Russian grammar

Russian grammar
Russian grammar (Russian: ,
; IPA:[ruskj rmatk]) encompasses:

IPA:[rmatk

ruskv jzka]; also

a highly inflexional 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 inflexional structure, although considerable adaption has
taken place.
The spoken language has been influenced by the literary one, but it continues to preserve some characteristic forms.
Russian dialects show various non-standard grammatical features, some of which are archaisms or descendants of
old forms discarded by the literary language.
NOTE: In the discussion below, various terms are used in the meaning they have in 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 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
recognized additional cases are locative ( , , ), partitive (, , ), and several
forms of vocative (, , ). 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. ( [dv stul], "two chairs", recategorized today as a
genitive singular), it has been lost.
There are no definite or indefinite articles (such as the, a, an in English) 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:
1. The use of a direct object in the genitive instead of the accusative in negation signifies that the noun is indefinite,
compare: " " ("I don't see a book" or "I don't see any book") and " " ("I don't see
the book").
2. The use of the numeral one sometimes signifies that the noun is indefinite, e.g.: " ?" - "
, , " ("Why did it take you so long?" - "Well, I met a friend and
had to talk").
3. Word order may also be used for this purpose, compare " " ("A boy rushed into the
room") and " " ("The boy rushed into the room").
4. The use of the plural form instead of the singular may signify that the noun is indefinite: "
." - " ." ("You can buy this in a shop." lit. "...in shops" - "You can buy this in
the shop.")
The category of animacy is relevant in Russian nominal and adjectival declension. Specifically, the accusative form
has two possible forms in many paradigms, 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

Russian grammar

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 feminine nouns ending by -/- (and several
masculine nouns having the same form as those of feminine gender, such as papa or uncle).
The third declension is used for feminine nouns ending in .
There are also several irregular "different-declension nouns" (Russian: ): few
neutral gender words ending - (e.g. "time") and one masculine word "way". But these words in their
forms have much enough similarity with female words of third declension, so some scholars like Litnevskaya[4]
consider them to be another gender forms of this declension, like it's written in the tables below.
Nouns ending on -, -, - (not to be mixed up with substantivated adjectives) are written with - instead of -
in Prepositive (since this ending is never stressed, there is no difference in pronunciation): -
"streaming - in lower streaming of a river". But if words and are
representing compound preposition meaning "while, during the time of", they are written with -: "in
a time of an hour". For nouns ending -, -, - using - in Prepositive (where endings of some of them are
stressed) is usually erroneus, but in poetic speech it may be acceptable (as we replace - with - for metric or
rhyming purposes): (F. Tyutchev).

First declension
Most first-declension nouns are feminine, some masculine. The same endings apply for both genders.
Singular

Plural

Nominative

-1

Genitive

-1

Dative

Accusative

N or G

Instrumental -2 -3 - - - -
Prepositional -

1. After a sibilant or a velar (, , or ) consonant, is written.

2. After a sibilant, is written when stressed; when unstressed.
3. After a soft consonant, is written when stressed; when unstressed.
Examples: - a work/job, - a bathhouse, - a book, - a line
Note: In Instrumental case of singular number you can also meet - and - endings instead of - and -.

Russian grammar

Singular

Plural

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Instrumental
Prepositional

Second declension - masculine nouns

Nouns ending in a consonant are marked in the following table with - (thus no ending).
Singular

Plural

Nominative

-1

Genitive

-2

-3

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental - -3 -3 - - - - -
Prepositional -

Notes:
1. After a sibilant (, , )[5] or a velar (, , or ) consonant, is written. And for some words ( ,
, etc.).
2. After a sibilant, is written.
3. After a soft consonant, is written when stressed; when unstressed.
Examples

- a film/movie, - a writer, - a hero, - a comment

Singular

Plural

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Instrumental
Prepositional

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Second declension - virtually entirely neuter nouns5

Singular

Plural

Nominative

-1

-2

Genitive

- / -4

Dative

Accusative

-1

-2

N or G

Instrumental -1 -2 - -
Prepositional -

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

-3

After a sibilant, is written when stressed; when unstressed.

After a soft consonant, is written when stressed; when unstressed.
For nouns ending in in the nominative singular, is written (but when stressed for the word ).
After a consonant use otherwise use .
Also: some masculine nouns ending in - in the nominative singular (); the only masculine noun ending
in - in this declension ().

Examples (n) a place, (n) a sea, (n) a building

Singular

Plural

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Instrumental
Prepositional

Third declension
Singular

Plural

Feminine Neuter

Masculine Feminine

Neuter

Masculine

Nominative

- /

- /

Genitive

- /

-(-) /

Dative

- /

-1

- /

Accusative

- /

N or G

- /

Instrumental -

- /

-1 () - /

Prepositional -

- /

-1

1. After a sibilant, is written.

Examples: (f) a bone, (f) a mouse, (n) a name

- /

Russian grammar

Singular

Plural

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Instrumental
Prepositional

Irregular forms of plural

There are various kinds of irregularities in forming the plural. Some words form the plural in an irregular way, and a
few use suppletion: using a different root altogether. Historically, some of these irregularities come from older
declensional patterns that have become mostly obsolete in modern Russian.
Singular

Plural

Change of root
(m) (child)

(m) (man, human)

, for animals' children

(m) (boy)

(m) (calf)

(m) (wolf cub)

Old imparisyllabic nouns (gets a suffix)

(n) (miracle)

(n) (sky)

(f) (mother)

(f) (daughter)

(m) (son)

(m) (godfather)

Remnants of the dual number

(n) (knee)

(n) (shoulder)

(n) (ear)

(n) (eyelid)

(n) (apple, eyeball)

Plural in -/
(m) (brother)

(m) (baulk, timber)

(m) (count)

(f) (bunch)

(m) (brother-in-law)

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6
(n) (tree)

(n) (bottom)

(m) (friend)

(n) (link)

(m) (son-in-law)

(m) (wedge)

(m) (shred, scrap)

(m) (prince)

(m) (stake)

(m) (ear of a plant)

(n) (wing)

(m) (leaf, sheet)

