79 Case Usage 105

79 The accusative

The accusative case is used as follows.

(1) It denotes the object of a transitive verb:
Он л&бит М"шу He loves Masha
Он #чится водть машну She is learning to drive a car

Note
In colloquial Russian the verb may sometimes be ‘understood’: Б#дьте
добр' (, попросте к телефну) Зю ‘Can I speak to Zoya, please’.
(2) It is used in certain impersonal constructions:
Двочку рвёт The girl feels sick
Дом зажгл млнией The house was struck by lightning
Мне жаль (жлко) сестр I feel sorry for my sister (for жаль
+ genitive, see 80 (8))
Мне бльно рку (colloquial) My hand is sore
For other impersonal constructions with the accusative, see 295 (1).
(3) It denotes:
(i) Duration in time:
Всю зму б'ло хлодно It was cold all winter
(ii) Duration in space:
Всю доргу он шли млча They walked in silence all the way
(iii) Repetition:
Он 7то говорл т'сячу раз He has said that a thousand times
Он болет к"ждую весн He is ill every spring
(iv) Cost, weight, measure etc.:
Кнга стит дллар The book costs a dollar
Wголь всит тнну The coal weighs a ton

Note
(a) For the use of the accusative after negated transitive verbs, see
87 (4).
(b) Some verbs which have traditionally governed the genitive may
take the accusative of animate nouns in colloquial Russian: Он
106 The Noun 79–81

сл#шается сестр ‘He obeys his sister’, Дти болись мать

‘The children were afraid of their mother’, Дожидлись Lнну
‘They were waiting for Anna’. See also 88 (1) (ii) (a) and (2) (i).

80 The genitive: possession and relationship

The genitive case is used to denote the following:

(1) Possession:
дом бр"та my brother’s house
(2) Relationships:
член п"ртии a member of the party
(3) The whole in relation to the part:
кр'ша дма the roof of the house
(4) The agent of an action or process:
выступлние артста the artiste’s performance
(5) The object of an action or process:
убрка урож"я the gathering in of the harvest
(6) Descriptive attributes:
час обда lunch time
бумга првого срта first-grade paper
(7) The second item in a comparison:
Он молже бр"та He is younger than his brother (see also
182 (1) (ii))
(8) The object of regret (constructions with жаль):
Мне жаль днег I grudge the money

81 The genitive: quantity

The genitive is used with:

(1) М"ло ‘few’, мнго ‘much, many’, нем"ло ‘not a little’, немнго
‘not much, many’, нсколько ‘a few’, склько ‘how much, many’,
стлько ‘so much, many’:
 81–83 Case Usage 107

мнго днег a lot of money

склько лет? how many years?
нсколько человк several people
(2) Дост"точно ‘enough’, недостав"ть ‘to be insufficient’, скопть
‘to accumulate’, хват"ть/хватть ‘to be enough’: Врмени хватет
‘There is enough time’, Ем# недостаёт рубл ‘He is a rouble short’,
достточно сил ‘enough strength’:
Хвтит ли им бензна для ночн'х блуждний? (Trifonov)
Will they have enough petrol for their nocturnal escapades?
(3) Collective nouns:
стдо овц a flock of sheep
(4) Nouns denoting measure:
литр молок" a litre of milk
(5) Nouns denoting containers:
чшка молок" a cup of milk

82 The genitive with adjectives

The following adjectives (and their short forms) govern the genitive:
достйный ‘worthy’, лишённый ‘lacking in’, плный ‘full’, чждый
‘devoid’:
корзна, плная блок a basket full of apples
Он достин нагр"ды He is worthy of an award
человк, ч#ждый честол%бня a man devoid of ambition
Он лишён остромия He is lacking in wit

83 The partitive genitive

(1) The genitive is used to denote part of a substance or liquid (Он

в'пил молок" ‘He drank some milk’) or to denote a quantity of objects
(Он пол год ‘He ate some berries’). The accusative denotes whole rather
than part: Он в'пил молок ‘He drank the milk’.
(2) The partitive genitive appears only as the object of a verb, never as
the subject, cf. Он налил гостм вин" ‘She poured her guests some
wine’ and Ha стол есть вин ‘There is some wine on the table’.
108 The Noun 83

