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Grammar Lesson 22

Expressing Possession: Genitive Case of Nouns (introduction). Uses and Singular forms. Question Чей? - Whose?




Russian grammar and vocabulary. Unit 6
Grammar Lesson 22
Expressing Possession: Genitive Case of Nouns (introduction). Uses and Singular forms. Question Чей? - Whose?
Grammar Lesson 23
Genitive Case of Adjectives, Possessive and Demonstrative Pronouns
Grammar Lesson 24
Indicating Having And Not Having Something. Genitive Case of Personal Pronouns
Phrasebook Topic 17
Food
Quiz 14
Check what you have learned from Grammar Lessons 22-24 and Phrasebook Topics 17 with this 15 minute quiz.
Grammar Lesson 25
Verbs of Going (introduction). Going by foot vs. going by vehicle. Saying "Let's go!". Asking Where: Где? vs. Куда?
Grammar Lesson 26
Denoting an Indirect Object. Dative Case of Nouns. Uses and forms. Dative Case of Personal Pronouns
Grammar Lesson 27
Dative Case of Adjectives, Possessive and Demonstrative Pronouns
Quiz 15
Check what you have learned from Grammar Lessons 25-27 and Phrasebook Topic 17 with this 15 minute quiz.
Test 6
Check what you have learned from Grammar Lessons 22-27 and Phrasebook Topic 17.

 Грамматика               Expressing Possession. Genitive Case of Nouns. Introduction 

 
1. Answering the Question Чей? - Whose?
  We have already learned how to answer the question чей? (чья?, чьё?, чьи?) - whose? with possessive pronouns. Review the following questions and answers. Click each dialogue to listen, then read it aloud. 

1. - Чей это карандаш?

    - Это его карандаш.

1. - Whose pencil is this?

    - This is his pencil.

2. - Чья это машина?

    - Это его машина.

2. - Whose car is this?

    - This is his car.

3. - Чей это словарь?

    - Это её словарь.

3. - Whose dictionary is this?

    - This is her dictionary.

To say "This is my brother's car", "This is my sister's dictionary" the Genitive Case of nouns and modifiers needs to be learned.
2. Uses of the Genitive Case. Introduction
The Genitive case is used to indicate possession, authorship, inherent connection (e.g. , the whole in relation to a part). It  also corresponds to prepositional phrases beginning with "of". Study the following examples of Genitive case uses. Click each word combination to listen, then say it:
 

- possession, ownership and other English possessives in 's (s'):

 словарь моей сестры

my sister's dictionary.

 машина моего брата

my brother's car.

 

 фамилия студента

 

the student's last name

 Олег - брат Тани

Oleg is Tanya's brother

- authorship:
 

 роман Пушкина

the novel by Pushkin

 рассказы Чехова

short stories by Chekhov

- the whole in relation to a part:
 

 спинка кресла

a chair-back

 берег моря

a sea shore

- prepositional phrases beginning with "of":

 портрет Пушкина

a portrait of Pushkin

 карта России

the map of Russia

 Москва - столица России

Moscow is the capital of Russia

 
Notes
  • The possessor/ owner/ author is in the Genitive case: машина брата, словарь сестры, роман Пушкина.
  • The word in the Genitive case usually follows the noun denoting the thing possessed.
 3. The Genitive Case of Nouns. Formation of Singular Forms
The Genitive case of nouns is formed from the Nominative case. Study the formation of the Genitive Singular:

Hard stem nouns

Nominative -> Prepositional

Soft stem nouns

Nominative -> Prepositional

Masculine 

брат -> брата

музей -> музея

словарь -> словаря

кафетерий -> кафетерия

Feminine 

сестра -> сестры

песня -> песни

 

тедрадь -> тетради

Россия -> России

Neuter 

кресло -> кресла

море -> моря

ружьё -> ружья

 

здание -> здания

Genitive Singular endings:      -а (-я) or -ы (-и) 

 

Notes
  • The Genitive case ending for hard stem masculine and neuter nouns is , soft stem .
  • The Genitive case ending for hard stem feminine nouns is , soft stem .
  • If a feminine noun stem ends in a letter mentioned in the 7-letter spelling rule (к, г, х, ж, ш, ч, щ), the Genitive case ending is и: Наташа -> Наташи.
  •  When you form the Genitive case, drop the last letter (а, я, о, е, ё, й, ь) and add the appropriate Genitive case ending: музей -> музея, кресло -> кресла, сестра -> сестры; тетрадь -> тетради, Россия -> России, etc
  • Since hard stem masculine nouns (the nouns that end in a consonant other than -й) have zero ending, you simply add the Genitive case ending: брат -> брата.
  • Masculine nouns with () at the end (папа, дядя) take the feminine endings -ы (-и) in the Genitive case. Compare: машина моего папы (my father's car), машина моего дяди (my uncle's car). Pay attention that such nouns have masculine modifiers (моего). Genitive singular forms of modifiers will be presented in the next lesson.
 
Exercises  Упражнения
Form the Genitive singular of nouns
Translation

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