(m) (husband)

(n) (feather)

(n) (baulk, log)

(m) (runner, coluber)

(n) (broom)

(m) (twig)

(m) (confrere, fellow)

(m) (scab)

(m) (chair)

(m) (branch)

(m) (awl)

(m) (brother-in-law)

- / -
(n) (ship)

Looses a suffix
(m) (flower)

(flowers) / (burgeons)

1. If the word has lexical mean paper, then its decline is normal ( ), if it has lexical mean
leaf (of the tree), then .

Undeclined nouns
Some nouns (from ones borrowed from another languages, abbreviated or so on) are not modified while changing
number and case role. This appears mostly when their gender appears to have no ending in any declension which
suits final part of the word: these are masculine names on vowel different from -/-, female names on hard
consonant (names like "Trish" won't take the soft sign to go into third declension like native "mouse").
Most borrowed words ending in Russian on /, , , and stressed are not declined:[6] , (French:
paletot), etc. Most abbreviations are undeclined (one exception is ). Many people also think that Georgian
surnames on - like (Georgian: ) shouldn't be declined since they are originally something like
Russian possessive genitives.

Russian grammar

Adjectives
A Russian adjective ( ) is usually placed before the noun it qualifies, and it agrees with the noun
in case, gender, and number. With the exception of a few invariant forms borrowed from other languages, such as
'beige' or 'khaki',[7] most adjectives follow one of small number of regular declension patterns, except that
some of them have difficulty with making the short form. In modern Russian the short form appears only in the
nominative and is used when the adjective is in a predicative role; formerly (as in the bylinas) there were all other
forms and roles of short adjectives, which are not used in modern language, but are immediately understandable to
Russian speakers as they follow the same pattern as nouns of the corresponding gender.[8]
Adjectives may be divided into three general groups:
Qualitative () denote quality of the object; only they are usual to have degrees of comparison.
Relational () denote taking part in some relation; unlikely to act as a predicate and to have a
short form.
Possessive () denote belonging to a specific subject; have some declensional specialities.

Adjectival declension
The pattern described below suits for full forms of most adjectives, except possessive ones; it is also used for
substantivated adjectives as and for adjectival participles.
Singular

Plural

Masc. Fem. Neut.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G -

N or G

Instrumental -

Prepositional -

After a sibilant or velar consonant, , instead of , is written.

When a masculine adjective ends in -, the - is stressed.
After a sibilant consonant, neuter adjectives end in . It is sometimes called the rule.
Accusative in the masculine gender and in plural depends on animacy, as for nouns.
Instrumental feminine ending -/ has alternative form -/ for all adjectives, which has only stylistical
difference.

Russian differentiates between hard-stem (as above) and soft-stem adjectives. Note the following:
Masculine adjectives ending in the nominative in and neuters in are declined as follows: (read: ),
, , and .
Feminine adjectives in are declined and .
Plural adjectives in are declined , , and .
Case endings -/- are to be read as -/.
Examples:

Russian grammar

new
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

- blue
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

tall
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

Russian grammar

good
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

big
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

Before 1917, adjectival declension looked quite different, at least in written speech; for example, there were special
feminine plural forms, quite like in French. In modern editions of classical poetry some elements of this system are
still used if they are important for rhyme or metrics. A notable example is ending - (bisyllabic) instead of -
(unisillabic) for genitive single female adjectives, which were considered bookish and deprecated even in the times
of Alexandr Pushkin but were still used by him in lines such as ( ,
IV, L).

Comparison of adjectives
Comparison forms are usual only for qualitative adjectives and adverbs. Comparative and superlative synthetic forms
are not part of the paradigm of original adjective but are different lexical items, since not all qualitative adjectives
have them. Few adjectives have irregular forms which are declined as usual adjectives: 'big'
'bigger', 'good' 'better'. Most synthetically derived comparative forms are derived by adding -
or - to adjective stem: 'red' 'more red'; these forms are difficult to distinguish from adverbs,
and probably they are adverbs. Superlative synthetic forms are derived by adding suffix -- or -- and
additionally sometimes prefix -, or using special comparative form with -: 'kind' 'the
kindest', 'big' 'the biggest'.
Another way of comparison are analytical forms with adverbs 'more' / 'less' and 'most' /
'most' / 'least': 'kind' 'kinder' 'the kindest'. This way
is rarely used if special comparative forms exists.

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10

Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are used in Russian to a less extent than in most other Slavic languages, but are still in use.
They answer on the questions ? ? ? ? (whose?) and denote only animated possessors. Alternative for
possessive adjectives are possessive genitives which are used much more commonly. There are three suffixes to
form them: -/, -/ and -.
Suffix -/ is used to form adjective from a word denoting single human which is masculine and ends on
consonant; selection depends on if the stem hard or soft. Suffix -/ is similar but is attached to feminine words or
masculine ending in -/. Both types are more common in spoken language than in literary (though being accepteble
in both styles) and generally are forms of kinship therms, given names and their diminitives:
'mom's', 'father's', 'Sasha's' /for diminitives from both Alexandr and Alexandra/.
Words of this type also are common as Russian surnames, like (derived from 'gun' which used to be
a nickname).
Adjectives on - and - are declined via mixed declension: some of their forms are nominal, some are adjectival,
and some are ambivalent.

mom's
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

, ,

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

Adjectives on - (speaking about suffix, not case ending; before wovels, this suffix deceases to single sound /j/ and
is written as ) are used for deriving adjectives mostly from animal species (in Old Russian language, this suffix
derived possessive adjectives from plural possessors): 'fox' 'of a fox', 'likely for a fox'. Declension of
such adjectives is nominal in nominative and accusative (except masculine and plural animated accusative) and
adjectival for other forms.

- fox's
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

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11

Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Singular
1st

Plural

2nd

3rd

1st

Reflexive

2nd

3rd

Masc. Fem. Neut.

