There is no doubt about it: Russian loves its case system, and with the whole language choosing to make sense using a case system rather than word order, it’s not going anywhere any time soon. Today, we’re going to take a good look at one of the most important components of this system: the Russian genitive case.
Do you want to know how to form the Russian genitive and when to use it?
Well, buckle up, because we are going to go on an adventure together.
General Rules for the Russian Genitive
The Simple Parts of the Russian Genitive:
In its most simplified sense, the Russian genitive gives us the idea of something coming from something else.
This includes:
Possession
- собака отца – father’s dog
- отец собаки – the dog’s father
The word in bold is the person that owns the other object.
Authorship
- стихи А.С. Пушкина – the poems of Pushkin
The poems were written by Pushkin, therefore they are of Pushkin.
General ‘of’
- тяготы повседневной жизни – the tribulations of everyday life
- министерство сельского хозяйства – the Department of Agriculture
Quantity
When talking about quantity, we use the following indefinite numerals followed by the genitive:
- много/много детей –a lot of / not many children
- мало/немало хлеба – a little / quite a lot of bread
- несколько лет – a few years
- достаточно/недостаточно денег – enough / not enough money
- сколько рублей? – how many rubles?
We also use the genitive with the verb хватать/хватить – to be enough:
- хватит времени – there will be enough time
Prepositions Taking the Genitive
The genitive is also used after a series of prepositions:
| у | next to, by (also used in the construction у меня, у тебя…) | у стола
У меня есть сестра. |
next to the table
I have a sister. |
| для | for | Тут для неё подарок. | Here is a present for her. |
| из | of, from | Она из Англии.
Мой пиджак сделан из кожи. |
She is from England.
My jacket is made of leather. |
| от | from | Когда вы в последний раз получили письмо от него? | When did you last receive a letter from him? |
| без | without | Пожалуйста, перепишите это письмо без единой ошибки. | Please copy out this letter without any mistakes. |
| до | until, up to, to | У него была борода до пояса. | His beard reached his waist. |
Verbs Taking the Genitive
Still with us? Good. There are also some verbs which tend to take the genitive. Unfortunately, like all the best parts of the Russian language, you will have to memorise them. Here are a couple for you:
| добиваться / добиться | to achieve, to obtain | Мы добились успеха благодаря его помощи. | We succeeded (achieved success) thanks to his help. |
| желать / пожелать | to desire, to wish | Я желаю вам самого большого счастья! | I wish you all the best! |
| заслуживать | to deserve | Он вполне заслуживает наказания. | He fully deserves punishment. |
Got that? Excellent. Let’s move on, shall we?
The Slightly More Tricky Parts of the Russian Genitive:
Numerals:
Ah yes, numerals! The Russian genitive case loves numerals. So much so that the genitive case decides to have a little party and go absolutely bonkers depending on what number we use.
A very watered down explanation is this:
- 1 – takes the nominative singular.
- 2, 3, 4 – takes the genitive singular (any number that ends in 2, 3, or 4 also takes the genitive singular).
- Anything other than 1, 2, 3, or 4 takes the genitive plural.
So it goes like this:
- 1 кот – 1 cat
- 3 кота – 3 cats
- 56 котов – 56 cats
- 56982 кота – 56982 cats (because it ends with a 2)
Right, let’s move onto the next sneaky beast…
The Partitive Genitive:
If you guessed that this might have something to do with parts of something, then you would be correct.
The partitive genitive in Russian is used when we talk about having part of something. When we talk about eating bread, we (usually) don’t mean we eat the entire loaf of bread. Russian also has to make this distinction, and so puts the object into the genitive.
Он съел хлеба. – He ate some bread.
Он съел хлеб.– He ate all the bread.
Он выпил водки. – He drank some vodka.
Он выпил водку. – He drank all the vodka.
However, Russian doesn’t like us to keep us too comfortable, so some of these partitive genitives have different forms than their normal run-of-the-mill genitives. These genitive forms are used with verbs, receptacles and indefinite numerals.
| Nominative | Genitive singular (normal) | Partitive genitive | Translation |
| лук | лука | луку | onion |
| сахар | сахара | сахару | sugar |
| чай | чая | чаю | tea |
| суп | супа | супу | soup |
| табак | табака | табаку | tobacco |
This happens largely with masculine nouns ending in consonants. Have fun with that!
