#prepositional case

Nom- naming things/subject (что/кто/это)

Prep- where/about (где/о чём)

Gen- possession/of, where from (откуда)

Acc- direct object, direction after verbs of motion (where to [куда])

Dat- indirect object (кому)

Instr- instrument that performs action/with (с кем)

Cases describe relationship between words within one sentence in synthetic language. Due to cases we can vary word order, omit some parts of the sentence and do other wonderful grammatical experiments. In Russian there are 6 different cases for different situations. To understand the language right, you have to know the functions of the cases. I've decided to start from the first case that is usually taken in Russian courses – Prepositional case.

It's called this way, because you always use it with some preposition. The prepositions used with this case are в, на, о, об, обо, при.

We always use Prepositional case when we speak about the location of the object. In Russian we have two variants of the question where. Where are you going and where are you are different, because the first one is more about a direction, better say where are you going to? And it means that this abstract you is in the process of walking, when the second thing – where are you – is about one certain point. In European language these two «where-s» are used with different cases. The first one (a direction, a motion) is куда? And the second one (one still point) is где? We use Prepositional case with где?

Я лечу в самолёте в Москву.

Я — Nominative case (the one who does the action, the subject)

В самолёте — Prepositional case, because this is where I am right now, это где я есть.

В Москву — Accusative case, because this is my direction (куда?), and we are just on our way to Moscow. (but we are not moving anywhere from the plane. Thanks, Einstein for making languages clearer). But about Accusative next time.

So, if you are moving – you use Accusative. If you are not moving (from the place) – you use Prepositional.

We have two prepositions for locations in this case – на and в. You never know which one to use for which word, so better learn it. На has a meaning of on and в has a meaning of in. It can help you, that на is often used with open air places, like на парковке (at the parking lot), на балконе (at the balcony), на крыше (on the roof), на улице (in the street), на рынке (at the market) and в is about buildings, like в школе (at school), в театре (in the theater), в ресторане (at the restaurant), в магазине (in the shop). But there are always exceptions, so you never know.

Каждое утро я бегаю в парке - Every morning I jog in the park. Когда он позвонил, она была на работе — When he called, she was at work (in the office). Мы обожаем проводить отпуск на море — We adore spending holiday at the seaside. В яблоке есть косточки — There are seeds in an apple

To change a noun into prepositional case you have to change the last letter of a word into e, or add it if a word ends with a consonant (парк - парке). Except for some words of neuter gender that never change.

To change an adjective, you have to change the last 2 letters (ый, ая, ое) into ом, ой, ом respectively.

В зелёном парке — in a green park На основной работе — at my primary work На Средиземном море – at Mediterranean sea В любом яблоке — in any apple.

I've just read about a trick that may help you to memorize the ending of the prepositional case.

Prepositional case in Russian is relatively easy. Very often it is used for marking a location (Where in or where at?). "Where" in Russian is где? The vast majority of the Russian nouns has the ending -e in the prepositional case.

Exception: feminine nouns ending with -ь or -ия. For these nouns, the ending changes to -и / -ии

Examples:

Я живу в Канаде. I live in Canada.

Я была в Нью-Йорке и Москве. I've been to New York and Moscow.

But:

Моя семья живёт в Сибири My family lives in Siberia.

У меня есть друзья в Японии I have friends in Japan.

So far, so good. Now a bit more details on the Prepositional case. Most grammar books consider that too complicated for beginners, however, I believe, any grammar explanations should be complete and accurate. Students will figure out how to cope with it.

For location, you may find an alternative prepositional ending for masculine nouns (the ones that end with a consonant in Nominative, like лес): -у. Only a bunch of nouns (about 150) have this ending, and you have to memorize them (I hate to say that). Here are some of them:

лес - в лесу (forest)

порт - в порту (port)

нос - в носу (nose)

снег - в снегу (snow)