(English)

you

he

she

it

we

you

they

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

()

Instrumental
()

()

Prepositional

XXXself

()

Russian is subject to T-V distinction. The respectful form of the singular you is the same as the plural form. It
begins with a capital letter: , , etc. in following situations: personal letters and official papers
(addressee is definite), and questionnaires (addressee is indefinite), otherwise it begins with minuscule. Compare
the distinction between du and Sie in German or tu/toi and vous in French
When a preposition is used directly before a 3rd-person pronoun, - is prefixed: (read: ), , etc.
Because the prepositional case always occurs after a preposition, the third person prepositional always starts with
an -.
Like adjectives and numerals, letter "" (g) in genitive and accusative form is pronounced as "" (v) /
/.

Demonstrative pronouns
('this') and ('that')
Masc.

Neut.

Fem.

Plur.

Masc. Neut. Fem.

Plur.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

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12

Possessive adjectives and pronouns

Unlike English, Russian uses the same form for a possessive adjective and the corresponding possessive pronoun.
The following rules apply:
Possessive adjectives agree with the noun of the possessed in case, gender, and number.
The reflexive adjective or pronoun is used when the possessor is the subject of the clause, whatever the
person, gender, and number of that subject.
No non-reflexive adjective or pronoun exists for the 3rd person: the genitive of the personal pronoun is instead,
i.e. for a masc./neut. sing. possessor, for a fem. sing. possessor and for a plural possessor. But unlike
other genitives used with a possessive meaning, in modern Russian these words are usually placed before the
object of possession.
Example of the difference between reflexive and non-reflexive pronouns:
= He loves his (own) wife while = He loves his (someone
else's) wife.
Unlike Latin where a similar rule applies for the third person only, Russian accepts using reflexives for all
persons:
= I love my wife
= I love myself

(my, mine)
(your, yours) for a singular possessor
(my, mine, your, yours, one's, his, her, its, our, ours, your, yours, their) for a subject possessor
Masc.

Neut.

Fem.

Plur.

Masc.

Neut.

Fem.

Plur.

Masc.

Neut.

Fem.

Plur.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

N or G

N or G

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

The ending - is pronounced as -.

(our, ours)
(your, yours) for a plural possessor
Masc.

Neut.

Fem.

Plur.

Masc.

Neut.

Fem.

Plur.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

The ending - is pronounced as -.

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13

Interrogative pronouns
('who') and ('what')

Nominative

(read: )

Genitive

(read: ) (read: )

Dative

Accusative

(read: ) (read: )

Instrumental

Prepositional

('whose')
masculine neuter feminine plural
Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

The ending - is pronounced as -.

Numerals

Nouns are used in the nominative case after "one"

( , 'one ruble').

After certain other numbers (following

Grammatical number rules in Russian) nouns
must be declined to genitive plural (
, 'ten rubles').

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14
Cardinal Numbers

Ordinal Numbers
(Nominative case, masculine)

or

(m.), (f.), (n.), (pl.) ( is used when counting)

(m., n.), (f.)

10

Declension of numerals
Declension of numerals and numeral constructions in Russian is a complicated thing, sometimes difficult to do
correctly even for native speakers.
Different Russian numerals have very different types of declension. The word "" (one) is declined by number,
(in singular) gender and case. The word "" (two) is declined by gender and case, all other numbers have only case
to decline by. The words for 50, 60, 70, 80, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 900 are unique for Russian as declined not
only with ending in their end, but also with part of word in their middle (since they are originally composed from
two words): Nom. (50) - Gen. etc. (compare - "five tens").
In the nominative case, case and number of noun is determined by number. In all other cases, noun and number take
both this case.
Compound number phrases are created without any unions: "153 fishes". All numerals are
declined contemporary (in spoken language not always); form of the noun is defined in Nominative by the last word
(the least order, (3) in the example).

('one')
Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

Plural

N or G

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15

('two')
m, n

Nominative
Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

('three'), ('four)
three

four

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

('five'), ('six'), ('seven'), ('eight'), ('nine'), ('ten')

five

six

seven

eight

nine

ten

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G N or G

N or G N or G

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100

20

30

40

50

70

80

90

100

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Instrumental

Prepositional

60

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16

200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Instrumental

Prepositional

Examples
126 947

32 194

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

Instrumental
Prepositional

Ordinal numerals
Ordinal numbers have grammatically no differences with adjectives. While forming them, upper three orders of
numerals are agglutinated to nearest dividing power of 1000, which results in constructing some of the longest
natural Russian words, e.g. (153,000-th), while the next is
(153,001-st). In the latter example, only the last word is declined with noun.

Fractions
Fractions are formed as: (how much parts), expressed by cardinal number in case of the phrase, plus (of how
numerous parts), expressed by ordinal number; the construction is formed as like it were related to word "part"
(grammatically feminine), which is usually omitted. Noun to such construction always comes in Genitive single, also
as like it belonged to word : "92/50 tons". If an integer precedes a fraction,
it's bound to it usually with union "", while the noun remains in Genitive: "23/8 turns".
Fractions 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 have proper names (nouns) , and , which are used instead of
ordinal numbers; 1/2 and 1/4 are also often added with preposition "", while form of noun appears to be related to
the integer part rather than to the fraction: "101/4 turns". To read decimal fractions,[9]
one must make a simple conversion of them to simple ones: 2,71828 = 2+71828/100000
. After integer in such cases is often used word
(substantiated adjective "full, integer", which also refers to omitted word and thus is feminine): ()
(union is often omitted; word can appear
also in naming "naturally" simple fractions: for 23/8). Zero before comma is often read:
0,01 =0+1/100 . Informally, decimal fractional part can be read more conveniently as
sequence of simple digits and numbers: -- .
There is a special word for 1,5 - (female , in oblique cases ); 150 thus may be named not
only but informally also . Also there is prefix - for "half" of something: -,

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17

(half of a lemon, a pear); these words are not declined.

