Russian grammar
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Russian grammar encompasses:
- a highly synthetic morphology
- a syntax that, for the literary language, is the conscious fusion of three elements:
- a Church Slavonic inheritance;
- a Western European style;
- a polished vernacular foundation.
The Russian language has preserved an Indo-European synthetic-inflexional structure, although considerable levelling has taken place.
The spoken language has been influenced by the literary, but continues to preserve characteristic forms. The dialects show various non-standard grammatical features, some of which are archaisms or descendants of old forms since discarded by the literary language.
NOTE 1. For an introductory overview, please see the discussion in the Russian language article.
NOTE 2. In the discussion below, various terms are used in the meaning they have in the standard Russian discussions of historical grammar. In particular, aorist, imperfect, etc. are considered verbal tenses rather than aspects, because ancient examples of them are attested for both perfective and imperfective verbs.
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Morphology
Nominal
Nouns
Nominal declension is subject to six cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and locative or prepositional), in two numbers (singular and plural), and obeying absolutely grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter). A vocative form is preserved for words and names of religious import, as Боже/boZE/ "God", etc. The adjectives, pronouns, and the first two cardinal numbers further vary by gender. Old Russian also had a third number, the dual, but except for its use in the nominative and accusative cases with the numbers two, three and four, eg. (два стула/dva stula/, "two chairs", recategorized today as a genitive singular), it has been lost.
In Russian there are three declension types. The first declension is used for masculine and neuter nouns. The second declension is used for most feminine nouns. The third declension is used for feminine nouns ending in ь and for neuter nouns ending in мя.
First Declension - Masculine Nouns
Nouns ending in a consonant are marked in the following table with -0- (thus no ending).
Singular
Nominative -0- -ь -й -ий
Genitive -а -я -я -ия
Dative -у -ю -ю -ию
Accusative -0- / -а -ь / -я -й / -я -ий / ия
Instrumental -ом -ем (3) -ем (3) -ием
Prepositional -е -е -е -ии
Plural
Nominative -ы (1) -и -и -ии
Genitive -ов (2) -ей -ев (3) -иев
Dative -ам -ям -ям -иям
Accusative -ы (1)/ ов -и / ей -и / ев (3) -ии / иев
Instrumental -ами -ями -ями -иями
Prepositional -ах -ях -ях -иях
Notes:
- The accusative case for animate nouns is identical to the genitive case; for inanimate nouns, it is identical to the nominative.
- (1) After a sibilant or a velar (г, к, or х) consonant, и is written.
- (2) After a sibilant, ей is written.
- (3) After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
First Declension - Neuter Nouns
Singular
Nominative -о (1) -е (2)
Genitive -а -я
Dative -у -ю
Accusative -о (1) -е (2)
Instrumental -ом (1) -ем (2)
Prepositional -е -е (3)
Plural
Nominative -а -ия
Genitive -0- -ий
Dative -ам -ям
Accusative -а -я
Instrumental -ами -ями
Prepositional -ах -ях
- (1) After a sibilant, о is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
- (2) After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
- (3) For nouns ending in ие in the nominative singular, и is written.
Second Declension - (Mostly) Feminine Nouns
Singular
Nominative -а -я -ия
Genitive -ы (1) -и -ии
Dative -е -е -ии
Accusative -у -ы -ию
Instrumental -ой (2) -ей (3) -ией
Prepositional -е -е -ии
Plural
Nominative -ы (1) -и -ии
Genitive -0- -ь -ий
Dative -ам -ям -иям
Accusative -ы(1) / -0- -и / ь -ии / ий
Instrumental -ами -ями -иями
Prepositional -ах -ях -иях
- (1) After a sibilant or a velar (г, к, or х) consonant, и is written.
- (2) After a sibilant, о is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
- (3) After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
- In the accusative plural a difference is made between animate (=genitive) and inanimate (=nominative) nouns.