(3) Except for constructions with verbs such as хотть/захотть ‘to

want’ and прость/попрость ‘to request’, where either aspect may be
used (Хоч# вод' ‘I want some water’, Он прсит мёда ‘He asks for
some honey’), most partitive constructions involve perfective verbs only
(Он принесл дров ‘She brought some firewood’, Он достл днег
‘He acquired some money’, Он отмрил сатна ‘He measured out some
satin’). With many imperfectives the partitive genitive is never used: Он
в'пил вод' ‘He drank some water’ but Он пил вду ‘He was drinking
some water’; Он съел хлба ‘He ate some bread’ but Он ел хлеб ‘He
was eating some bread’.
(4) Some perfectives with the quantitative prefix на- also take the partitive
genitive: насться год ‘to eat one’s fill of berries’, накупть книг ‘to
buy some books’, нарвть цветв ‘to pick some flowers’, нарубть дров
‘to chop some wood’.
(5) Containers and quantitative words also appear in partitive constructions:
лжка мёда ‘a spoonful of honey’.
(6) Examples of partitive genitives:
Грша привёз по её прсьбе овощй (Trifonov)
Grisha brought some vegetables at her request
Налил ребтам молок" (Rasputin)
She poured the kids some milk
Днег на доргу в'шлю (Shukshin)
I’ll send some money for the journey
Я теб дам успокотельных к"пель (Rybakov)
I’ll give you some tranquillizers

Note
The following are examples of the parallel availability, after verbs, of a
relatively new phenomenon, a partitive accusative:
Хчешь, я теб чай принес# (Marinina)
Would you like me to bring you some tea?
“Мог# ли я воспльзоваться вшим причлом и купть прсную
вду?” (Kunin)
‘May I use your berth and buy some fresh water?’
Капитн сел у окн, заказл вин и шнцель (Dovlatov)
The captain sat down by the window, ordered some wine and a
schnitzel
 84 Case Usage 109

84 The partitive genitive in -e/-.

(1) Some masculine nouns, mainly those which denote substances,

have genitives in -а/-я and in -у/-ю, e.g. схар ‘sugar’, с"хара/с"хару;
чай ‘tea’, ч"я/ч"ю. See 53.
(2) Other nouns with two genitives include бензн ‘petrol’, виногрд
‘grapes’, горх ‘peas’, керосн ‘paraffin’, кипятк ‘boiling water’,
коньк ‘brandy’, лук ‘onions’, мёд ‘honey’, мел ‘chalk’, песк ‘sand’,
суп ‘soup’, сыр ‘cheese’, табк ‘tobacco’, творг ‘cottage cheese’, шёлк
‘silk’.
(3) Genitive -у/-ю appears only in partitive constructions: налть ч"ю
‘to pour some tea’, тарлка спу ‘a plate of soup’:
Ббушка послла Ввку пощипть лку (Belov)
Grandma sent Vovka to pick some onions
Wтром он взял у хозев кипятк (Rybakov)
In the morning she fetched some boiling water from the proprietors
Достл бут'лку коньяк
He got out a bottle of brandy
(4) If quantity is not implied, -а/-я are used: зпах и цвет табак" ‘the
smell and colour of tobacco’, произвдство с'ра ‘the production of
cheese’, цен ч"я ‘the price of tea’.
(5) Note that -а/-я are also used if the noun denoting the substance
or liquid is qualified by an adjective: стакн крпкого ч"я ‘a glass of
strong tea’.
(6) The use of the partitive genitive in -у/-ю is decreasing, and -а/-я are
now possible in all meanings and styles (чшка ч"ю/ч"я ‘a cup of tea’),
with the commonest nouns (e.g. схар ‘sugar’, чай ‘tea’) most likely to
be found with a genitive in -у/-ю. However, even with such nouns the
partitive in -а/-я is usually acceptable:
Сто& в череди в кссу и прикдываю: килогрмм с"хара,
пчка ч"я . . . (Nedelya)
I stand in the queue to the cash-desk and calculate: a kilogram of
sugar, a packet of tea . . .
(7) Genitive -у/-ю is most consistently found in end-stressed
diminutives: сварть кофейк (from кофеёк) ‘to boil some coffee’,
Хчешь чайк? (from чаёк) ‘Would you like some tea?’ (others
110 The Noun 84–85