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). Verbs and
participles can be reflexive, i.e. have reflexive suffix -/- appended after ending.
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 [bt] (like the perfect passive tense in Latin), "to
be", which is now omitted except for rare archaic effect, usually in set phrases (
[tkud jest pla zmla ruskj], "whence is come the Russian land", the opening of the Primary Chronicle in
modern spelling). The participle nature of past tense forms is exposed also in that they often have extra suffix vowel
which is absent in present/future; the same vowel appears in infinitive form which is considered by few scholars not
to be verbal (and in the past it surely used to be a noun) but in which verbs appear in most dictionaries: "to
walk" - "(he) walked" - "I walk".
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 ( [ on pjdi d sk],
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, the other with
perfective ( ) or completed aspect, usually formed with a (prepositional) prefix, but occasionally
using a different root. E.g., [spat] ('to sleep') is imperfective; [pspat] ('to take a nap') is perfective.
The present tense of the verb is today normally used only in the
third-person singular form , which is often used for all the persons
and numbers.[10] 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 (
[blin]) or oral folk-epics, which were transcribed at that time. The
paradigm shows as well as anything else the Indo-European affinity of
Russian:
This protest sign shows the lack of the "to be"
verb () in the present tense (
, The Russian language is not
foreign).

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18

English
"I am"

Russian
()

IPA

Latin Classical Greek Sanskrit

[jesm]

sum

eimi

smi

"you are" (sing.) ()

[jes]

es

ei

si

"he, she, it is"

[jest]

est

esti(n)

sti

"we are"

()

[jsm] sumus esmen

sma

"you are" (plur.) ()

[jeste]

estis

este

sta

"they are"

[sut]

sunt

eisi(n)

snti

()

Infinitive
The Infinitive in Russian has the suffix - or -, or ends with - (but - is not a suffix of a verb) (-//
respectively is added after it). It is the basic form of a verb for most purposes of study.

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, -, or -, or in - when preceded by a sibilant:
-/-, -, -, -, -, -/-
-/- is used after a hard consonant or , , or ; otherwise -/- is used.
A mutating final consonant may entail a change in the ending.
becomes when stressed.
The second conjugation (II) involves verb stems ending in - or -, and in - when not preceded by a sibilant:
-/-, -, -, -, -, -/
-/- is used after a hard consonant or , , or ; otherwise -/- is used.
Similar to the first conjugation, a mutating final consonant may entail a change in the ending.
Example: -- --, -- [pprsit, ppru, pprost] (to have solicited [I,
they] will have solicited).
Examples

First conjugation
('to read', stem: )

I read (am reading, do read)

you read (are reading, do read)

// he/she/it reads (is reading, does read)

we read (are reading, do read)

you (plural/formal) read (are reading, do read)

they read (are reading, do read)

Russian grammar

19

First conjugation: verbs ending by -

('to return [something]', stem: )

I will return

you will return

//

he/she/it will return

we will return

you will return

they will return

First conjugation: verbs ending by -, -

('to draw', stem: -)

('to spit', stem: -)

('to dance', stem: -)

//

//

//

First conjugation: verbs ending by -

(can, stem: -/-)

(to bake, stem: -/-)

I can

I bake

you can

you bake

// he/she/it can // he/she/it bakes

we can

you (all) can

you (all) bake

they can

they bake

we bake

First conjugation (verbs ending by -, -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

//

//

//

//

//

Russian grammar

20

First conjugation (verbs ending by -, -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

//

//

First conjugation: verbs ending by -

(to wash, stem: -)

I wash

you wash

// he/she/it washes

we wash

you (all) wash

they wash

First conjugation (verbs , , , )

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

('to drink', stem: -)

I drink

you drink

//

//

//

// he/she/it drinks

we drink

you (all) drink

they drink

First conjugation (verbs , , )

('to live', stem: -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

I live

you live

// he/she/it lives //

//

we live

you (all) live

they live

Russian grammar

21

Second conjugation
('to speak', stem: -)

I speak (am speaking, do speak)

you speak (are speaking, do speak)

// he/she/it speaks (is speaking, does speak)

we speak (are speaking, do speak)

you (plural/formal) speak (are speaking, do speak)

they speak (are speaking, do speak)

Second conjugation (verbs ending by -, -, -, -)

('to love', stem: -)

('to catch', stem: -)

('to heat, stem: -)

('to feed', stem: -)

I love

you love

// he/she/it loves //

//

//

we love

you (all) love

they love

Second conjugation (verbs ending by -, -, -, -, -)

(, stem: -)

(, stem: -)

('to pay', stem:

-)

('to go [to walk]',

stem: -)

(, stem: -)

I pay

you pay

//

//

//

he/she/it
pays

//

//

we pay

you (all)
pay

they pay

Russian grammar

22

Past tense
The Russian past tense is gender specific: for masculine singular subjects, for feminine singular subjects,
for neuter singular subjects, and for plural subjects. This gender specificity applies to all persons; thus, to say "I
slept", a male speaker would say , while a female speaker would say .
Examples

the verbs (to do, to make)

Masculine Past Form

I made (says a man)

Feminine Past Form

you made (is said to a man)

he made

Neuter Past Form

Plural Past Form

I made (says a woman)

we made

you made (is said to a woman)

you (all) made

she made

it made they made

Exceptions

Verbs ending by -, -, -, -
Infinitive Present Stem

Past Forms

, , ,

, , ,

, , ,

, , ,

, , ,

, , ,

, , ,

Verbs ending by -
Infinitive Present Stem

Past Forms

-/-

, , ,

-/-

, , ,

Verbs ending by -
Infinitive

Past Forms
, , ,

Russian grammar

23

The verb (to go, to walk) and verbs ending by -

Infinitive

Past Forms

(to go)

, , ,

(to go away) , , ,
(to find)

, , ,

(to pass)

, , ,

(to come) , ,
(to go out) , , ,

The verb (to eat)

Infinitive

Past Forms
, , ,

Moods
Russian verbs can form three moods (): indicative (), conditional () and
imperative ().
Imperative Mood
The imperative mood second person singular is formed from future-present base of most verbs by adding -
(stressed ending in present-future or if base ends on more than one consonant), - (unstressed ending, base on one
consonant) or - (unstressed ending, base on vowel). Plural (including polite ) second-person form is made by
adding - to singular one: 'I speak' - - , 'I shall forget' - - , 'I
glue' - - . Some verbs have first-person plural imperative form with - added to similar simple future or
present tense form: 'let us go'. There are other ways of expressing command in Russian; for third person,
for example, particle with future can be used: ! 'Let them shut up!'.[11]
Infinitive Present Stem Imperative (2 pers. sing) Imperative (2 pers. plur)

Russian grammar

24

Subjunctive Mood
The subjunctive mood in Russian is formed by adding the particle after the word which marks the supposed
subject into a sentence formed like in the past tense. Thus, to say "I would (hypothetically) sleep" or "I would like to
sleep", a male speaker would say (or ), while a female speaker would say (or
).