Third Declension
Singular
(feminine) (neuter)
Nominative -ь -мя
Genitive -и -мени
Dative -и -мени
Accusative -ь -мям
Instrumental -ью -менем
Prepositional -и -мени
Plural
Nominative -и -мена
Genitive -ей -мён
Dative -ям -менам
Accusative -и / ей -мена
Instrumental -ями -менами
Prepositional -ях -менях
Articles
There are no articles in the Russian language, definite or indefinite. The sense of a noun is determined from the context in which it appears.
Adjectives
Russian adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case.
Declension
Singular
(masculine) (neuter) (feminine)
Nominative -ый -ое -ая
Genitive -ого -ого -ой
Dative -ому -ому -ой
Accusative -ый / ого -ое / ого -ую
Instrumental -ым -ым -ой
Prepositional -ом -ом -ой
Plural
Nominative -ые
Genitive -ых
Dative -ым
Accusative -ые / ых
Instrumental -ыми
Prepositional -ых
- In the accusative case (except the feminine singular), a difference is made between animate (=genitive) and inanimate (=nominative) adjectives.
- After a sibilant or velar consonant, и, instead of ы, is written.
- When a masculine adjectives ends in -ой, the -ой is stressed.
Russian differentiates between hard-stem (as above) and soft-stem adjectives. Note the following:
- Masculine adjectives ending in the nominative in ий and neuters in ее are declined as follows: его, ему, ым, and им.
- Feminine adjectives in яя are declined ей and юю.
- Plural adjectives in ие are declined их, им, ими and их.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
| Nominative | я | ты | он | она | оно | мы | вы | они |
| Genitive | меня | тебя | его | её | его | нас | вас | их |
| Dative | мне | тебе | ему | ей | ему | нам | вам | им |
| Accusative | меня | тебя | его | её | его | нас | вас | их |
| Instrumental | мной | тобой | им | ей | им | нами | вами | ими |
| Prepositional | обо мне | о тебе | о нём | о ней | о нём | о нас | о вас | о них |
Demonstrative Pronouns
- этот and тот
| masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | этот | это | эта | эти | тот | то | та | те | |
| Genitive | этого | этого | этой | этих | того | того | той | тех | |
| Dative | этому | этому | этой | этим | тому | тому | той | тем | |
| Accusative | N or G | это | эту | N or G | N or G | то | ту | N or G | |
| Instrumental | этим | этим | этой | этими | тем | тем | той | теми | |
| Prepositional | об этом | об этом | об этой | об этих | о том | о том | о той | о тех |
Possessive Pronouns
- мой and твой
| masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | мой | моё | моя | мои | твой | твоё | твоя | твои | |
| Genitive | моего | моего | моей | моих | твоего | твоего | твоей | твоих | |
| Dative | моему | моему | моей | моим | твоему | твоему | твоей | твоим | |
| Accusative | N or G | моё | мою | N or G | N or G | твоё | твою | N or G | |
| Instrumental | моим | моим | моей | моими | твоим | твоим | твоей | твоими | |
| Prepositional | о моём | о моём | о моей | о моих | о твоём | о твоём | о твоей | о твоих |
- наш and ваш
| masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | наш | наше | наша | наши | ваш | ваше | ваша | ваши | |
| Genitive | нашего | нашего | нашей | наших | вашего | вашего | вашей | ваших | |
| Dative | нашему | нашему | нашей | нашим | вашему | вашему | вашей | вашим | |
| Accusative | N or G | наше | нашу | N or G | N or G | ваше | вашу | N or G | |
| Instrumental | нашим | нашим | нашей | нашими | вашим | вашим | вашей | вашими | |
| Prepositional | о нашем | о нашем | о нашей | о наших | о вашем | о вашем | о вашей | о ваших |
- его, её and их are indeclinable.
