'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': 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.
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). Up to ten additional cases are identified in linguistics textbooks by
Zaliznyak A. A.,
Klobukov E. V.,
Miloslavski I. G., and others, although all of them are either incomplete (do not apply to all nouns) or degenerate (appear identical to one of the six simple cases). The most well-recognized are
locative (в лесу, в крови, в слезах),
partitive (сапог, чулок, вольт), and several forms of
vocative (господи, деда, батянь). 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 , "two chairs", recategorized today as a genitive singular), it has been lost.
There are no definite or indefinite articles in the Russian language. The sense of a noun is determined from the context in which it appears. That said, there are some means of expressing whether a noun is definite or indefinite. They are:
# The use of a direct object in genitive instead of accusative in negation signifies that the noun is indefinite, compare: "Я не вижу книги" ("I don't see a book" or "I don't see any book") and "Я не вижу книгу" ("I don't see the book").
# The use of the numeral one sometimes signifies that the noun is indefinite, e.g.: "Почему ты так долго?" - "Да, встретил одного друга, пришлось поговорить" ("Why did it take you so long?" - "You see, I met a friend and had to talk").
# Word order may also be used for this purpose, compare "В комнату вбежал мальчик" ("A boy rushed into the room") and "Мальчик вбежал в комнату" ("The boy rushed into the room").
The category of
animacy is relevant in Russian nominal and adjectival declension. Specifically, the accusative form in many paradigms has two possible forms depending on the animacy of the referent. For animate referents (people and animals), the accusative form is identical to the genitive form. For inanimate referents, the accusative form is identical to the nominative form. This principle is relevant for masculine singular nouns of the first declension (see below) and adjectives, and for all plural paradigms (with no gender distinction). In the tables below, this behavior is indicated by the abbreviation "''N or G''" in the row corresponding to the accusative case.
In Russian there are three declension types, named simply first, second, and third declensions. The first declension (the second in Russian school grammars) is used for masculine and most neuter nouns. The second declension (the first in school grammars) 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 - (thus no ending).
| 'Singular' | | 'Plural' |
| 'Nominative' | - | -ь | -й | -ий | | -ы1 | -и | -и | -ии |
| 'Genitive' | -а | -я | -я | -ия | | -ов2 | -ей | -ев3 | -иев |
| 'Dative' | -у | -ю | -ю | -ию | | -ам | -ям | -ям | -иям |
| 'Accusative' | ''N or G'' | | ''N or G'' |
| 'Instrumental' | -ом | -ем3 | -ем3 | -ием | | -ами | -ями | -ями | -иями |
| 'Prepositional' | -е | -е | -е | -ии | | -ах | -ях | -ях | -иях |
Notes:
# After a
sibilant or a velar (г, к, or х) consonant, и is written.
# After a sibilant, ей is written.
# After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
First declension - neuter nouns
| 'Singular' | | 'Plural' |
| 'Nominative' | -о1 | -е2 | | -а | -я |
| 'Genitive' | -а | -я | | - | -й / -ь4 |
| 'Dative' | -у | -ю | | -ам | -ям |
| 'Accusative' | -о1 | -е2 | | ''N or G'' |
| 'Instrumental' | -ом1 | -ем2 | | -ами | -ями |
| 'Prepositional' | -е | -е3 | | -ах | -ях |
# After a sibilant, о is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
# After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
# For nouns ending in ие in the nominative singular, и is written.
# After a consonant use ь otherwise use й.
Second declension - feminine nouns (primarily)
| 'Singular' | | 'Plural' |
| 'Nominative' | -а | -я | -ия | | -ы | -и | -ии |
| 'Genitive' | -ы | -и | -ии | | - | -ь | -ий |
| 'Dative' | -е | -е | -ии | | -ам | -ям | -иям |
| 'Accusative' | -у | -ю | -ию | | ''N or G'' |
| 'Instrumental' | -ой | -ей | -ией | | -ами | -ями | -иями |
| 'Prepositional' | -е | -е | -ии | | -ах | -ях | -иях |
#After a sibilant or a velar (г, к, or х) consonant, и is written.
#After a sibilant, о is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
#After a soft consonant, ё is written when stressed; е when unstressed.