The verb '' (to say)

Masculine Past Form

Feminine Past Form

Neuter Past Form

Plural Past Form

I would say (says a male

speaker)

I would say (says a female

speaker)

we would say

you would say (is said to a

male speaker)

you would say (is said to a

female speaker)

you (all)
would say

he would say

she would say

they would
say

it would
say

Negative Forms
Masculine Past Form

Feminine Past Form

Neuter Past Form

Plural Past Form

I wouldn't say (says a male

speaker)

I wouldn't say (says a

female speaker)

we wouldn't
say

you wouldn't say (is said

to a male speaker)

you wouldn't say (is said to

a female speaker)

you (all)
wouldn't say

he wouldn't say

she wouldn't say

they wouldn't
say

it wouldn't
say

Verbs of Motion
Verbs of motion (also referred to as VoM) are a very unique class of verbs found in several Slavic languages. These
verbs are highly emphasized in the second-language learning literature due to their confusing nature for non-native
learners. These verbs are all semantically related to movement actions, such as walking, swimming, or flying, but are
unique in that they form verbal pairs not based upon imperfective or perfect aspect, as typical verbs do, but
depending on the directionality of the verbs. All un-prefixed verbs of motion are in the imperfective case. Verbs of
motion can be either unidirectional or multidirectional (also known as determinate or indeterminate, definite or
indefinite, and unidirectional or non-unidirectional). The following table shows the list of the 18 accepted pairs of
verbs of motion in the Russian language, adapted from Gagarina (2009).

Russian grammar

25

English Verb

Russian Equivalent Unidirectional Russian Equivalent Multidirectional

run

go, wander

carry-by-vehicle, transport

drive, lead

drive, chase

drive-reflexive

go-by-vehicle, ride

go-on-foot, walk

roll

roll-reflexive

climb

or

fly

carry

hurry, rush

swim, float

crawl, creep

drag

go slowly

As the verbs in the chart demonstrate, these verbs are characterized as either encoding just the direction of motion,
such as beat to run in one direction, or encoding direction of motion and type of motion, such as ehat to go by
vehicle in one direction. In every pair the two verbs differ depending on their directionality, either unidirectional or
multidirectional. Unidirectional verbs denote motion going in only one direction, meaning the one-time motion from
a source towards a goal. Multidirectional verbs, however, have several meanings. Multidirectional verbs can refer to:
1) roundtrips, meaning movement from a source to a specific goal and back to the source, 2) random motion or
movement in multiple directions, rather than only one direction, 3) repeated motion, such as a movement that takes
place everyday, 4) the ability to perform a movement in a certain way. The following example adapted from Gor,
Cook, Malyushenkova, & Vdovina (2009) shows the distinction between a unidirectional and a multidirectional
verb.
(1) .
Ja xodil na potu.
I went-MULTI to the post office.
I went to the post office and came back.
(2) .
Ja el na potu.
I went-UNI to the post office.
I was on my way to the post office.
Many second-language learners of Russian have difficulty with this type of contrast between verbs that denote
roundtrip, as in sentence (1), and one-direction motion, as in sentence (2), because non-Slavic languages, such as
English, do not grammaticalize the unidirectional and multidirectional distinction. Learners of Russian must learn
the correct contexts for when to use verbs of motion; for example, a unidirectional verb in the past, as in sentence

Russian grammar

26

(2), often refers to an action in one direction that is interrupted, while the multidirectional verb in sentence (1) would
refer to an entire sequence of motion (going and returning) that is completed. In addition to the 18 pairs of
un-prefixed verbs of motion which occur above, there are also numerous prefixed verbs of motion that can occur.
The addition of a prefix to a verb of motion can cause both semantic and aspectual changes to the verb. When a
spatial prefix is added to a unidirectional verb of motion, the verb becomes perfective, whereas spatially prefixed
multidirectional verbs remain imperfective. This creates new aspectual pairs of verbs, such as priletet (perfective) priletat (imperfective), meaning to arrive by plane. In addition to the spatial prefix pri-, which denotes arrival,
there are several other spatial prefixes that can be added to verbs of motion to create new verbs, such as v- (enter),
vy- (exit), do- (reach a goal), ot- (move away), pod- (approach), and u- (depart), amongst others. However, when a
temporal or resultive prefix, most frequently the prefix po-, is added to either a unidirectional or multidirectional
verb of motion, both verbs become perfective. For example both the verbs poehat and poezdit , meaning to
go-by-vehicle or to ride, are perfective verbs, although they maintain their directionality distinction, unidirectional
and multidirectional, respectively.

Adjectival participle
Russian adjectival participles can be active or passive; have perfective or imperfective mood; imperfective
participles can have present or past tense, while perfective ones in classical language can be only past.[12] As
adjectives, they are declined by case, number and gender. If adjectival participles are derived from reciprocal verbs,
they have suffix - appended after the adjectival ending; this suffix in participles never takes the short form.
Participles are often difficult to distinguish from verb-derived adjectives (this is important for some cases of
orthography). Some words are obviously participles but have no corresponding verb: e.g. the nineteenth-century
judicial term is not derived from the (non-existent) verb *, but from
the adverb plus (participle from the verb ).
Active Present Participle
, , The people living in this city are very kind and
responsible.
In order to form the Active Present Participle you should replace the "" of the 3-rd pers. plur. of the Present Tense
by "" and add a necessary adjective ending:
(to do, to make) (they do/make) (doing, making)
Masculine form
Feminine form

Neuter form

Plural form

Note: Only imperfective verbs can have an Active Present Participle.

