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Russian grammar 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.
Genders: 3, masculine, feminine, neuter
Numbers: 2, singular, plural
Definiteness: no distinction
Cases: 6, nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, prepositional, instrumental
Russian has three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Gender is assigned according to the ending.
end in | example | |
---|---|---|
masculine nouns | consonant | стол (table) |
-ь | автомобиль (car) | |
-й | ||
-ий | ||
feminine nouns | -а | книга (book) |
-я | неделя (week) | |
-ия | Англия (England) | |
-ь | тетрадь (exercise book) | |
neuter nouns | -о | письмо (letter) |
-е | поле (field) | |
-мя | время (time) |
There are no definite or indefinite articles in Russian. The definiteness of a noun is determined from the context in which that noun appears. For example, "паспорт" could mean either "the passport" or "a passport". There are however some means of expressing whether a noun is definite or indefinite. They are:
There are six cases in Russian: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, prepositional, and instrumental. 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, eg. (два стула [dvɐ ˈstulə], "two chairs", recategorized today as a genitive singular), it has been lost.
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.
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 | |
Accusative | N or G | N or G | |||||||
Genitive | -а | -я | -я | -ия | -ов2 | -ей | -ев3 | -иев | |
Dative | -у | -ю | -ю | -ию | -ам | -ям | -ям | -иям | |
Prepositional | -е | -е | -е | -ии | -ах | -ях | -ях | -иях | |
Instrumental | -ом | -ем3 | -ем3 | -ием | -ами | -ями | -ями | -иями |
Notes:
Singular | Plural | ||||
Nominative | -о1 | -е2 | -а | -я | |
Accusative | -о1 | -е2 | N or G | ||
Genitive | -а | -я | - | -й / -ь4 | |
Dative | -у | -ю | -ам | -ям | |
Prepositional | -е | -е3 | -ах | -ях | |
Instrumental | -ом1 | -ем2 | -ами | -ями |
Singular | Plural | ||||||
Nominative | -а | -я | -ия | -ы1 | -и | -ии | |
Accusative | -у | -ю | -ию | N1 or G | |||
Genitive | -ы1 | -и | -ии | - | -ь | -ий | |
Dative | -е | -е | -ии | -ам | -ям | -иям | |
Prepositional | -е | -е | -ии | -ах | -ях | -иях | |
Instrumental | -ой2 | -ей3 | -ией | -ами | -ями | -иями |
Singular | Plural | ||||
Feminine | Neuter | Feminine | Neuter | ||
Nominative | -ь | -мя | -и | -мена | |
Accusative | -ь | -мя | N or G | -мена | |
Genitive | -и | -мени | -ей | -мён | |
Dative | -и | -мени | -ям | -менам | |
Prepositional | -и | -мени | -ях | -менах | |
Instrumental | -ью | -менем | -ями | -менами |
Russian adjectives agree with the nouns they modify in gender, number, and case.
Singular | Plural | ||||
Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |||
Nominative | -ый | -ая | -ое | -ые | |
Accusative | N or G | -ую | -ое | N or G | |
Genitive | -ого | -ой | -ого | -ых | |
Dative | -ому | -ой | -ому | -ым | |
Prepositional | -ом | -ой | -ом | -ых | |
Instrumental | -ым | -ой | -ым | -ыми |
Russian differentiates between hard-stem (as above) and soft-stem adjectives. Note the following:
Singular | Plural | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |||
Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | ||||||
(English) | I | you (singular) | he | she | it | we | you (plural) | they |
Nominative | я | ты | он | она́ | оно́ | мы | вы | они́ |
Accusative | меня́ | тебя́ | его́ | её | его́ | нас | вас | их |
Genitive | меня́ | тебя́ | его́ | её | его́ | нас | вас | их |
Dative | мне | тебе́ | ему́ | ей | ему́ | нам | вам | им |
Prepositional | обо мне | о тебе́ | о нём | о ней | о нём | о наc | о вас | о них |
Instrumental | мной | тобо́й | им | ей | им | на́ми | ва́ми | и́ми |
этот "this" and тот "that"
masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | э́тот | это | э́та | э́ти | тот | то | та | те | |
Accusative | N or G | э́то | э́ту | N or G | N or G | то | ту | N or G | |
Genitive | э́того | э́того | э́той | э́тих | того́ | того́ | той | тех | |
Dative | э́тому | э́тому | э́той | э́тим | тому́ | тому́ | той | тем | |
Prepositional | об э́том | об э́том | об э́той | об э́тих | о том | о том | о той | о тех | |
Instrumental | э́тим | э́тим | э́той | э́тими | тем | тем | той | те́ми |
мой "my" and твой "your (sing.)"
masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | мой | моё | моя | мои | твой | твоё | твоя | твои | |
Accusative | N or G | моё | мою | N or G | N or G | твоё | твою | N or G | |
Genitive | моего | моего | моей | моих | твоего | твоего | твоей | твоих | |
Dative | моему | моему | моей | моим | твоему | твоему | твоей | твоим | |
Prepositional | о моём | о моём | о моей | о моих | о твоём | о твоём | о твоей | о твоих | |
Instrumental | моим | моим | моей | моими | твоим | твоим | твоей | твоими |
наш "our" and ваш "your (plur.)"
masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | наш | наше | наша | наши | ваш | ваше | ваша | ваши | |
Accusative | N or G | наше | нашу | N or G | N or G | ваше | вашу | N or G | |
Genitive | нашего | нашего | нашей | наших | вашего | вашего | вашей | ваших | |
Dative | нашему | нашему | нашей | нашим | вашему | вашему | вашей | вашим | |
Prepositional | о нашем | о нашем | о нашей | о наших | о вашем | о вашем | о вашей | о ваших | |
Instrumental | нашим | нашим | нашей | нашими | вашим | вашим | вашей | вашими |
кто "who" and что "what"
кто | что | |
---|---|---|
Nominative | кто | что |
Accusative | кого | что |
Genitive | кого | чего |
Dative | кому | чему |
Prepositional | о ком | о чём |
Instrumental | кем | чем |
чей "whose"
masculine | neuter | feminine | plural | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Nominative | чей | чьё | чья | чьи |
Accusative | N or G | чьё | чью | N or G |
Genitive | чьего | чьего | чьей | чьих |
Dative | чьему | чьему | чьей | чьим |
Prepositional | о чьём | о чьём | о чьей | о чьих |
Instrumental | чьим | чьим | чьей | чьими |
Cardinal Numbers
Ordinal Numbers Nominative case, masculine.
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 [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 русская земля [ɐˈtkudə jesʲtʲ pɐˈʂla ˈruskəjə zʲɪˈmlʲa], "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 [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 never used, 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
"I am" | (есмь) | [jesʲmʲ] | sum | eimi |
"you are" (sing.) | (еси) | [ˈjesʲɪ] | es | ei |
"he, she, it is" | есть | [jesʲtʲ] | est | esti |
"we are" | (есмы) | [ˈjɛsmɨ] | sumus | esmen |
"you are" (plur.) | (есте) | [jesʲtʲe] | estis | este |
"they are" | (суть) | [sutʲ] | sunt | eisi |
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:
The second conjugation (II) is used in verb stems ending in -и or -е, or in -а when 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 спала.
вернуть — to return [something] (stem: верн–)
person | singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | -у | я верну | -ём | мы вернём |
2nd | -ёшь | ты вернёшь | -ёте | вы вернёте |
3rd | -ёт | он, она, оно вернёт | -ут | они вернут |
читать — to read (stem: чита–)
person | singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | -ю | я читаю | -ем | мы читаем |
2nd | -ешь | ты читаешь | -ете | вы читаете |
3rd | -ет | он, она, оно читает | -ют | они читают |
говорить — to speak (stem: говор–)
person | singular | plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1st | -ю | я говорю | -им | мы говорим |
2nd | -ишь | ты говоришь | -ите | вы говорите |
3rd | -ит | он, она, оно говорит | -ят | они говорят |
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
вести (вед–) — to lead
жить (жив–) — to live
звать (зов–) — to call
давать (да–) — to give
идти (ид–) — to go
писать (пиш-) — to write (notice the с becomes a ш)
The following verbs endings do not conform to the first or second conjugations.
дать — to give
есть — to eat
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
ездить (езд–) — to travel
видеть (вид–) — to see
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 | [mɨsʲlʲ] | "thought" |
мыслишка | [mɨˈsʲlʲiʂkə] | "a petty, cute or a silly thought" |
мыслища | [mɨˈsʲlʲiɕːə] | "a thought of fundamental import" |
мышление | [mɨˈʂlʲenʲɪjɪ] | "thought; abstract thinking, ratiocination" |
мыслить | [ˈmɨsʲlʲɪtʲ] | "to think (as to cogitate)" |
смысл | [smɨsl] | "meaning" |
осмыслить | [ɐˈsmɨsʲlʲɪtʲ] | "to comprehend; to rationalize" |
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 proved friendly to agglutinative compounds. As an extreme case:
металлоломообеспечение | [mʲɪtəlɐˌlomɐɐbʲɪˈsʲpʲeʨɪnʲjɪ] | "provision of scrap iron" |
металлоломообеспеченный | [mʲɪtəlɐˌlomɐɐbʲɪˈsʲpʲeʨɪnːɨj] | "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 | [ˌkamʲɪnːɐˈɐstrəvskʲɪj 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 shop) can be arranged
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.
Like most other languages but unlike English, multiple negatives are compulsory in Russian, as in никто никогда никому ничего не прощает [nʲɪˈkto nʲɪkɐˈgda nʲɪkɐˈmu nʲɪʨɪˈvo nʲɪ prɐˈɕːajɪt] "No-one ever forgives anyone for anything" (literally, "no-one never to no-one nothing does not forgive").
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 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 ujɪˈʑːajɪm] | they have departed and we are departing |
они уехали, а мы уезжаем | [ɐˈnʲi uˈjɛxəlʲɪ] [ɐ ˈmɨ ujɪˈʑːajɪm] | they have departed, while (but) we are (still) departing |
они уехали, но мы приезжаем | [ɐˈnʲi uˈjɛxəlʲɪ] [nɐ ˈmɨ prʲɪjɪˈʑːajɪm] | 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 [knʲɐˈzʲjam 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 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 (причастие [prʲɪˈʨasʲtʲɪjɪ]) and adverbial participles (деепричастие [dʲɪjɪprʲɪˈʨasʲtʲɪjɪ]) often take the place of a relative pronoun/verb combination. For example:
Вот человек, потерявший надежду. | [vot ʨɪlɐˈvʲɛk] [pətʲɪˈrʲavʂɨj nɐˈdʲɛʐdu] | Here (is) a man who has lost (all) hope. [lit. having lost hope] |
Гуляя по городу, всегда останавливаюсь у Ростральных колонн. | [guˈlʲajɪ pɐ ˈgorədu vsʲɪgˈda] [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 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 [putʲɪˈʂɛstvʲɪjɪ ɪs pʲɪtʲɪrˈburgə v mɐˈskvu]), 1790:
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