include коньячк from коньк/коньячк ‘brandy’, лучк from

лук/лучк ‘onions’, сырк from сыр/сырк ‘cheese’, табачк from
табк/табачк ‘tobacco’).
(8) Partitive constructions involving perfective verbs and genitives in
-у/-ю are also very common: добвить с"хару ‘to add some sugar’,
заварть ч"ю ‘to make some tea’, пость спу ‘to eat some soup’,
положть чеснок ‘to put in some garlic’.
(9) -у/-ю are also found with нет, with indefinite numerals and with
measures and containers: килогрмм виногр"ду ‘a kilo of grapes’,
нет коньяк ‘there is no brandy’, мнго нарду ‘many people’, пчка
с"хару ‘a packet of sugar’, куск с'ру ‘a piece of cheese’; -а/-я are
also possible in such cases:
Остлось лишь полпчки ч"я (Povolyaev)
Only half a packet of tea remained
Only occasionally is the partitive governed by a frequentative imperfective
verb:
Xзредка мать набивла творог в бночку (Rasputin)
Now and again mother would cram some cottage cheese into a little
jar

85 Genitive in -y in set phrases

(1) Genitives in -у appear in certain idioms and set phrases:

до зарзу н#жно very necessary
ни р"зу not once
ни слху ни дху neither sight nor sound
ни ш"гу назд not a step back
с бку н бок from side to side
с гл"зу н глаз tête-à-tête
танцевть до уп"ду to dance till one drops
упускть з виду to lose sight of
(2) The genitive in -а/-я has had very little impact on such phrases,
except for без прмаху/-а ‘unerringly’ and без разбру/-а
‘indiscriminately’.
(3) In some causal expressions от combines with -а/-я (от глода
‘from hunger’, от испга ‘from fright’, от смха ‘with laughter’) and
с with -у/-ю (умерть с глоду ‘to starve to death’, кркнуть с испгу
 85–86 Case Usage 111

‘to scream with fright’, пр'снуть с смеху ‘to burst out laughing’,
умерть со стр"ху ‘to die of fright’). Some forms in -у/-ю appear in
spatial expressions: уйт з дому ‘to leave home’ (cf. уйт из дма
‘to leave the house’), в'йти з лесу ‘to emerge from the forest’.

86 Genitive and negative

(1) Нет ‘there is not’, н было ‘there was not’ and не бдет ‘there
will not be’ combine with the genitive to denote non-existence or
non-availability:
Нет днег There is no money
Н было врмени There was no time
Не б#дет войн' There will be no war

Note
(a) Compare frequentative usage in Всё чще Лли не бывет дма
(Kazakov) ‘Lilya is out more and more often’.
(b) Compare constructions which involve identification, where the
nominative is used: Bто не мо жен" ‘That is not my wife’, Bто
н были мо дти ‘Those were not my children’.
(c) Constructions of the type: Родтели (nominative) не дма ‘The
parents are out’ (for the normal Родтелей нет дма) may be used
when actual whereabouts are indicated: Он не дма, а в гостх
‘They are not in, but out visiting’.
(2) The genitive is also used in possessive phrases: У мен нет
компь%тера ‘I have no computer’, У нас н было детй ‘We had no
children’, У вас не бдет проблм ‘You will not have any problems’.
(3) Other negated verbs denoting non-availability, non-occurrence or
non-appearance may be used in this construction: Лзвий не имется ‘There
are no blades in stock’, Днег не остлось ‘There was no money left’,
Такх людй не существ#ет ‘Such people do not exist’, Встрчных
машн не попадлось ‘No oncoming vehicles were encountered’.
(4) In some negative constructions a nominative indicates the absence
of specific objects, a genitive the absence of all objects of a particular
type, cf. Докумнтов не сохранлось ‘No documents were preserved’
(at all) and Докумнты, о котрых шла речь, не сохранлись ‘The
documents in question were not preserved’.
(5) The genitive construction is also used after не вдно ‘cannot be seen’,
не замтно ‘cannot be discerned’, не сл'шно ‘cannot be heard’:
112 The Noun 86–87

Из-за д'ма дверй не вдно (Abramov)

You can’t see the doors for the smoke
Ни соб"ки, ни голосв н было сл'шно (Trifonov)
Neither the dog nor people’s voices could be heard
(6) It is also used with не н"до, не нжно etc.:
Не ндо ни дров, ни угл (Rabotnitsa)
Neither firewood nor coal is necessary

