| nom. | gen. | dat. | acc. | inst. | prep. |
| The genitive, родительный падеж, is the second of the six Russian cases. It answers the following questions: кого? and чего? |
| It serves the purpose of indicating possession in a sentence. |
That being said, the genitive case in Russian is a very hard-working case – it serves many additional functions!
The genitive case is used:
| to express possession. |
| In this instance it can answer the question чей? [whose?] |
| Чья это книга? Whose book is this? | Это книга Глеба. This is Gleb’s book. |
| Чьи это тетради? Whose workbooks are these? | Это тетради детей. These are the children’s workbooks. |
| Чей это дневник? Whose diary is this? | Это дневник Элены. This is Elena’s diary. |
| to translate of [in most general contexts] |
| Я стою в центре поля подсолнухов. I’m standing in the middle of a sunflower field. [lit: a field of sunflowers]. |
| Последняя буква русского алфавита – я. The last letter of the Russian alphabet is я. |
| Первый месяц года – январь. The first month of the year is January. |
| to indicate non-existence. [utilizing negatives] |
| В комнате нет кровати. There’s no bed in the room. There isn’t a bed in the room. |
| У меня нет времени. I have no time. I don’t have time. |
| Его не было дома. He wasn’t at home. |
| with numbers after 1 |
| Я читал книгу два раза. I read the book two times. |
| Через пять недель всё будет готово. In five weeks, everything will be ready. |
| Я покупаю четыре апельсина. I’m buying four oranges. |
| -numbers 2-4 require the genitive singular -numbers 5+ require the genitive plural |
| with quantifying words, such as: немного [not much, not a lot], много [much, many, a lot], несколько [some, several], мало [little], etc. |
| Сегодня у меня много работы. I have a lot of work today. |
| В очереди стояло несколько иностранцев. There were a couple foreigners in line. |
| Возьми с собой немного денег. Take some money with you. |
| with negated verbs of perception [to hear, to see, to know, etc.] |
| Я не знаю русского языка. I don’t know Russian. |
| Мы не понимаем вашей речи. We don’t understand your speech. |
| Они не слышат звуков. They don’t hear sounds. |
| with the majority of prepositions: после [after], без [without], от [from -usually a person-], из [from -usually a place-], с [since], вместо [instead of], для [for], против [against], etc. |
| Я сделал уборку вместо тебя. I did the cleaning instead of you. |
| Магазин отркыт с 9 [девяти] до 6 [шести] часов. The store is open from 9 AM to 6 PM. |
| Я получил письмо от бабушки. I got a letter from my grandma. |
| to learn the declension of numbers 2-4, click here. |
| expressing on with a date [via an ordinal number] |
| Гости прилетают восьмого марта. The guests will be arriving [by plane] on the eighth of March. |
| Где вы были шестого прошлого месяца? Where were you on the sixth of last month? |
Wow! This case has heavy usage!
Be on the lookout for quizzes. I know, I’ve been lazy to make them for you.
That being said, they will be published at some point.
My Slavic Studies 