Interrogative Pronouns
- кто and что
| Nom. | Gen. | Dat. | Acc. | Inst. | Prep. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| кто | кого | кому | кого | кем | о ком |
| что | чего | чему | что | чем | о чём |
- чей
| masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | чей | чьё | чья | чьи |
| Genitive | чьего | чьего | чьей | чьих |
| Dative | чьему | чьему | чьей | чьим |
| Accusative | N or G | чьё | чью | N or G |
| Instrumental | чьим | чьим | чьей | чьими |
| Prepositional | о чьём | о чьём | о чьей | о чьих |
Numbers
0 ноль
1 один одна одно (раз is used when counting)
2 два
3 три
4 четыре
5 пять
6 шесть
7 семь
8 восемь
9 девять
10 десять
Verbs
Verbal conjugation is subject to three persons in two numbers and two simple tenses (present/future and past), with periphrastic forms for the future and subjunctive, as well as imperative forms and present/past participles, distinguished by adjectival and adverbial usage. There are two voices, active and middle/passive, which is constructed by the addition of a reflexive suffix -ся/сь/-s'a/-s'/ to the active form. An interesting feature is that the past tense is actually made to agree in gender with the subject, for it is the participle in an originally periphrastic perfect tense formed with the present of быть /b1t'/,"to be", which is now omitted except for rare archaic effect, usually in set phrases (откуда есть пошла русская земля/otkuda jest' poSla russkaja zeml'a/, "whence is come the Russian land", the opening of the Primary Chronicle in modern spelling). Verbal inflection today is considerably simpler than in Old Russian. The ancient aorist, imperfect, and (periphrastic) pluperfect tenses have been lost, though the aorist sporadically occurs in secular literature as late as the second half of the eighteenth century, and survives as an odd form in direct narration (а он пойди да скажи/a on pojdi da skaZ1/, etc., exactly equivalent to the English colloquial "so he goes and says"), recategorized as a usage of the imperative. The loss of three of the former six tenses has been offset by the development, as in other Slavic languages, of verbal aspect. Most verbs come in pairs, one with imperfective or continuous connotation, the other with perfective or completed, usually formed with a (prepositional) prefix, but occasionally using a different root.
The present tense of the verb быть/b1t'/, "to be", is today normally used only in the third-person singular form, which is often used for all the persons and numbers, and, very formally, in the third person plural. As late as the nineteenth century, the full conjugation, which today is used only for extreme effect, was somewhat more natural: forms occur in the Synodal Bible, in Dostoevsky and in the bylinas (былины/b1l'in1/) or oral folk-epics, which were transcribed at that time. The paradigm shows as well as anything else the Indo-European affinity of Russian:
| English | Russian | SAMPA | Latin |
|---|---|---|---|
| "I am" | (есмь) | /jes'm'/ | sum |
| "thou art" | (еси) | /jes'i/ | es |
| "he, she, it is" | есть | /jes't'/ | est |
| "we are" | (есмы) | /jesm1/ | sumus |
| "you are" | (есте) | /jes't'e/ | estis |
| "they are" | суть | /sut'/ | sunt |
Present-future tense
There are two forms used to conjugate the present tense of imperfective verbs and the future tense of perfective verbs.
The first conjugation is used in verb stems ending in a consonant, -у, or -о, or in -а when not preceded by a sibilant:
- -у, -ёшь, -ёт, -ём, -ёте, -ут
- -ю, -ешь, -ет, -ем, -ете, -ут
The second conjugation is used in verb stems ending in -и or -е, or in -а when preceded by a sibilant:
- -ю, -ишь, -ит, -им, -ите, -ят
Examples
First Conjunction
Вернуть - to return <something> - (stem - верн)
| Я верну | I return |
| Ты вернёшь | You return |
| Он/Она/Оно вернёт | He/She/It returns |
| Мы вернём | We return |
| Вы вернёте | You return |
| Они вернут | They return |
Читать - to read (stem - чита)
| Я читаю | I read |
| Ты читаешь | You read |
| Он/Она/Оно читает | He/She/It reads |
| Мы читаем | We read |
| Вы читаете | You read |
| Они читают | They read |
Second conjunction
Говорить - to speak
| Я говорю | I speak |
| Ты говоришь | You speak |
| Он/Она/Оно говорит | He/She/It speaks |
| Мы говорим | We speak |
| Вы говорите | You speak |
| Они говорят | They speak |
Irregular verbs
The following verbs have a stem change. The stem part of the verb is in the parentheses. The endings are regular.
