Russian grammar (грамматика русского языка Russian pronunciation: [ɡrɐˈmatʲɪkə ˈruskəvə jɪzɨˈka], also: русская грамматика [ˈruskəjə ɡrɐˈmatʲɪkə]) encompasses:
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.
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Nominal declension is subject to six cases – nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional – in two numbers (singular and plural), and absolutely obeying grammatical gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter). Up to ten additional cases are identified in linguistics textbooks,[1][2][3] 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 additional cases 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, e.g. (два стула [dvɐ ˈstulə], "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 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 generally 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 (and several masculine nouns having the same form as those of feminine gender, such as папа papa or дядя uncle). The third declension is used for feminine nouns ending in ь and for neuter nouns ending in мя.
Most first-declension nouns are feminine, some masculine. The same endings apply for both genders.
Singular | Plural | |||||||
Nominative | -а | -я | -ия | -ы1 | -и | -ии | ||
Genitive | -ы1 | -и | -ии | - | -ь | -ий | ||
Dative | -е | -е | -ии | -ам | -ям | -иям | ||
Accusative | -у | -ю | -ию | N or G | ||||
Instrumental | -ой2 | -ей3 | -ией | -ами | -ями | -иями | ||
Prepositional | -е | -е | -ии | -ах | -ях | -иях |
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:
Singular | Plural | |||||
Nominative | -о1 | -е2 | -а | -я | ||
Genitive | -а | -я | - | -й / -ей4 | ||
Dative | -у | -ю | -ам | -ям | ||
Accusative | -о1 | -е2 | N or G | |||
Instrumental | -ом1 | -ем2 | -ами | -ями | ||
Prepositional | -е | -е3 | -ах | -ях |
Singular | Plural | |||||
Feminine | Neuter | Feminine | Neuter | |||
Nominative | -ь | -мя | -и | -мена | ||
Genitive | -и | -мени | -ей | -мён(-мян) | ||
Dative | -и | -мени | -ям1 | -менам | ||
Accusative | -ь | -мя | N or G | -мена | ||
Instrumental | -ью | -менем | -ями1 (ьми) | -менами | ||
Prepositional | -и | -мени | -ях1 | -менах |
There are various kinds of irregularities in forming the plural, including both changing the ending (e. g. повар (cook) - повара (cookers)) and modifying the word (e. g. человек (person) - люди (people)).
Singular | Plural | |||||
Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | ||||
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 |
Russian differentiates between hard-stem (as above) and soft-stem adjectives. Note the following:
Singular | Plural | Reflexive | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||||||||
Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | |||||||||||
(English) | I | you | he | she | it | we | you | they | XXXself | ||||
Nominative | я | ты | он | она́ | оно́ | мы | вы | они́ | |||||
Genitive | меня́ | тебя́ | его́ | её | его́ | нас | вас | их | себя́ | ||||
Dative | мне | тебе́ | ему́ | ей | ему́ | нам | вам | им | себе́ | ||||
Accusative | меня́ | тебя́ | его́ | её | его́ | нас | вас | их | себя́ | ||||
Instrumental | мной (мно́ю) |
тобо́й (тобо́ю) |
им | ею | им | на́ми | ва́ми | и́ми | собо́й (собо́ю) |
||||
Prepositional | обо мне | о тебе́ | о нём | о ней | о нём | о наc | о вас | о них | себе́ |
Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plur. | Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plur. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | э́тот | э́то | 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 |
Unlike English, Russian uses the same word for a possessive adjective and the corresponding pronoun. The following rules apply:
Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plur. | Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plur. | Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plur. | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | мой | моё | моя | мои | твой | твоё | твоя | твои | свой | своё | своя | свои | |||
Genitive | моего | моего | моей | моих | твоего | твоего | твоей | твоих | своего | своего | своей | своих | |||
Dative | моему | моему | моей | моим | твоему | твоему | твоей | твоим | своему | своему | своей | своим | |||
Accusative | N or G | моё | мою | N or G | N or G | твоё | твою | N or G | N or G | своё | свою | N or G | |||
Instrumental | моим | моим | моей | моими | твоим | твоим | твоей | твоими | своим | своим | своей | своими | |||
Prepositional | о моём | о моём | о моей | о моих | о твоём | о твоём | о твоей | о твоих | о своём | о своём | о своей | о своих |
Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plur. | Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | Plur. | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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 |
кто | что | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nominative | кто | что (read: што) | |
Genitive | кого (read: каво) | чего (read: чиво) | |
Dative | кому | чему | |
Accusative | кого (read: каво) | что (read: што) | |
Instrumental | кем | чем | |
Prepositional | о ком | о чём |
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 |
Cardinal Numbers | Ordinal Numbers (Nominative case, masculine) |
||
---|---|---|---|
0 | ноль or нуль | нулевой | |
1 | один (m.), одна (f.), одно (n.), одни (pl.) (раз is used when counting) | первый | |
2 | два (m., n.), две (f.) | второй | |
3 | три | третий | |
4 | четыре | четвёртый | |
5 | пять | пятый | |
6 | шесть | шестой | |
7 | семь | седьмой | |
8 | восемь | восьмой | |
9 | девять | девятый | |
10 | десять | десятый |
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 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 formed with the present of быть [bɨtʲ] (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 земля русская [ɐˈtkudə jesʲtʲ pɐˈʂla zʲɪˈmlʲa ˈruskəjə], "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 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 [ɐ on pɐjˈdʲi də skɐˈʐɨ], 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 [spatʲ] ('to sleep') is imperfective; поспать [pɐˈspatʲ] ('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 extremely archaic, was somewhat more natural: forms occur in the Synodal Bible, in Dostoevsky and in the bylinas (былины [bɨˈlʲinɨ]) 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 | Sanskrit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
"I am" | (есмь) | [jesʲmʲ] | sum | eimi | ásmi |
"you are" (sing.) | (еси) | [ˈjesʲɪ] | es | ei | ási |
"he, she, it is" | есть | [jesʲtʲ] | est | esti(n) | ásti |
"we are" | (есмы) | [ˈjɛsmɨ] | sumus | esmen | smaḥ |
"you are" (plur.) | (есте) | [jesʲtʲe] | estis | este | staḥ |
"they are" | (суть) | [sutʲ] | sunt | eisi(n) | sánti |
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 preceded by a sibilant:
The second conjugation (II) is used in verb stems ending in -и or -е, or in -а when not preceded by a sibilant:
The Russian past tense is gender specific: –л for masculine singular subjects, –ла for feminine singular subjects, –ло for neuter singular subjects, and –ли for plural subjects. This gender specificity applies to all persons; thus, to say "I slept", a male speaker would say я спал, while a female speaker would say я спалá.
The subjunctive mood in Russian is formed by adding the particle бы after a verb in the past tense. Thus, to say "I would (hypothetically) sleep" or "I would like to sleep", a male speaker would say я спал бы (or я бы спал), while a female speaker would say я спалá бы(or я бы спала).
