| Author |
Message |
5-Zvezda
Guest
|
 Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 9:33 am Post subject: здравствуйте! A Case study . . . |
 |
|
здравствуйте!
The 'Cases' . . .
The concept of the 'cases' is new to many people who are just beginning to learn Russian. I've read about the definitions of the six cases - Gentitive, Instrumental, Dative, Accusative, Nominative and Prepositional (or Locative). The definitions are understandable, but can anyone provide visual and/or descriptive examples - for each case to help demonstrate the meaning of each one? If folks with Russian fluency could give their knowledge on the characteristics of the cases - that would be great. Memorizing the case-endings is one major task new students will have to face, but can anyone can think of another method to explain the 'Cases' to help further clarify the meanings of them?
Definition:
The Prepositional (or Locative) case indicates location, but it is also used when speaking about something or someone. the prepositions most frequently used with this case are в (in), на (on), о (about), and при (in the presence of).
Example situation:
Give yours below . . .
_____________________________________________ |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Mei-Nu
Frequent Guest
Joined: 15 Feb 2005
Posts: 42
|
| Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 12:40 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I`ll give it a try.
First a remark: I think Russian has cases because the word order is not fixed, so if it hadn`t cases it would be impossible to know what`s the object, direct object, etc.
Nominative:
Words are put in the nominative when they have the function of 1.subject or 2. predicate(?) in the sentence.
1. например: собака кушает. (the dog is eating) dog is subject so `собака`.
2. например: я преподаватель. (I am a teacher). teacher is predicate (?) and there is no verb in the sentence, so преподаватель has to be in the nominative.
whenever you learn new words, those words are in the nominative, so that not really difficult.
Accusative
Words are put in the accusative when they have the function of direct object in the sentence.
например: собака кушает кошку. (the dog is eating a cat). `кошку` is the accusative of `кошка`.
5-Zvezda, is this the kind of information you`re looking for. if so, I will continue with the other cases another time...  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
5_Zvehzda
Just Starting
Joined: 30 Mar 2010
Posts: 1
|
| Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 7:09 pm Post subject: Cases |
|
|
Mei Nu,
Thanks for the response. It was informative, and yes, these were the type of examples I was looking for to give me a better idea. I'll keep working at this!  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Guest
|
| Posted: Fri May 13, 2005 8:51 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Mei Nu,
That was very helpful...carry on! I always have had a hard time with those....
mountaingirl |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Mei-Nu
Frequent Guest
Joined: 15 Feb 2005
Posts: 42
|
| Posted: Sat May 14, 2005 10:51 am Post subject: |
|
|
Genitive
1. Words are put in the genitive when they are the person/object something belongs to.
например: друг моей сестры (my sister`s friend). моей сестры is in the genitive, because is is the person to which `друг`belongs.
2. The genitive is also used for words that should actuallly be put in the accusative. Those words are so-called `living things`. For example: `I see my friend`. `my friend` is direct object here, but because it is a `living thing`, you should acyually use the genitive, so it becomes: я вижу своего друга, where своего друга is put in the genitive. if it was put in the accusative the sentence would be: я вижу свой друг., which is very very wrong. Actually it is very logical, because the word order in Russian is not fixed so if we did not have the rule of `putting `living things` in the genitive when they have the object function`, you would not be able to make out which is the subject and direct object in the sentence. not really in this sentence because there is a personal pronoun, but for instance in this sentence: преподаватель видит друга. so друга is genitive, if it was accusative, it would be друг and the sentence would be преподаватель видит друг. (which is wrong wrong)... and you would not be able to make out who is seeing whom: is the teacher seeing the friend or is the friend seeing the teacher....
other cases will follow later on...  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
efm
Just Starting
Joined: 29 Dec 2004
Posts: 6
Location: Indonesia
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 11:19 am Post subject: please add more |
|
|
hello,
please explain the rest of the cases, because sometimes i mixed cases up 
and there is no useful book about russian here in my country.
thank you |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
MrSpice
Lounge Wizard
Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3431
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 6:06 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Since Russian is my first language, I never learned cases from the grammatical point of view. But I think the best way to get a feeling for them is to learn expressions and situations, not remember all the grammaticl rules. I think the same is true about English as well.
