Nominative and Prepositional Case in Russian 

Almost every non-native Russian learner claims that one of the hardest things in the Russian language is cases. In most sentences, you need to modify the inflection of the nouns, adjectives, and pronouns to make sure that people fully understand you.

Let’s get to know two of the simplest cases in Russian: Nominative (Именительный) and Prepositional (Предложный).

Nominative Case in Russian

The nominative case is the initial form of the nouns and their modifiers in the Russian language. We use the nominative case to highlight the subject of the sentence. Words in the nominative case answer such questions as Who…? What…? 

When you look up a Russian word in the dictionary, it always appears in the nominative case, and you don’t have to change any inflections. So, having the nouns straight from the dictionary, you can make some simple sentences with the subject (noun or pronoun) and the predicate (represented by the verb or other nouns).

 Let’s look at the examples below:

Sometimes we use the nominative case to express the subject and the predicate at the same time. Look, all the nouns in the sentences below are in the nominative case:

So, using the nominative case we can introduce ours or anyone else’s career.

Prepositional case in Russian

Now we know how to build a sentence using the nominative case. Let’s learn how to say about the place or the location where the action is happening. This is what the prepositional case serves.

We use the prepositional case to express the object or adjuncts of time or place in the sentence. We answer such questions as Where…? When…? and sometimes Who? or What? with the nouns or pronouns in the prepositional case.

When to use the prepositional case:

1) To talk about the place where the action is happening:

2) To talk about the time when action is happening:

3) To talk about the object or the person being discussed or thought about.

However, using the prepositional case, we should modify the inflections of the words. See the difference in the examples below:

Examples

Rules to remember

The rules of changing the inflections work according to the declensions of the nouns:

1) The first declension is used for feminine nouns and some masculine nouns ending with -а/-я.

Masculine nouns: папа, дядя
Feminine nouns: доска, улица

To make the prepositional case from a noun of the first declension, we should change -а into -е.

Note that some feminine words of the first declension end with -ия.

лекция, история

2) The second declension is used for neuter nouns and most masculine that do not end with -а/-я.

Neuter nouns: солнце, место
Masculine nouns: стол_, конь

To make the prepositional case from a noun of the second declension, we should change the inflection into -е.  

Note that some neural words of the second declension end with -ие or -ое:

здание, животное

3) The third declension is used for feminine nouns ending with -ь.

Feminine nouns: новость, дверь.

This time we need to change the inflection -ь into -и. 

Seems like we’re missing something… Plural nouns, sure! What should we do to them? The key lies in the declensions, again. Let’s take a deeper look at this.

1) The first declension plural nouns normally end with -ы or -и. The example below shows it:

Masculine nouns: папы, дяди
Feminine nouns: доски, улицы

In case of those feminine words ending with -ия, their plural form ends with -ии:

лекции, истории

2) Plural nouns of the second declension end with -и or -ы in case of masculine nouns and -а or -я in case of neutral nouns. Look:

Neuter nouns: солнца, места

Masculine nouns: столы, кони

To make the prepositional case from a noun of the second declension, we should change their inflection into -ах or -ях.

Some neural words of the second declension ending with -ие or -oe do not have a plural form: зрение, оружие, жжение. So, we only use them in the singular form and apply rule 2 of the previous section. In other situations, such nouns as

здание and животное 

have their plural form as 

лезвия and животные,

3) Plural nouns of the third declension have the inflection -и. See:

Feminine nouns: новости, двери.

To make the prepositional case we to change the inflection into -ях as in the example below:

Note: Some nouns have the plural form only, such as ножницы, деньги, etc. To put them in the prepositional case, we need to change their inflection (usually -и, -ы) into -ах, -ях just like in second or third declension.

To improve your knowledge, we suggest you produce several sentences in Russian about yourself. The patterns below will help you:

Я ________. (I am a _______.) hint: учитель, продавец, летчик

Я живу в _______. (I live in _______.) hint: Москва, Лондон, Франция, квартира, дом

Мой день рождения в _______. (My birthday is in ________.) hint: сентябрь, май, август

Я мечтаю о _______. (I dream of ______.)  hint: машина, дом, слава, деньги

Note: look up the proper word or the name of the country in the dictionary and put it into the correct case: nominative or prepositional.

Good job!