How to Form the Genitive in Russian?
Well, you’ve got this far, I guess we should probably learn how to actually form the Russian genitive, shouldn’t we?
We will start with masculine nouns:
| Nominative | Genitive singular | Genitive plural | Translation |
| стол | стола | столов | a table |
| звонок | звонка | звонков | a bell |
| отец | отца | отцов | a father |
| иностранец | иностранца | иностранцев | a foreigner |
| нож | ножа | ножей | a knife |
| англичанин | англичанина | англичан | an Englishman |
| котёнок | котёнка | котят | a kitten |
| спектакль | спектакля | спектаклей | a play |
Let’s have a closer look at this.
Стол is a hard-ending noun, therefore for genitive singular you add on -а, and for genitive plural you add on –ев.
Звонок is a noun which ends in –ок, therefore the little о disappears between the н and the к for the genitive. This happens as a general rule with -ок, -ек and -ёк nouns.
Отец is a noun which has an end stress. Notice how that little e between т and ц disappears as well! Because this is an end stress noun, we have отцов in the genitive plural.
However, иностранец is a stem-stress noun. The е still disappears, but because you can’t have an unstressed о after a ц in the Russian language, we have иностранцев.
Because нож ends in a ж, our genitive plural ends in a -ей. This happens for all nouns that end in -ж, -ч, -ш, and -щ.
Англичанин, and any Russian noun that ends in -анин or -янин follows the same pattern for genitive singular, but loses its final -ин in genitive plural.
Котёнок, being part of the -ок band of nouns, drops its –o in the genitive singular. However, it goes one step further and morphs into котят for the genitive plural. Anything ending in -ёнок or -онок (mostly the young of animals) follows this pattern.
Спектакль, being a masculine noun ending in -ь, ends in –ей in the genitive.
Of course, we also have some lovely Russian exceptions for you to learn as well!
| Nominative | Genitive singular | Genitive plural | Translation |
| брат | брата | братьев | a brother |
| лист | листа | листьев | a leaf |
| стул | стула | стульев | a chair |
| муж | мужа | мужей | a husband |
| сын | сына | сыновей | a son |
| друг | друга | друзей | a friend |
Next onto our neuter nouns in the genitive:
| Nominative | Genitive singular | Genitive plural | Translation |
| место | места | мест | a place |
| море | моря | морей | sea |
| поколение | поколения | поколений | a generation |
| время | времени | времён | time |
Место, and other -о ending neuter nouns follow the same pattern: subtract the -о and replace it with an -а for the genitive singular, and leave the end with nothing for the genitive plural.
The море pattern gives us the formula for a -е ending. Replace the -е with a -я for the genitive singular, and replace it with -ей for the genitive plural.
Поколение replaces the -е with -я in genitive singular, and in the genitive plural, it is replaced with -й.
Время, like all Russian neuter nouns ending in -мя, loses its final -я and replaces it with -ени for the genitive singular, and then for the genitive plural, replaces it with -ён, with the е morphing into a ё.
There are, naturally, a few exceptions:
| Nominative | Genitive singular | Genitive plural | Translation |
| дерево | дерева | деревьев | a tree |
| крыло | крыла | крыльев | a wing |
| перо | пера | перьев | a feather, a pen |
| колено | колена | коленей | a knee |
| плечо | плеча | плеч | a shoulder |
| ухо | уха | ушей | an ear |
| яблоко | яблока | яблок | an apple |
As an interesting side note, the Russian genitive plural of лето (summer) is the same as the genitive plural of the word for a year: 8 лет назад = 8 years ago. You can sort of see why.
Finally, feminine nouns:
| Nominative | Genitive singular | Genitive plural | Translation |
| панда | панды | панд | a panda |
| жена | жены | жён | a wife |
| девушка | девушки | девушек | a girl |
| книга | книги | книг | a book |
| земля | земли | земель | earth |
| статья | статьи | статей | an article |
| станция | станции | станций | a station |
| стая | стаи | стай | a flock, a pack, a shoal |
| кровать | кровати | кроватей | a bed |
The Russian genitive of feminine nouns is fairly straightforward, although following the spelling rules in Russian, all of the feminine nouns end in either -ы or -и in the genitive singular.