Russian grammar

27

Examples
Infinitive

3-rd person
Active Pres. Part.
sing.
(Present Tense)

First conjugation
(to have)

(to write)

(to conceal)

(to draw)

(to lead)

(to bake)

(to live)

(to love)

(to break)

(to go)

(to drink)

(to wash)

(to shave)

(to sing)

(to give)

(to press)

(to sink)

(to hear)

(to cost)

(to stand)

(to want)

(to run)

(to eat)

(to be)

Second conjugation

Other verbs

(*) Note: These forms are obsolete in modern Russian and they aren't used in the spoken language as forms of the
verb 'to be'.

Russian grammar

28

Active Present Participle Declension

- doing/making
Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

Reflexive Verbs Paradigm

- being done/being made

Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

The participle agrees in gender, case and number with the word it refers to:
, I dedicate this song to the people living in our city.
, Im proud with the people living in our city.
Active Past Participle
Active Past Participle is used in order to indicate actions that happened in the past: , ,
The girl, that read a book here, forgot her phone (the girl read its book in the past).
Compare: , , The girl reading a book here is my sister (she is reading
a book now, in present).
In order to form the Active Past Participle you should replace the infinitive ending '-' by the suffix '--' and add
an adjective ending:
(to do, to make)

Russian grammar

29

Masculine form
Feminine form

Neuter form

Plural form

Examples
Infinitive
'(to have)'

Active Past Part.

'(to draw)'
'()'

'(to love)'

'(to write)'

'()'

'()'

'(to wash)'

'(to give)'

'()'

'(to become)'

'(to live)'

Exceptions
Infinitive

Past Tense Active Past Part.

(masc. form)

Some verbs ending by consonant +

()

()

()

Verbs ending by -
()

Verbs ending by -
()

()

()

()

()

(to grow)

Verbs ending by -
(to help)

(to bake)

Russian grammar

30
Verbs ending by -
(to die)

(to lock)

()

The verb
()
The verb
(to go)

Active Past Participle Declension

Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

Reflexive Verbs Paradigm

- being done/being made

Singular

Plural

Masc.

Fem.

Neut.

Nominative

Genitive

Dative

Accusative

N or G

N or G

Instrumental

Prepositional

Russian grammar

31

Passive Present Participle

to discuss being discussed
In order to form the Passive Present Participle its necessary to add an adjective ending to the 1-st plural of the
Present Tense:
(to leave) (we leave)
Masculine form
Feminine form

Neuter form

Plural form

Examples
Infinitive

1-rd person
Passive Pres. Part.
plur.
(Present Tense)

()

()

()

()

()

Exceptions
Infinitive

Present stem Passive Past Part.

Verbs ending by -
()

Verbs ending by -, -, -, -
()

()

()

()

()

()

These participles are hardly ever used in modern Russian. Normally, they are replaced by reflexive active present
participles:
instead of being drawn, drawable
instead of being washed
The forms ending by - are mostly obsolete. Only the forms (from to lead) and
(from to search, to look for) are used in spoken language as adjectives:
a slave man
the unknown quantity

Russian grammar

32

Passive Past Participle

to do/to make (perfective verb) done/made
Passive Past Participles are formed by means of the suffixes -- or -- from the infinitive stem of perfective
verbs. Besides that, this kind of participle can have short forms formed by means of the suffixes -- or --:
(to write) (written) / (short form)
(to kill) (killed) / (short form)
Full form

Short form

Masculine
Feminine

Neuter

Plural

Full form Short form

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Plural

(to write) (written) / (short form)

(to kill) (killed) / (short form)
Full form

Short form

Masculine
Feminine

Neuter

Plural

Full form Short form

Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

Plural

Russian grammar

33

Participle Forming Models

Infinitive

Participle

Shoft forms

Verbs in -, -, - with a Present stem ending by a vowel

(to do, do make)

(to change)

(to draw)

(to hear)

(to write)

Verbs ending by - and - referred to the second conjugation

()

(to see)

()

(to pay)

()

, , ,

(to ask)

(to forgive)

, , ,

()

(to install, to setup)

()

, , ,

(to buy)

Verbs ending by -, -, - or -
()

()

(to read)

, , ,

()

, , ,

()

, , ,

()

, , ,

()

, , ,

()

, , ,

(to bake)

, , ,

()

, , ,

Verbs ending by -

Verbs ending by -
(ro find)
Verbs ending by -
()
Verbs ending by -
()
Verbs ending by -

Russian grammar

34
(to wash)

(to forget)

Verbs ending by , , , ,
(to kill)

Adverbial participle
Adverbial participles () are not declined, quite like usual adverbs. They inherit the aspect of their verb;
imperfective ones are usually present, while perfective ones can be only past (since they denote action performed by
the subject, the tense corresponds to time of action denoted by verb). Almost all Russian adverbial participles are
active; to form passive constructions, adverbial participle forms of verb (past , present ) may be
used with either adjectival participle in instrumental case ( ,
Combatant, being wounded, remained in the row), or short adjective in nominative ( ,
Having been punished once, he didn't do it any more).
Present adverbial participles are formed by adding suffix -/- (sometimes -/- which is usually deprecated) to
present tense stem. Few of past participles (mainly of intransitive verbs of motion) are formed in similar manner.
Most past adverbial participles are formed with suffix - (alternative form -, always used before -), some with
stem ending on consonant with -. Reciprocal ones have suffix - at their very end (in poetry can appear as -).
Adverbial participles in standard Russian are believed to be feature of bookish speech; in colloquial language they
are usually replaced with single adjectival participles or constructions with verbs: ,
(I had dinner and went for a walk). But in some dialects adverbial and adjectival
participles are common to produce perfect forms which are not distinguished in literary Russian; e.g. "I haven't eaten
today" will be " " instead of " ".

Adverbial participles
Infinitive

Present tence verb

Present adverbial participle

Past adverbial participle

(to think, impf.)

()

(to say, pf.)

()

(to be learning, impf.)

()

(to learn, pf.)

(to enter, pf.)

(,

(to weave, pf.)

()

(to ride/to drive, impf.)