Once you know quite a few words and are ready to read books (at least easy books) and nespapers, reading would help you understand how cases are used in context. Watching movies and TV is the next step. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
mister_wizzz
VIP
Joined: 27 May 2004
Posts: 582
|
| Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2005 7:36 pm Post subject: |
|
|
2 Spice
It is the same for all languages, but anyway I think you are right, learning grammatical rules by heart is not the best way except if your aim is teaching Russian language after.
I learnt in my childhood the grammar (the french one) and all those fucking rules but don't remember anymore. Now I "feel it", when I am not sure I wonder : well it does sound well, it should be like this.
One funny thing is the wife of one my friend who is Russian often confirm I am right by telling me the rule |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
tdk2fe
Frequent Guest
Joined: 14 Mar 2005
Posts: 51
Location: St. Louis, USA
|
| Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 8:44 pm Post subject: |
|
|
The only two cases left in RUssian would be the INstrumental and the Dative case. The dative case is best described, I think, by adding 'to' in english to something. For Example:
Мне Кажется : Мне (To Me) Кажется (It Seems) : so we get basically "It seems to me..." where "Мне" here is in the dative case. I guess one source of confusion here would be if you were trying to say "I said to her", where you would write "Я сказал её..." where "её" is in the accusative here. One general trend that i've noticed here is that the dative is used for more personal things, such as feelings, wheras the accusative is used for direct objects (or people) of verbs. It seems confusing at first, but you'll get a feel for it.
As for instrumental, i'm still a little fuzzy on when you actually use it, other than I know that it indicates an object used as an instrument (like writing with a pen). I won't even venture to give examples though, as i'm not terribly familiar with it.
Other people are right, though. You should try to read some basic russian books at first to get a feel for how the cases are used. Also get a grammer book with tables, which can give you a breakdown of each case and how they apply in both the singular and plural to nouns and adjectives (Remember that adjectives must agree with the noun in Case, Number, and Gender!)
One place to start that I thought was pretty helpful is Graded Russian Readers by DC Heath and Company. It starts off with stories by Pushkin and Lermentov, which have been dumbed down for beginners. Then gradually they introduce more complex structures with more robust vocabulary, so you sort of ease your way in without realizing it.
Also, if your interested in conversational stuff, listening to BBC Russian Radio casts helped me with auditory word recognition. At first it just seemed like a bunch of jibberish, but gradually as I learned more vocabulary from reading I could pick out words, and then begin to get a basic Idea of what they were talking about. Anyway, cheers,
tdk2fe |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
bulklodd
Just Starting
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 1
|
| Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2005 10:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Quote: | | i'm not terribly familiar with it. |
Я не очень с этим знакома
The example is in your words I know some english prepositions which can indicate instrumental case. They're 'by', and 'with'. You said 'незнакома с этим', here 'этим' is the instumental case of 'это'.
I name several prepositions which can help you to guess the case:
1. Nominative is used without prepositions. If there's a preposition near a noun then it's not nominative case.
2. Genitive is often used with 'of/from' prepositions. A cup of tea (чашка чая), here 'чая' is the genetive case of 'чай'
3. Accusative - usually a word in accusative case is used without a preposition. I see/hear/feel/hate... something (Я вижу/слышу/чувствую/ненавижу что-то) here 'что-то' is the accusative case of 'что-то'. And significant remark the inanimates in accusative case equal to their forms in nominative case.
4. Dative is often used with 'to' preposition. 'With love from me to you' (С любовью от меня к тебе). Here 'тебе' is the dative case of 'ты'. A case of other nouns you can find above.
5. Prepositional is often used with the following prepositions: 'in', 'on' and 'about'. There's a lamp on the table (Лампа на столе). Here 'столе' is prepositional case of 'стол'.
My explanation is not whole russian grammar but just some hints.[/quote] |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