Note
Compare the use of the genitive case in the general statement: Пмощи
не н#жно ‘No help is required’ and the nominative in the specific В"ша
пмощь не нужн ‘Your help is not required’.
(7) The genitive case is used in negative passive constructions: 1ниг
не выпускется ‘No books are issued’, Подтверждния не пол#чено
‘No confirmation has been received’.
(8) It is also used in time expressions:
И пят минт не прошл (Orlov)
Not five minutes had passed
Мы поженлись, когд мне ещё не исплнилось восемн"дцати
(Russia Today)
We got married when I had not yet turned 18

87 The genitive and accusative after negated verbs

(1) Both the genitive and the accusative can be used after a negated transitive
verb:
Он не посещл грод/грода He did not visit the town
(2) While in case of doubt it is advisable to use a genitive, there are situations
where one case or the other is preferable.
(3) The genitive is preferred:
(i) In generalized statements:
Я не вжу стол"
I don’t see a (i.e. any) table
(ii) With compound negatives:
 87 Case Usage 113

Он никогд и ником# не говорл непр"вды (Trifonov)

He has never told lies to anyone
(iii) With the emphatic negative particle ни:
Он не прочитл ни однй кнги
He has not read a single book
(iv) With abstract nouns: Он не скрывет своег раздражния
‘She does not conceal her irritation’. Many set expressions are involved:
не игрть рли ‘to play no part’, не имть понтия ‘to have no idea’,
не имть пр"ва ‘not to have the right’, не имть см'сла ‘not to
have any point’, не обращть вним"ния ‘not to pay any attention’,
не придавть значния ‘not to attach significance to’, не принимть
уч"стия ‘not to take part’, не производть впечатлния ‘to make no
impression’, не терть врмени ‘not to waste time’.
(v) With a negative gerund: не скрывя свой р"дости ‘without
concealing his joy’, не досл#шав спра до конц ‘without hearing out
the argument’.
(vi) With ?то: Tтого я не допущ# ‘I won’t allow that’, and after
negated verbs of perception: Он не знал урка ‘He did not know the
lesson’, Он не пнял вопрса ‘He did not understand the question’,
Он не ч#вствовал бли ‘he did not feel any pain’.
(4) The accusative is preferred:
(i) When a specific object or objects are involved:
Я не вжу стол
I do not see the table
Он не получл письм
He did not receive the letter (cf. Он не получл письм" ‘He did not
receive a letter’)
(ii) When the object denotes a person:
Он не встртил мо% сестр
He did not meet my sister
(iii) With ‘false’ negatives such as едв" не/чуть не, ‘almost’, не мог
не ‘I can’t help, cannot but’:
Он чуть не пропустл трамв"й
He almost missed the tram
Не мог# не простть ег поведние
I cannot but forgive his behaviour
114 The Noun 87

(iv) When the noun is qualified by an instrumental predicate:

Я не считю ?ту стать% интерсной
I do not consider this article interesting
(v) When a part of the sentence other than the verb is negated:
Он не вполн усвил урк
He has not completely assimilated the lesson
Не я прид#мал нвый пордок
It was not I who devised the new set up.
(vi) In set phrases: п"лец о плец не удрить ‘not to do a stroke of
work’.
(5) If none of the above criteria apply, then either case is usually
possible. Factors which influence choice include:
(i) Word order, the accusative being preferred when the noun precedes the
verb (Идю он не понял ‘She did not understand the idea’) and the
genitive when it follows (Он не понял иди ‘She did not understand
the idea’).
(ii) An accusative is often regarded as the more colloquial alternative:
Я не читл вчер"шнюю газту ‘I have not read yesterday’s
newspaper’.
(iii) Nouns in -а and -я are more prone to appear in the accusative case
after a negated transitive verb than are other nouns.
(iv) When an infinitive appears between the negated verb and the object,
the latter usually appears in the accusative:
Он не хотл смотрть ?ту пьсу
He did not want to see this play
Я не умю писть стих
I can’t write verse
However, the genitive is also possible:
Вы же ником# не даёте раскр'ть рта (Trifonov)
Why, you don’t give anyone a chance to get a word in edgeways

Note
To avoid ambiguity, it is better to replace, say, Он не читет кнги
either by Он не читет кнгу ‘He is not reading the book’ or by Он не
читет книг ‘He does not read books’ (since it is otherwise not clear
whether кнги is genitive singular or accusative plural).