вернуть ('to return [something]', stem: верн–) | читать ('to read', stem: чита–) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
я верну | I will return | я читаю | I read (am reading, do read) | |
ты вернёшь | you will return | ты читаешь | you read (are reading, do read) | |
он, она, оно вернёт | he, she, it will return | он, она, оно читает | he, she, it reads (is reading, does read) | |
мы вернём | we will return | мы читаем | we read (are reading, do read) | |
вы вернёте | you will return | вы читаете | you (plural/formal) read (are reading, do read) | |
они вернут | they will return | они читают | they read (are reading, do read) |
говорить ('to speak', stem: говор–) | |
---|---|
я говорю | I speak (am speaking, do speak) |
ты говоришь | you speak (are speaking, do speak) |
он, она, оно говорит | he, she, it speaks (is speaking, does speak) |
мы говорим | we speak (are speaking, do speak) |
вы говорите | you (plural/formal) speak (are speaking, do speak) |
они говорят | they speak (are speaking, do speak) |
брать1 | вести1 | ви́деть2 | давать1 | дать3 | есть3 | жить1 | звать1 | идти́1 | писать2 | ходи́ть2 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
English | take | lead | see | give | give (pf.) | eat | live | call | go | write | walk | |
1st sg | беру́ | веду́ | ви́жу | даю́ | дам | ем | живу́ | зову́ | иду́ | пишу́ | хожу́ | |
2nd sg | берёшь | ведёшь | ви́дишь | даёшь | дашь | ешь | живёшь | зовёшь | идёшь | пи́шешь | хо́дишь | |
3rd sg | берёт | ведёт | ви́дит | даёт | даст | ест | живёт | зовёт | идёт | пи́шет | хо́дит | |
1st pl | берём | ведём | ви́дим | даём | дади́м | еди́м | живём | зовём | идём | пи́шем | хо́дим | |
2nd pl | берёте | ведёте | ви́дите | даёте | дади́те | еди́те | живёте | зовёте | идёте | пи́шете | хо́дите | |
3rd pl | беру́т | веду́т | ви́дят | даю́т | даду́т | едя́т | живу́т | зову́т | иду́т | пи́шут | хо́дят |
1These verbs all have a stem change.
2These verbs are palatalised in certain cases, namely с → ш for all the present forms of "писать", and д → ж in the first person singular of the other verbs.
3These verbs do not conform to either the first or second conjugations.
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 inflectional forms may also have a special connotation. For example:
мысль | [mɨsʲlʲ] | "thought" |
мыслишка | [mɨˈsʲlʲiʂkə] | "a petty, cute or a silly thought" |
мыслища | [mɨˈsʲlʲiɕːə] | "a thought of fundamental import" |
мышление | [mɨˈʂlʲenʲɪjə] | "thought; abstract thinking, ratiocination" |
мыслить | [ˈmɨsʲlʲitʲ] | "to think (as to cogitate)" |
смысл | [smɨsl] | "meaning" |
осмыслить | [ɐˈsmɨsʲlʲɪtʲ] | "to comprehend; to rationalize" |
осмысливать | [ɐˈsmɨsʲlʲivətʲ] | "to be in the process of comprehending" |
переосмыслить | [pʲɪrʲɪɐˈsmɨsʲlʲɪtʲ] | "to reassess" |
переосмысливать | [pʲɪrʲɪɐˈsmɨsʲlʲɪvətʲ] | "to be in the process of reassessing (something)" |
переосмысливаемый | [pʲɪrʲɪɐˈsmɨsʲlʲɪvəjɪmɨj] | "(something) in the process of being considered in a new light" |
бессмыслица | [bʲɪˈsmɨsʲlʲɪtsə] | "nonsense" |
обессмыслить | [əbʲɪˈsmɨsʲlʲɪtʲ] | "to render meaningless" |
бессмысленный | [bʲɪˈsmɨsʲlʲɪnːɨj] | "meaningless" |
обессмысленный | [əbʲɪˈsmɨsʲlʲɪnːɨj] | "rendered meaningless" |
необессмысленный | [nʲɪəbʲɪˈsmɨsʲlʲɪnːɨj] | "not rendered meaningless" |
Russian has also proven friendly to agglutinative compounds. As an extreme case:
металлоломообеспечение | [mʲɪtəlɐˌlomɐɐbʲɪˈsʲpʲetɕɪnʲjɪ] | "provision of scrap iron" |
металлоломообеспеченный | [mʲɪtəlɐˌlomɐɐbʲɪˈsʲpʲetɕɪnːɨj] | "well supplied with scrap iron" |
Purists (as Dmitry Ushakov in the preface to his dictionary) frown on such words. But here is the name of a street in St. Petersburg:
Каменноостровский проспект | [ˌkamʲɪnːɐɐ'strovskʲɪj prɐˈsʲpʲɛkt] | "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 | [uprɐˈvdom] = управляющий домом | [uprɐˈvlʲajuɕːɪj ˈdoməm] | "residence manager" |
The basic word order, both in conversation and the written language, is subject–verb–object in transitive clauses, and free word order in intransitive clauses. However, because the relations are marked by inflection, considerable latitude in word order is allowed even in transitive clauses, and all the permutations can be used. For example, the words in the phrase "я пошёл в магазин" ('I went to the store') can be arranged
while maintaining grammatical correctness. Note, however, that the order of the phrase "в магазин" is kept constant.
