Grammar: The genitive case of nouns

Masculine and neuter nouns end in -А and -Я in the genitive case. Feminine nouns take the endings -Ы and -И. When declining a noun, all you have to do is take the nominative noun, remove the last letter and add a new ending. This table will show you how to do this.

Nominative
Remove
Add
Genitive case
masculine
автобус
трамвай
водитель

-
й
ь





автобуса
трамвая
водителя
neuter
письмо
море

о
е




письма
моря
feminine
машина
Таня
тетрадь

а
я
ь





машины
Тани
Тетради

When studying the formation of the Russian genitive case in the table above, note that:

• If a nominative masculine noun ends in a consonant the genitive case is formed by adding -A.
• If a neuter nouns ending in -O, the genitive is formed by changing -O to -A.
• If a masculine or a feminine noun ends in –A, the genitive is formed by changing -A to -Ы.
• The ending -И is used with feminine nouns ending in -Я and -Ь.
• The ending -Я is used with masculine nouns ending in -Й or -Ь, and with neuter nouns ending in -Е.

Remember that genitive feminine nouns get the ending -И after the letters K and Г. Here are some examples.

У меня нет ручКи.             I don't have a pen. (literally: At me no pen.)
У меня нет собаКи. I don't have a dog.
У меня нет книГи. I don't have a book.

Usage of the genitive case

Now that you familiarized yourself with the endings, it will be easier to understand how it is used. As you know, the genitive case indicates possession and relation. But if you listen to the dialogs carefully you’ll find out that it’s also used:

1. With the prepositions ДО, ОКОЛО, ОТ, С, СЛЕВА, СПРАВА ОТ, У, НЕДАЛЕКО ОТ.

  Дом находится СПРАВА ОТ остановки.
  The house is located to the right of the bus stop.

  Остановка находится НЕДАЛЕКО ОТ дома.
  The bus stop is located not far from the house.

2. After the verbs ДОЕХАТЬ ДО, ДОБРАТЬСЯ ДО, ДОЙТИ ДО, ЕСТЬ, НЕТ

  Как ДОЕХАТЬ ДО аэропотра?
  How do I get (by car) to the airport?

  Как ДОЕХАТЬ ДО библиотеки?
  How do I get to the library?

3. After the numeral TWO in the masculine, neuter (ДВА) and feminine (ДВЕ) forms.

  Два часа.
  Two hours.

  Две остановки.
  Two stops.

Mini Quiz
Form the genitive case of the nouns.

Example: автобус – автобуса, машина – машины

1. квартал
2. троллейбус
3. трамвай
4. остановка
5. пересадка
6. номер
7. аэропорт
8. час
9. главпочтамп
10. билет
11. центр
12. ресторан
13. магазин
14. машина

More related sites about the Russian genitive case: The Genitive Case Prepositions




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