Third declension
| 'Singular' | | 'Plural' |
| | 'Feminine' | 'Neuter' | | 'Feminine' | 'Neuter' |
| 'Nominative' | -ь | -мя | | -и | -мена |
| 'Genitive' | -и | -мени | | -ей | -мён |
| 'Dative' | -и | -мени | | -ям | -менам |
| 'Accusative' | -ь | -мя | | ''N or G'' | -мена |
| 'Instrumental' | -ью | -менем | | -ями | -менами |
| 'Prepositional' | -и | -мени | | -ях | -менах |
Adjectives
Russian adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case.
Declension
| 'Singular' | | 'Plural' |
| | 'Masculine' | 'Feminine' | 'Neuter' | |
| 'Nominative' | -ый | -ая | -ое | | -ые |
| 'Genitive' | -ого | -ой | -ого | | -ых |
| 'Dative' | -ому | -ой | -ому | | -ым |
| 'Accusative' | ''N or G'' | -ую | -ое | | ''N or G'' |
| 'Instrumental' | -ым | -ой | -ым | | -ыми |
| 'Prepositional' | -ом | -ой | -ом | | -ых |
#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, им, and ем.
★ Feminine adjectives in яя are declined ей and юю.
★ Plural adjectives in ие are declined их, им, ими and их.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
| Singular | Plural |
|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd |
|---|---|---|
| Masc. | Fem. | Neut. |
|---|
| '(English)' | I/me | you (singular) | he | she | it | we | you (plural) | they |
| 'Nominative' | я | ты | он | она́ | оно́ | мы | вы | они́ |
| 'Genitive' | меня́ | тебя́ | его́ | её | его́ | нас | вас | их |
| 'Dative' | мне | тебе́ | ему́ | ей | ему́ | нам | вам | им |
| 'Accusative' | меня́ | тебя́ | его́ | её | его́ | нас | вас | их |
| 'Instrumental' | мной | тобой́ | им | ей | им | на́ми | ва́ми | и́ми |
| 'Prepositional' | обо мне | о тебе́ | о нём | о ней | о нём | о наc | о вас | о них |
★ Russian is subject to
T-V distinction. The respectful form of the singular ''you'' is the same as the plural form, but beginning with a capital letter: ''Вы'', ''Вас'', ''Вам'' etc. Compare the distinction between ''du'', ''sie'' and ''Sie'' in
German.
★ When a preposition is used directly before a 3rd-person pronoun, н- is prefixed: у него, с неё, etc. Because the prepositional case always occurs after a preposition, the third person prepositional always starts with an н-.
Demonstrative pronouns
'этот' "this" and 'тот' "that"
| | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural |
|---|
| 'Nominative' | э́тот | это | э́та | э́ти | | тот | то | та | те |
| 'Genitive' | э́того | э́того | э́той | э́тих | | того́ | того́ | той | тех |
| 'Dative' | э́тому | э́тому | э́той | э́тим | | тому́ | тому́ | той | тем |
| 'Accusative' | ''N or G'' | э́то | э́ту | ''N or G'' | | ''N or G'' | то | ту | ''N or G'' |
| 'Instrumental' | э́тим | э́тим | э́той | э́тими | | тем | тем | той | те́ми |
| 'Prepositional' | об э́том | об э́том | об э́той | об э́тих | | о том | о том | о той | о тех |
Possessive pronouns
'мой' "my" and 'твой' "your (sing.)"
| | 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' "our" and 'ваш' "your (plur.)"
| | 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 |
★ The third person possessive pronouns его (masc./neut. sing.), её (fem. sing.) and их (plural) are invariant genitive forms.
Interrogative pronouns
'кто' "who" and 'что' "what"
| | кто | что |
|---|
| 'Nominative' | кто | что |
| 'Genitive' | кого | чего |
| 'Dative' | кому | чему |
| 'Accusative' | кого | что |
| 'Instrumental' | кем | чем |
| 'Prepositional' | о ком | о чём |
'чей' "whose"
| | 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
'Cardinal Numbers'
★ 0 ноль ''or'' нуль
★ 1 один одна одно ('раз' is used when counting)
★ 2 два две
★ 3 три
★ 4 четыре
★ 5 пять
★ 6 шесть
★ 7 семь
★ 8 восемь
★ 9 девять
★ 10 десять
'Ordinal Numbers'
Nominative case, masculine.