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.
Unlike in standard English, multiple negatives are compulsory in Russian, as in никто никогда никому ничего не прощает [nʲɪkˈto nʲɪkɐɡˈda nʲɪkɐˈmu nʲɪtɕɪˈvo nʲɪ prɐɕˈɕæjɪt] ('No-one ever forgives anyone for anything' literally, "no one never to no-one nothing does not forgive").
As a one-word answer to an affirmative sentence, yes translates да and no does нет, as shown by the table below.
English | Russian | ||
---|---|---|---|
First speaker |
It’s raining | Идёт дождь | |
Answering speaker |
Yes = it’s raining |
Да = идёт дождь |
|
No = it’s not raining |
Нет = дождь не идёт |
As an one-word answer to a negative sentence, yes translates нет and no does да, as shown by the table below that compares the English and Russian idioms with the French and German three-adverb system.
English | Russian | French | German | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
First speaker |
It’s not raining | Дождь не идёт | Il ne pleut pas | Es regnet nicht | |
Answering speaker |
No = it’s not raining |
Нет = indefinite (requires a complete answer) |
Non = il ne pleut pas |
Nein = es regnet nicht |
|
Yes = it’s raining |
Да = дождь не идёт |
Si = il pleut |
Doch = es regnet |
This can be summarised by the table below.
Russian | English | Meaning | |
---|---|---|---|
Да | I agree with your statement | ||
Yes | My own statement is positive | ||
Нет | I disagree with your statement / My own statement is negative | ||
No | My own statement is negative |
The most common types of coordination expressed by compound sentences in Russian are conjoining, oppositional, and separative. Additionally, the Russian grammar considers comparative, complemental, and clarifying. 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 complementary flavors). Most commonly the conjoining coordination expresses enumeration, simultaneity or immediate sequence. They may also 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:
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 |
[ɐˈnʲi uˈjɛxəlʲɪ] [ɪ ˈmɨ ujɪˈʑʑajɪm] |
they have departed and we are departing |
они уехали, а мы уезжаем |
[ɐˈnʲi uˈjɛxəlʲɪ] [ɐ ˈmɨ ujɪˈʑʑajɪm] |
they have departed, while (but) we are (still) departing |
они уехали, но мы приезжаем |
[ɐˈnʲi uˈjɛxəlʲɪ] [no ˈmɨ prʲɪjɪˈʑʑajɪm] |
they have departed, but we are arriving |
The distinction between и and а developed after the medieval 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 [knʲɪˈzʲjam ˈslavə ə druˈʐɨnʲɪ ɐˈmʲinʲ] 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 the majority opinion is definitely with the first interpretation, there is no full consensus. The psychological difference between the two is quite obvious.
Complementizers (subordinating conjunctions, adverbs, or adverbial phrases) include:
In general, there are fewer subordinate clauses than in English, because the participles and adverbial participles often take the place of a relative pronoun/verb combination. For example:
Вот человек, потерявший надежду. |
[vot tɕɪlɐˈvʲɛk] [pətʲɪˈrʲavʂɨj nɐˈdʲɛʐdu] |
Here (is) a man who has lost (all) hope. [lit. having lost hope] |
Гуляя по городу, всегда останавливаюсь у Ростральных колонн. |
[ɡuˈlʲajɪ pɐ ˈɡorədu vsʲɪɡˈda] [əstɐˈnavlʲɪvəjusʲ u rɐˈstralʲnɨx kɐˈlon] |
When I go for a walk in the city, I always pause by the Rostral Columns. [lit. Walking in the city, I...] |
Despite the inflectional 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 [putʲɪˈʂɛstvʲɪjɪ ɪs pʲɪtʲɪrˈburɡə v mɐˈskvu]), 1790:
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