Russian Cases Explained (SIMPLE)!

This is a cat. I don't have a cat. I'm feeding the cat. Here, I'm petting the cat. I am playing with a cat. I am thinking about a cat. Hi, friends! And welcome to Start Russian! And in this video, I would like to give you an overview of the Russian case system. So if you're just starting to learn Russian, or maybe you've already begun, and you start noticing all those ending changes in nouns and adjectives and some other parts of speech, and you're having trouble understanding what causes them, or perhaps you've already read up on cases and heard all those names, you know, nominative, genitive, And you're really not sure what to make of it—this video is for you. What I'm doing is I'm taking a very simple word cat, which in Russian is кошка. and I'm using it in several different scenarios or examples, which would trigger different cases in Russian and I'm comparing it to English. And, spoiler alert, you'll see that in English the word cat doesn't change in any of those scenarios. because, once again, English does not inherently have grammatical cases, So the word "cat" is not changed by case or is not declined; what is the proper grammatical term for this? Whereas in Russian you'll see it taking various case endings, right? And once again, this is merely to illustrate, pun intended, in which case each of those endings would apply and for what reason, and what the case would be called. And special thanks go to my cat Pie, by the way—rest assured that she was not harmed in the making of this video. And, in fact, she was rewarded with some extra treats and extra petting. And, as you may know, Russian has six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional. and we will examine them on a case-by-case basis, pun intended, So you can see how each case is used and under what circumstances. So, let's look at our first example. In this example, our noun кошка is used in the nominative case. So, the nominative case is basically your starting point when it comes to cases. This is the original base form, the dictionary form of nouns. So, whenever you learn a noun, ideally, or an adjective, or any other part of speech that changes according to case, if you look it up in a dictionary, or if you just want to make a flashcard with it You're not using it in any specific context, It is in the nominative case, so in its original or base form. So, many times you will hear the nominative case used in this exact example. This is a whatever, this is a house, this is a car, this is a cat. This is a cat. So, "кошка" is in the nominative case and does not have any additional endings. So, basically, you know, when you talk about the six cases in Russian, You can essentially eliminate the nominative case, as there isn't much to learn about it. This is the case in which all nouns, adjectives, and pronouns originally appear. And this is the case that doesn't actually require any explanations or memorization or anything else. So, that's the starting point. Okay, so far, so good. One down, five more to go. Let's look at our next example. And in this example, the word "кошка" is used in the genitive case, which is "кошки". Essentially, each Russian case has a meaning, or rather even several meanings. So, whenever you see a noun being used in that meaning or serving that function in a sentence, It automatically means that you must put it in the corresponding case. And when you're putting a noun in a certain case, you do so by applying a certain ending to that noun. So, essentially, each case, apart from its meanings, also has a set of endings that you apply. Whenever you put a noun or an adjective in that case. So, essentially, when you learn a case, you need to learn two things. First, when would you actually use that case, right? So, when would you put your noun or your adjective in that case? What meaning or meanings does that case have? And secondly, you must learn the form of that case, right? So, what form does the noun or the adjective take when you actually want to put it in that case? So, in other words, what ending do you apply to that noun, adjective, or whatever part of speech you're declining? And this is precisely what makes Russian grammar so complex. And that's exactly what causes all those crazy ending changes, right? For example, if your first language is English or any other language that does not have grammatical cases, You learn a noun in Russian or an adjective and you kind of expect it to just stay the same, right? Somewhat like in English. If you look at our examples, the word cat remains unchanged no matter how you use it. But unfortunately, in Russian, it's not the case, pun intended. So, regarding this example, I don't have a cat. I don't have a cat. Why are we putting the word "кошка" in the genitive case, right? So, let's look at the two aspects of a case, right? Just as I told you a few seconds ago. First, you must memorize exactly when each case is actually applied or triggered. And secondly, you must know what ending a noun takes when you put it in that case. And actually, one of the meanings of the genitive case in Russian, and it's actually very common, is the lack or absence of something. And I know this sounds pretty random, right? So, we use the genitive case whenever we express lack or absence of something. So, essentially, whenever we say there's nothing or I don't have anything, right? That triggers the genitive case. Yes, guys, this is how it works in Russian. And, for example, to me, I am a native Russian speaker. So, until I actually started making sense of my own grammar, right, I didn't even realize that. Of course, I grew up speaking it. And whenever I want to say I don't have a cat, I automatically say "I don't have a cat." I automatically put the word "cat" in the genitive case. I don't think about it. But unfortunately, you know, in your case, if you're learning Russian as an adult, as a second language or as a foreign language, right, You're basically going from grammar rules, right, to examples, right? And, essentially, it's as simple as that, right? Whenever you use your noun in a function or in the sense of absence or lack of something, Essentially, you're saying there is no cat, or I don't have a cat, I have no cat. Or any other noun, you know, I don't have a house, I don't have money, I don't have whatever, right? Automatically, you must put that noun in the genitive case. And the second aspect of a case is the actual form, right? So, what form do you put the noun "кошка" in this case to put it in the genitive case? And I can just tell you, right, I can just tell you that the genitive case, The genitive case of the noun кошка is кошки. And again, it doesn't mean that all nouns in Russian, when you put them in the genitive case, You're going to change their ending to И, like in this case, right? Because it depends on gender, it depends on number—whether it's plural or singular. So, "cat" is specifically a feminine