the city center. | –Где ты? –Я тебя жду на мосту. -Where are you? -I’m waiting for you at [or: on] the bridge. |
| Дети думают о снеге. The children are thinking about snow. | Почему дети лежат в снегу? Они простудятся! Why are the children lying in the snow? They’ll catch a cold! |
| Они пишут статью о новом аэропорте. They’re writing an article about the new airport. | Эдуард и Адриан ждут тебя в аэропорту. Eduard and Adrian are waiting for you at the airport. |
Японцы сидят на полу*, когда ужинают.
Taken from this post I wrote.
The Japanese sit on the floor when having dinner.
Little by little, we are eliminating the complexities of the case system. Soon you will be a real master of how to decline nouns. And also, with constant practice. 🙂
| Last Edit: 11/15/2025. |
My Slavic Studies 