With words which end in -а, like панда, the -а changes to a -ы for genitive singular and disappears completely for genitive plural.
Девушка, being part of the Russian spelling rule (where ы can not follow a к) changes its genitive singular ending to an -и, and as it cannot have a шк together with no vowel, slips an –е- in between the ш and к.
Similarly книга, following the spelling rule of no ы after г, ends with a -и in the genitive singular and rids itself of the ending altogether in the genitive plural.
Земля, ending in a soft sound, ends in a -и with the genitive singular and replaces it with a soft sign (ь) in the genitive plural. Of course, because земль would sound awkward, it sneaks in a little -е- between its м and л.
Статья, and other nouns which end in -ья, replace their ending with –ей, whereas станция and other nouns which end in -ия replace their endings in the genitive plural with -ий. Стая (-я) and кровать (-ь) follow similar patterns.
Russian Genitive and Other Parts of Speech
Well of course, you’re all clued-up on nouns, but how about forming the Russian genitive for other elements of speech? Well, you’ll be glad to know that pronouns are a lot easier, as are adjectives. We’ll run through these quickly.
Adjectives
Russian adjectives in the genitive are incredibly simple. Firstly, masculine and neuter nouns end replace their respective -ый/-ой/-ий and -ое/-ее endings with -ого/-его depending on whether they’re hard-ending or soft-ending adjectives. Feminine adjectives in the genitive end with -ой/-ей, and plurals, you’ll be glad to hear, end with -ых/-их across the board, with no deviation in gender.
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | Translation | |
| Nominative | красивый | красивое | красивая | красивые | beautiful / handsome |
| Genitive | красивого | красивого | красивой | красивых |
| Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | Translation | |
| Nominative | синий | синее | синяя | синие | blue |
| Genitive | синего | синего | синей | синих |
Pronouns
The genitive declension of Russian pronouns is straightforward, and after having gone through them a few times, they should stick in your mind very easily.
Personal Pronouns
| Singular | Plural | ||||
| Nominative | Genitive | Translation | Nominative | Genitive | Translation |
| я | меня | I | мы | нас | we |
| ты | тебя | you | вы | вас | you |
| он | его | he | они | их | they |
| она | её | she | |||
| оно | его | it | |||
Demonstrative Pronouns
| Nominative | Genitive | Translation |
| этот | этого | this (masc.) |
| эта | этой | this (fem.) |
| это | этого | this (neut.) |
| тот | того | that (masc.) |
| та | той | that (fem.) |
| то | того | that (neut.) |
Possessive Pronouns
| Nominative | Genitive | Translation |
| мой | моего | my (masc.) |
| моя | моей | my (fem.) |
| мое | моего | my (neut.) |
| мои | моих | my (pl.) |
| наш | нашего | our (masc.) |
| наша | нашей | our (fem.) |
| наше | нашего | our (neut.) |
| наши | наших | our (pl.) |
Твой (your, singular) declines in the same way as мой, and ваш (your, plural) declines in the same way as наш.
Его, её and их are indeclinable and invariable.
Interrogative and relative pronouns
| Nominative | Genitive | Translation |
| кто | кого | who |
| что | чего | what |
| какой/какая/какое/какие | какого/какой/какого/каких | what kind |
| который/которая/которое/которые | которого/которой/которого/которых | who |
| чей/чья/чьё/чьи | чьего/чьей/чьего/чьих | whose |
As you can see above, the pronouns decline very similarly to adjectives, and so they are a very easy formula to follow.
So, that brings us to the end of our genitive guide! I hope you have as much fun using the Russian genitive with ease as I do, because you will seriously impress those Russians when you demonstrate your excellent grammar!
Just remember, that nothing comes overnight, and Russians themselves slip up in their grammar, all it takes is practise, practise, practise!
Удачи!
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This article is very helpful.