брать (бер-) - to take
беру,берёшь,берёт,берём,берёт,берут
вести (вед-) - to lean
веду,ведёшь,ведёт,ведём,ведёт,ведут
жить (жив-) - to live
живу,живёшь,живёт,живём,живёте,живут
звать (зов-) - to call
зову,зовёшь,зовёт,зовём,зовёте,зовут
давать (да-) - to give
даю,даёшь,даёт,даём,даёте,дают
идти (ид-) - to go
иду,идёшь,идёт,идём,идёте,идут
писать (пиш-) - to write (notice the с becomes a ш)
пишу,пишешь,пишет,пишем,пишете,пишут
The following verbs endings do not confirm to first or second conjugations.
дать - to give
дам,дашь,даст,дадим,дадите,даут
есть - to eat
ем,ешь,ест,едим,едите,едят
The following verbs are irregular in the first person.
Notice the д becomes ж in the first person. This is a common irregularity on stems ending with д.
ходить (ход-) - to walk
хожу,ходишь,ходит,ходим,ходите,ходят
ездить (езд-) - to travel
езжу,ездишь,ездит,ездим,ездите,ездят
видеть (вид-) - to see
вижу,видишь,видит,видим,видите,видят
Word formation
Russian has on hand a set of prefixes, prepositional and adverbial in nature, as well as diminutive, augmentative, and frequentative suffixes and infixes. All of these can be stacked one upon the other, to produce multiple derivatives of a given word. Participles and other inflexional forms may also have a special connotation. For example:
| мысль | /m1sl'/ | "thought" |
| мыслишка | /m1sl'iSka/ | "a petty or cute thought" |
| мыслище | /m1sl'iS'e/ | "a thought of fundamental import" |
| мысление | /m1sl'en'je/ | "thought; abstract thinking, ratiocination" |
| мыслить | /m1sl'it'/ | "to think (as to cogitate)" |
| смысл | /sm1sl/ | "meaning" |
| осмыслить | /osm1sl'it'/ | "to comprehend; to rationalize" |
| переосмыслить | /p'er'eosm1sl'it'/ | "to reassess" |
| переосмысливать | /p'er'eosm1sl'ivat'/ | "to be in the process of reassessing (something)" |
| переосмысливаемый | /p'er'eosm1sl'ivajem1j/ | "(something) in the process of being considered in a new light" |
| бессмыслица | /b'essm1sl'itsa/ | "nonsense" |
| обессмыслить | /ob'essm1sl'it'/ | "to render meaningless" |
| бессмысленный | /b'essm1sl'enn1j/ | "meaningless" |
| обессмысленный | /ob'essm1sl'enn1j/ | "rendered meaningless" |
| необессмысленный | /n'eob'essm1sl'enn1j/ | "not yet rendered meaningless" |
Russian has also proved friendly to agglutinative compounds. As an extreme case:
| металлоломообеспечение | /m'etallolomoob'esp'etS'en'je/ | "provision of scrap iron" |
| металлоломообеспеченный | /m'etallolomoob'esp'etS'enn1j/ | "well supplied with scrap iron" |
Purists (as Ushakov in the preface to his dictionary) frown on such words. But here is the name of a street in St. Petersburg:
| Каменноостровский проспект | /kamennoostrovsk'ij prosp'ekt/ | "Stone Island Avenue" |
Some linguists have suggested that Russian agglutination stems from Church Slavonic. In the twentieth century, abbreviated components appeared in the compound:
| управдом | /upravdom/=управляющий домом | /upravl'ajuS'ij domom/ | "residence manager" |
Fundamental sentence structure
Coordination
Subordination
Syntax
The basic word order, both in conversation and the written language, is Subject Verb Object. However, because the relations are marked by inflexion, considerable latitude in word order is allowed, and all the permutations can be used. Primary emphasis tends to be initial, with a slightly weaker emphasis at the end.