★ 1st первый
★ 2nd второй
★ 3rd третий
★ 4th четвëртый
★ 5th пятый
★ 6th шестой
★ 7th седьмой
★ 8th восьмой
★ 9th девятый
★ 10th десятый
Verbs
Grammatical 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 (see
adjectival participle and
adverbial participle). There are two
voices,
active and
middle/
passive, which is constructed by the addition of a reflexive
suffix -ся/сь/- 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 (like the perfect passive tense in
Latin), "
to be", which is now omitted except for rare archaic effect, usually in
set phrases (откуда есть пошла русская земля , "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 , 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. E.g., спать (to sleep) is imperfective; поспать (to take a nap) is perfective.
The present tense of the verb быть is today normally used only in the third-person singular form, which is often used for all the persons and numbers. As late as the nineteenth century, the full conjugation, which today is never used, was somewhat more natural: forms occur in the Synodal
Bible, in
Dostoevsky and in the
bylinas (былины ) 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 | IPA | Latin | Classical Greek |
|---|
| "I am" | есмь | | sum | ''eimi'' |
| "you are" (sing.) | еси | | es | ''ei'' |
| "he, she, it is" | есть | | est | ''esti'' |
| "we are" | есмы | | sumus | ''esmen'' |
| "you are" (plur.) | есте | | estis | ''este'' |
| "they are" | суть | | sunt | ''eisi'' |
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 (I) is used in verb stems ending in a consonant, -у, or -о, or in -а when not preceded by a sibilant:
★ -у/-ю, -ешь, -ет, -ем, -ете, -ут/-ют
★
★ -у/-ут is used after a hard consonant, a vowel or ш, щ or ч; otherwise -ю/-ют is used.
★
★ A mutating ultimate consonant may cause ending change.
★
★ е becomes ё when stressed.
The second conjugation (II) is used in verb stems ending in -и or -е, or in -а when preceded by a sibilant:
★ -у/-ю, -ишь, -ит, -им, -ите, -ат/ят
★
★ -у/-ат is used after a hard consonant, a vowel or ш, щ or ч; otherwise -ю/-ят is used.
★
★ Similar to the conjugation I, a mutating ultimate consonant may change an ending.
''Example:'' попро-сить — попро-шу, попро-сят (to have solicited — [I, they] will have solicited).
Examples
First Conjugation
'Вернуть' - to return
- (stem - верн)
| Я верну | I will return |
| Ты вернëшь | You will return |
| Он/Она/Оно вернëт | He/She/It will return |
| Мы вернëм | We will return |
| Вы вернёте | You will return |
| Они вернут | They will return |
'Читать' - to read (stem - чита)
| Я читаю | I read, I am reading, I do read |
| Ты читаешь | You read, You are reading, You do read |
| Он/Она/Оно читает | He/She/It reads, He/She/It is reading, He/She/It does read |
| Мы читаем | We read, we are reading, we do read |
| Вы читаете | You (plural/formal) read, you are reading, you do read |
| Они читают | They read, they are reading, they do read |
Second conjugation
'Говорить' - to speak
| Я говорю | I speak, I am speaking, I do speak |
| Ты говоришь | You speak, you are speaking, you do speak |
| Он/Она/Оно говорит | He/She/It speaks, he/she/it is speaking, he/she/it does speaks |
| Мы говорим | We speak, we are speaking, we do speak |
| Вы говорите | You (plural/formal) speak, you are speaking, you do speak |
| Они говорят | They speak, they are speaking, they do 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 ,берёте, берут
'вести' (вед-) - to lead
веду, ведёшь, ведёт, ведём, ведёте, 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 conform to the first or second conjugations.