(, )

()

Irregular verbs

[]

[13]

[14]

</ref>

Russian grammar

35

Russian verb paradigm

1

English

take

see

give

give
(pf.)

eat

live

call

go

write

1st sg

2nd sg

3rd sg

1st pl

2nd pl

3rd pl

Past

Imperative

Present Active Participle

Past Active Participle

Past Passive Participle

Past Passive Participle (Short

Forms)

Present Adverbial Participle

Past Adverbial Participle

These verbs all have a stem change.

These verbs are palatalised in certain cases, namely for all the present forms of "", and in the
first person singular of the other verbs.
3
These verbs do not conform to either the first or second conjugations.
2

Passive Voice
Russian language has two types of Passive voice: analytic and inflectional.
The inflectional type is formed by a noun or pronoun in the genitive case (, , ..) and a third-person
verb: Future progressive: (I will be being killed) or ((They) Will be killing me) Future perfect:
(I will be killed) or ((They) Will kill me) Present: (I am being killed) or ((They) Are
killing me) Past simle: (I was being killed) or ((They) Were killing me) Past perfect: (I
have been killed) ) or (They) have killed me)
The analytic type is formed by a noun or pronoun in the nominative case, followed by "" - "to be" to indicate
tense, followed by a short-form adjective (in English - Participle II) Future perfect: (I will be killed)
Present: (I am killed) Past Simple: (I was killed)

Russian grammar

36

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 inflectional forms may also have a special connotation. For example:

[msl]

"thought"

[mslik]

"a petty, cute or a silly thought"

[msli]

"a thought of fundamental import"

[mlenj]

"thought; abstract thinking, ratiocination"

[mslit]

"to think (as to cogitate)"

[smsl]

"meaning"

[smslt]

"to comprehend; to rationalize"

[smslivt]

"to be in the process of comprehending"

[prsmslt]

"to reassess"

[prsmslvt]

"to be in the process of reassessing (something)"

[prsmslvjmj] "(something) in the process of being considered in a new light"

[bsmslts]

"nonsense"

[bsmslt]

"to render meaningless"

[bsmslnj]

"meaningless"

[bsmslnj]

"rendered meaningless"

[nbsmslnj]

"not rendered meaningless"

Russian has also proven friendly to agglutinative compounds. As an extreme case:

[mtllombspetnj] "provision of scrap iron"

[mtllombspetnj] "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:
[kamnstrovskj prspkt] "Stone Island Avenue"

Some linguists have suggested that Russian agglutination stems from Church Slavonic. In the twentieth century,
abbreviated components appeared in the compound:
[uprvdom] = [uprvlajuj domm] "residence manager"

Russian grammar

Syntax
The basic word order, both in conversation and the written language, is subjectverbobject 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 " " ('I went to the shop') can be arranged
. (I went to the shop; I went to the shop.)
. (I to the shop went; approx. I am going out, my destination is the shop.)
. (Went I to the shop; two meanings: can be treated as a beginning of a narrated story: Went I
to the shop, and something happened. or a decision made by someone after a long contemplation: OK, I think I
will go the shop.)
. (Went to the shop I; rarely used, can be treated as a beginning of a line of a poem written in
amphibrach due to uncommon word order.)
. (To the shop I went; two meanings: can be used as a response: I went to the shop.
Sorry, where did you go? To the shopthats where I went. or an emphasis on the way of transportation: I
went to the shop on foot.)
. (To the shop went I; It was me who went to the shop.)
while maintaining grammatical correctness. Note, however, that the order of the phrase " " ("to the shop")
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. Note that some of these arrangements can describe present actions, not only
past (despite the fact that the verb is in the past).

Impersonal sentences
Russian is null-subject language it allows constructing sentences without subject (Russian:
). Some of them are disputed not to be really impersonal but to have oblique subject. One of possible
classification of such sentences distinguishes:
Subjectless impersonals
Such ones where no element could pretend to be a subject:
. 'It got dusky.'
. 'It's midnight in Moscow.'
They contain an impersonal verb (which is in form of single third-person or single neutral).
Dative impersonals
Usually express personal feelings, where experiencer in dative case can possibly be considered as subject:
dat. . 'I'm bored.'
Other impersonals
They have nominal element which is neither nominative nor dative, but also is a nominal verb argument:
acc. . 'I feel sick.'
acc. instr.. 'Vasya had an electrical shock.'

37

Russian grammar

38

Negation
Multiple negatives
Unlike in standard English, multiple negatives are compulsory in Russian, as in "
" [nkto nkda nkmu ntvo n prjt] ('No-one ever forgives anyone for anything' literally,
"no one never to no-one nothing does not forgive"). Usually, only one word in a sentence has negative particle or
prefix "" or belongs to negative word "", while another words have negation-affirmative particle or prefix "";
but this word can often be easily omitted, and thus becomes the signal of negation: and
both mean "there is nobody around".
Adverbial answers
[citation needed]

Adverbial answers to an affirmative sentence

As a one-word answer to an affirmative sentence, yes translates and no does , as shown by the table below.
[citation needed]

Answer to an affirmative sentence

English

Russian

First
speaker

Its raining

Agreeing with
speaker (rain is falling)

Yes
= its raining

Disagreeing with
No

speaker (rain is not falling) = its not raining =

Adverbial answers to a negative sentence [citation needed]

As a one-word answer to a negative sentence, yes translates and no does , as shown by the table below that
compares the English and Russian idioms with the French and Dutch three-adverb system.

Answer to a negative sentence

English

Russian

French

Dutch

First
speaker

Its not raining Il ne pleut pas

Het regent niet

Disagreeing with
speaker (rain is falling)

Yes
= it is raining

Ja
= het regent wel

Si
= il pleut

Agreeing with
No

Non
Nee
speaker (rain is not falling) = its not raining = = il ne pleut pas = het regent niet

Summary
This can be summarised by the table below. [citation needed]

Russian grammar

39

Russian English

Meaning
I agree with your statement

Yes

My own statement is positive

I disagree with your statement / My own statement is negative

No

My own statement is negative

Coordination
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 "", "", "..." (simultaneous negation),
, (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 , , , , , , etc.
They express the semantic relations of opposition, comparison, incompatibility, restriction, or compensation.
Separative coordinations are formed with the help of the separative conjunctions , , ..., ..., 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:

[i] "and", enumerative, complemental;

[a] "and", comparative, tending to "but";
[no] "but", oppositional;
[ib] (bookish, archaic) "for", clarifying.