Negation
Unlike English, Latin, and various other languages, Russian allows multiple negatives, as in никто никогда никому ничего не прощает /n'ikto n'ikogda n'ikomu n'itS'evo n'e proS'ajet/ "No-one ever forgives anything to anyone" (literally, "no-one never to no-one nothing not forgives").
Coordination
Common coordinating conjunctions include:
- и /i/ "and", complemental;
- а /a/ "and", oppositional, tending to "but";
- но /no/ "but";
- ибо /ibo/ "for".
The distinction between и and а is important. И implies a following complemental state that does not oppose the antecedent. А implies a following state that acts in opposition to the antecedent, but more weakly than но "but".
Song_of_Igor_Catherine_Manuscript.GIF
| они уехали, и мы уезжаем | /on'i ujexal'i i m1 ujeZ'ajem/ | they have departed and we are departing |
| они уехали, а мы уезжаем | /on'i ujexali a m1 ujeZ'ajem/ | they have departed, while (but) we are (still) departing |
| они уехали, но мы приезжаем | /on'i ujexal'i no m1 pr'ijeZ'ajem/ | they have departed, but we are arriving |
The distinction between и and а developed after the mediaeval period; originally, и and а were closer in meaning. The unpunctuated ending of the Song of Igor illustrates the potential confusion. The final five words in modern spelling, князьям слава а дружине аминь /knaz'jam slava a druZine am'in'/ can be understood either as "Glory to the princes and to their host! Amen." or "Glory to the princes, and amen (R.I.P.) to their troops". Although majority opinion is definitely with the first interpretation, there is no full consensus. The psychological difference between the two is quite obvious.
Subordination
Subordinating conjuctions, adverbs, or adverbial phrases include:
- если /jesl'i/ "if";
- потому что /potomu Sto/, так как /tak kak/ "because"
- чтобы /Stob1/ "in order that"
- после того, как /posl'e tovo kak/ "after"
- хотя /xot'a/ "although"
In general, there are fewer subordinate clauses than in English, because the participles (причастие /pr'itSas't'je/) and adverbial participles (деепричастие /d'ejepr'itSas't'je/) often take the place of a relative pronoun/verb combination. For example:
| Вот человек, потерявший надежду. | /vot tS'elov'ek pot'er'avSij nad'eZdu/ | Here (is) a man who has lost (all) hope. [lit. having lost hope] |
| Гуляя по городу, всегда останавливаюсь у Ростральных колонн. | /gul'aja po gorodu vs'egda ostanavl'ivajus' u rostral'n1x kolonn/ | When I go for a walk in the city, I always pause by the Rostral Columns. [lit. Walking in the city, I...] |
Absolute construction
Despite the inflexional nature of Russian there is no equivalent in the modern language to the English nominative absolute or the Latin ablative absolute contruction. The old language had an absolute construction, with the noun put into the dative. Like so many other archaisms, it is retained in Church Slavonic. Among the last known examples in literary Russian occurs in Radishchev's Journey from Petersburg to Moscow (Путешествие из Петербурга в Москву /put'eSestv'ije iz p'et'erburga v moskvu/), 1790:
- Едущу мне из Едрова, Анюта из мысли моей не выходила. /jeduS'u mn'e iz jedrova, an'uta iz m1sl'i mojej n'e v1xod'ila/ "As I was leaving Yedrovo village, I could not stop thinking about Aniuta."
Inflectional usage
Case
Tense and aspect
Vernacular/dialectal features
See also
External links
- Wikibooks Russian (http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Russian)
- On-Line Russian Reference Grammar with Exercises (http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/)