noun. So, if you have another feminine noun, for example, машина, yeah, it's going to be the same, right? I don't have a car, you would say "у меня нет машины." Or I don't have a dog, I don't have a dog. Alright, that was the genitive case. Let's examine our next case and our next example. I'm feeding the cat. For us. In this sentence, I'm giving the cat food, right? We have two objects. Food, which is a direct object, because, you know, this is the object that we directly act upon. So, we give it to the cat, right? So, we carry out a direct action upon that object. And the cat is the indirect object, because technically we are not doing anything directly to the cat. but rather we're indirectly, well, influencing it through our actions, right? So, in grammar, it's called an indirect object in this example. And the case that is triggered or applied in the indirect object scenario is the dative. And a feminine singular noun "кошка" in Russian, in the dative case, takes the ending -е, right? So, "кошка" becomes "кошке". And again, it will not be the same for a masculine noun, for example, or a neuter noun or a plural noun. But if you take another similar feminine ending, for example, собака, And if you're giving something to the dog, right, it would be exactly the same, right? The noun собака would change to собаке. So, this is the dative case. All right, moving forward. And our next example is And in this example, our noun "кошка" is used in the accusative case. So, once again, let's examine the meaning or the reason why we're putting it in the accusative case. and the ending that we apply in order to put it in the accusative case. So, the most common meaning of the accusative case in Russian is the direct object, right? And just a few seconds ago, we were looking at the dative case, And we established that the dative case is used with indirect objects, right? But in this sentence, the word кошка is, well, кошку, right, is the direct object. Why? Because we're doing something directly to it, right? We're petting it, right? So, in this example, the word "кошку" is the direct object. And that is why we use the accusative case. And as far as the form of the accusative case is concerned, Again, we have a singular feminine noun "кошка." And in Russian grammar, the rule is that feminine nouns, Feminine singular nouns in the accusative case take the ending -У. So, the noun кошка becomes кошку. Alright, moving forward, and our next example is In this example, the word "кошка" is used in the instrumental case. which in Russian is кошкой. And as always, let's look at the reason why we're putting our noun in the instrumental case. And what ending are we applying to put it in the instrumental case? So, the meaning of the instrumental case in Russian is fairly easy. Essentially, you use it anytime you use your noun after the preposition with. which in Russian is с. If we delve a little deeper into why we use the instrumental case after the preposition with, The reason for it is, as you can see from the name, the instrumental case, right? It comes from the instrument. So, using something as an instrument or a tool. And, as you know from English, for example, whenever you use your noun as an instrument or a tool, You also use the preposition with, right? For example, I don't know, I eat with a spoon, right? Or I brush my teeth with a toothbrush. Or I write with a pen, right? So, whenever you carry out all those actions with a specific tool, You use the preposition with. So, this is the original meaning or the original use of the instrumental case in Russian. But it's kind of extended to the point where you use it pretty much anytime you have the preposition with. Even when you're not using something as a tool, right? So, in this example, I just say, I play with a cat or I'm playing with a cat. So, obviously, I'm not using the cat as a tool. But simply because I'm using the preposition with, which in Russian is again с that automatically triggers, triggers the instrumental case. And what ending must we apply to the feminine noun кошка to put it in the instrumental case? It's the ending Oi, right? So, the noun кошка becomes кошкой. The same would happen to another feminine noun in Russian. For example, again, dog. If I were to play with a dog, I would have to say, I am playing with a dog. All right, we only have one more case to examine. So, let's first look at our example. And in this example, the word "кошка" is used in the prepositional case, which in Russian is "кошке". And you may notice the ending for the prepositional case of the word кошка is exactly the same as it was for the dative case. There's no good reason for it. There is no similarity in meaning or connection. It's just a coincidence, you could say. It's simply because there are only so many vowels in the Russian language. So, some of them are bound to be repeated. So, once again, there is no connection between the dative and the prepositional. It just happens to have the same ending, which may be a good thing or a bad thing. I guess it's somewhat of a good thing you have fewer endings to memorize. But the downside is that it might be confusing for you. Perhaps you wish each case had a different ending, but in these two, they happen to be the same. Anyway, the prepositional case form of the word кошка is also кошке. And now, most importantly, why did we put the word кошка in the prepositional case in this example? And in this example, the reason is actually very simple. Whenever you use a preposition in Russian that means "about." So, when you say that you're thinking about something, or you're talking about something, or you heard about something. So, whenever you have a noun following that preposition or, you must apply the prepositional case. So yes, guys, sometimes it may not even be about the specific meaning of a case. It could be something as simple as a preposition. So, certain prepositions trigger certain cases. For example, the phrase "with pretty much always" triggers the instrumental case. And then about, which is again, or in Russian, pretty much always triggers the prepositional case, right? The prepositional case in Russian actually has a meaning, but we're not going to talk about it in this video, because it was somewhat difficult to incorporate it into the context with the cat. So, we'll just go with this preposition, the prepositional meaning of the prepositional case. So, again, if we take a similar noun, the feminine noun собака, It would have the exact same ending. It would become "собаке" in the prepositional case. And if we were to think about a dog or talk about a dog or read about a dog, It will also be about a dog. Alright, guys, I hope this video was helpful. If so, make sure to hit the like button. Be sure to subscribe to my channel Start Russian. If you have any questions, please post them in the comment section below. I hope to see you in my next videos. Thank you. I'll see you next time. Bye-bye.