The distinction between and is important. implies a following complemental state that does not oppose the
antecedent. implies a following state that acts in opposition to the antecedent, but more weakly than "but".

Russian grammar

40

The Catherine manuscript of the Song of Igor,

1790s

[ni ujxl]
[ m ujajm]

they have departed

and we are departing

[ni ujxl]
[ m ujajm]

they have departed,

while (but) we are (still) departing

,
[ni ujxl]
they have departed,
[no m prjajm] but we are arriving

The distinction between and developed after medieval times. Originally, and were closer in meaning. The
unpunctuated ending of the Song of Igor illustrates the potential confusion. The final five words in modern spelling,
[knzjam slav drun min] 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.

Subordination
Complementizers (subordinating conjunctions, adverbs, or adverbial phrases) include:

[jesl] 'if' (meaning 'in case where' not meaning 'whether');

[ptmu t], [tak kak] 'because'
[tob], [dab] (bookish, archaic) 'so that'
, [posl tvo kk] 'after'
[xta] 'although'

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:
,
.

[vot tlvk]
[ptravj nddu]

Here (is) a man

who has lost (all) hope.
[lit. having lost hope]

Russian grammar

,
[ulaj p ordu vsda]
When I go for a walk in the city, I
. [stnavlvjus u rstralnx klon] always
pause by the Rostral Columns.
[lit. Walking in the city, I...]

Absolute construction
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 (
[putstvj s ptrbur v mskvu]), 1790:
, . [jeduu mne z jdrov, nut z msl mjej
n vxdil] "As I was leaving Yedrovo village, I could not stop thinking about Aniuta."

References
External links

Interactive On-line Reference Grammar of Russian (http://www.alphadictionary.com/rusgrammar/)

Wikibooks Russian (http://wikibooks.org/wiki/Russian)
Gramota.ru - dictionaries (http://gramota.ru)
Wiktionary has word entries in Cyrillic with meanings and grammatical analysis in English (http://en.
wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Russian_language)
Russian Wiktionary gives word meanings and grammatical analysis in Russian (http://ru.wiktionary.org)
Russian grammar overview with practice tests (http://www.practicerussian.com/Grammar/Grammar.aspx)
Over 400 links to Russian Grammar articles around the Net (http://www.russianresources.info/links.aspx/
grammar)
Free online Russian grammar book (http://wikitranslate.org/wiki/Russian_grammar_book) (with videos)

41

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Russian grammar Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=595995590 Contributors: 4pq1injbok, A. Parrot, A5b, Acsacal, Aeusoes1, AlexanderKaras, Alexey Feldgendler,
Alt6878ggtg, Altenmann, Altes, Alton, Andrei Knight, AndrewKnight, Andries, Apoivre, Asfarer, Atitarev, Avala, Awood711, Babajobu, BeingBeauteous, Beland, Benwing, BirdValiant,
Bobo192, Bogdangiusca, Bridesmill, CDN99, CG Allred, CapnPrep, Chameleon, Charlik, Chochopk, Chris83, Chrisandtaund, ChristopherWillis, CodeCat, CommonsDelinker, Credema, Cubbi,
Dale Chock, Danielsavoiu, Davidsarkisian, Dbachmann, Dcljr, DevilWearsJeans, Dino, DmitryKo, Dmn, Dnik, DopefishJustin, Dpv, Dryazan, Enot, Extreemator, Ezhiki, Facts707, Fadesga,
Fratrep, Freetiger18, Furrykef, GLaDOS, Gareth Griffith-Jones, Ghen, Gherkinmad, Giantantattack, GoingBatty, Greg.loutsenko, Guaka, H. Kelm, HazelAB, Heb-ru, Hellerick, Hhielscher,
Hippietrail, Hlodwig Fisher, Hvn0413, Hbus, I am One of Many, Ignatus, Imaginatorium, Interchange88, Ivan tambuk, Iwavns, JackofOz, Jobber, John M Baker, Jonesey95, JorisvS, Jwh,
Kbh3rd, King Mir, Kkm, Kku, Kwamikagami, LADave, Lothar von Richthofen, Mandarax, Marquetry28, Marxolang, Maunus, Maximus Rex, Mikus, Mogism, Monedula, Morent 342,
Movementarian, MuDavid, MusikAnimal, Natbrown, Neilm, Nlitement, Northamerica1000, Ohconfucius, Olaf Davis, OlegTar, Orenburg1, Physis, Piano non troppo, PlatypeanArchcow, Pne,
Poccil, RJM, Rich Farmbrough, Richwales, Roberts7, Ruakh, Ryan.cotterell, SFK2, SchreiberBike, Scottwilleke, Scwlong, Sellyme, Seu Eliseu, Shakura, SheDevil472, Shizhao, Sikon, Simonf,
Steinbach, Stephen MUFC, Stikko, StradivariusTV, Sullivan.t.j, Sundstrm, Sren, Tasc, TastyPoutine, Tat1642, TimNelson, Timwi, Tonymec, Tovarish2000, Ufwuct, VAP+VYK, Vedmin,
WidEyes, Wikignome1213, Woohookitty, Zero Thrust, , , , 316 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Rouble-1961-Paper-1-Reverse.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Rouble-1961-Paper-1-Reverse.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors:

File:Soviet Union-1953-Bonds-10-Obverse.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Soviet_Union-1953-Bonds-10-Obverse.png License: Public Domain Contributors:
EugeneZelenko
File:Meeting in Kharkov.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Meeting_in_Kharkov.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.5 Contributors: Gennadiy
Makarov
File:Song of Igor Catherine Manuscript.GIF Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Song_of_Igor_Catherine_Manuscript.GIF License: Public Domain Contributors:
Alt6878ggtg, Bogdangiusca, Colonies Chris, Krun

License
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