Russian
Russian Grammar
The grammar is rich, but it becomes manageable when studied by function.
Russian grammar is not difficult because it is random. It feels difficult because many words change form.
The best strategy is to learn grammar through meaning: who does the action, who receives it, where something happens, where something goes, and who owns something.
Cases
Cases are the center of Russian grammar. They show the role of a word in the sentence.
- Nominative: subject
- Accusative: direct object or direction
- Genitive: possession, absence, quantity
- Dative: indirect object
- Instrumental: means or companion
- Prepositional: location and topics
Verb aspect
Russian often distinguishes between an action as a process and an action as a completed result.
- Imperfective: action in progress, repeated action, general activity
- Perfective: completed action, single result, finished event
Verbs of motion
Russian has a special system for movement verbs. It is unusual, but it can be learned in layers.
- Going by foot or by vehicle
- One direction or many directions
- With prefixes for leaving, entering, crossing, arriving