Genitive basics: negation, possession, quantity
Can form the genitive singular and use it for possession, absence with нет, quantity and after prepositions such as из, у, без and для
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
У меня́ нет маши́ны.
I don't have a car.
Это кни́га учи́теля.
This is the teacher's book.
Мно́го воды́.
A lot of water.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
The genitive answers Кого́? Чего́? ("of whom? of what?"). It is one of the hardest-working cases in Russian. English covers its jobs with "of", "'s", "no" and "some", so there is a lot to unlearn.
| Gender | Nominative | Genitive | Ending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | стол, музе́й | стола́, музе́я | -а / -я |
| Neuter | окно́, мо́ре | окна́, мо́ря | -а / -я |
| Feminine | ма́ма, неде́ля | ма́мы, неде́ли | -ы / -и |
| Feminine in -ь | пло́щадь | пло́щади | -и |
After г, к, х, ж, ш, ч, щ the spelling rule turns -ы into -и: кни́га → кни́ги, ру́чка → ру́чки.
English speakers keep the nominative after нет (*нет биле́т) and put the owner first (А́нны брат is not wrong, but it sounds marked or poetic; the neutral order is брат А́нны). Note that some nouns borrowed from other languages do not decline at all: метро́, ко́фе, такси́. Нет такси́ is correct as it is.
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises
Practice ExercisesУ меня́ нет маши́ны.
I don't have a car.
нет takes the genitive: маши́на becomes маши́ны.
Это кни́га учи́теля.
This is the teacher's book.
кни́га учи́теля: the owner follows the thing owned and goes in the genitive, "the book of the teacher".
Мно́го воды́.
A lot of water.
мно́го takes the genitive: вода́ becomes воды́, with the stress moving to the ending.
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Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A1 course exercises