'дать' - to give
дам, дашь, даст, дадим, дадите, дадут
'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 | | "thought" |
| мыслишка | | "a petty, cute or a silly thought" |
| мыслища | | "a thought of fundamental import" |
| мышление | | "thought; abstract thinking, ratiocination" |
| мыслить | | "to think (as to cogitate)" |
| смысл | | "meaning" |
| осмыслить | | "to comprehend; to rationalize" |
| переосмыслить | | "to reassess" |
| переосмысливать | | "to be in the process of reassessing (something)" |
| переосмысливаемый | | "(something) in the process of being considered in a new light" |
| бессмыслица | | "nonsense" |
| обессмыслить | | "to render meaningless" |
| бессмысленный | | "meaningless" |
| обессмысленный | | "rendered meaningless" |
| необессмысленный | | "not rendered meaningless" |
Russian has also proved friendly to agglutinative compounds. As an extreme case:
| металлоломообеспечение | | "provision of scrap iron" |
| металлоломообеспеченный | | "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 | | "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 | =''управляющий домом'' | | "residence manager" |
Syntax
The basic word order, both in conversation and the written language, is 'Subject Verb Object'. However, because the relations are marked by inflection, considerable latitude in word order is allowed, and all the permutations can be used. For example, the words in the phrase "я пошёл в магазин" (I went to the shop) can be arranged
★ Я пошёл в магазин.
★ Я в магазин пошёл.
★ Пошёл я в магазин.
★ Пошёл в магазин я.
★ В магазин я пошёл.
★ В магазин пошёл я.
while maintaining grammatical correctness.
The word order expresses the logical stress, and the degree of definiteness. Primary emphasis tends to be initial, with a slightly weaker emphasis at the end. (See Syntactic and Paratactic Word Order Effects for a theoretical treatment.)
Negation
Like most other languages but unlike English, multiple negatives are compulsory in Russian, as in никто никогда никому ничего не прощает "No-one ever forgives anything to anyone" (literally, "no-one never to no-one nothing does not forgive").
Coordination
The most common types of coordination expressed by compound sentences in Russian are conjoining (Соединительные отношения), oppositional (Противительные отношения), and separative (Разделительные отношения). Additionally, the Russian grammar considers comparative (сопоставительные), complemental (присоединительные), and clarifying (пояснительные). Other flavors of the meanings may also be distinguished.
Conjoining coordinations are formed with the help of the conjunctions "и", "да", "ни...ни" (simultaneous negation), также, тоже (the latter two have complemental flavor). Most commonly the conjoining coordination expresses enumeration, simultaneity or immediate sequence. They may alo have a cause-effect flavor.
Oppositional coordinations are formed with the help of the oppositional conjunctions а, но, да, однако, зато, же, etc. They express the semantic relations of opposition, comparison, incompatibility, restriction, or compensation.
Separative coordinations are formed with the help of the separative conjunctions или, либо, ли...ли, то...то, etc., and are used to express alternation or incompatibility of things expressed in the coordinated sentences.
Complemental and clarifying coordination expresses additional, but not subordinated, information related to the first sentence.
Comparative coordination is a semantical flavor of the oppositional one.
Common coordinating conjunctions include:
★ и "and", enumerative, complemental;
★ а "and", comparative, tending to "but";
★ но "but", oppositional;
★ ибо "for", clarifying.
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".
они уехали,
и мы уезжаем | | they have departed
and we are departing |
они уехали,
а мы уезжаем | | they have departed,
while (but) we are (still) departing |
они уехали,
но мы приезжаем | | 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 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
Complementizers (subordinating conjunctions, adverbs, or adverbial phrases) include:
★ если ''if'';
★ потому что , так как ''because''
★ чтобы ''in order to''
★ после того, как ''after''
★ хотя ''although''
In general, there are fewer subordinate clauses than in English, because the participles (причастие ) and adverbial participles (деепричастие ) often take the place of a relative pronoun/verb combination. For example:
Вот человек,
потерявший надежду. | | Here (is) a man
who has lost (all) hope.
[lit. having lost hope] |
Гуляя по городу, всегда
останавливаюсь у Ростральных колонн. | | 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 construction. 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'' ), 1790:
★ Едущу мне из Едрова, Анюта из мысли моей не выходила. "As I was leaving Yedrovo village, I could not stop thinking about Aniuta."
See also
★ List of Russian language topics
★ Reduplication in Russian language
External links
★ Interactive On-line Reference Grammar of Russian
★ Wikibooks Russian
★ Learn to Speak Russian Online
★ Practice Russian Vocabulary
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
