Genitive Case — Possession
Genitive Case (Родительный падеж)
The genitive answers кого? чего? (of whom? of what?) and is used for:
- Possession (of / ’s)
- Absence with нет (there is no)
- After numbers 2–4 (genitive singular), 5+ (genitive plural)
- After some prepositions: из, от, до, без, для, у, около
Genitive Endings
| Gender | Nominative | Pronunciation | Genitive | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | стол | stol | стола | sto-LA |
| Masculine (-й) | музей | moo-ZYEY | музея | moo-ZYE-ya |
| Feminine (-а) | книга | KNEEga | книги | KNEEgi |
| Feminine (-я) | земля | zyem-LYA | земли | zyem-LI |
| Neuter (-о) | окно | ak-NO | окна | ak-NA |
Key Uses
Possession:
- книга студента (KNEEga stoo-DYEN-ta) (the student’s book)
- столица России (sta-LEE-tsa raSSEEyi) (the capital of Russia)
Absence (нет + genitive):
- У меня нет книги. (oo me-NYA nyet KNEEgi) (I don’t have a book.)
- Здесь нет воды. (zdyes’ nyet va-DY) (There is no water here.)
У + genitive = “has”:
- У меня есть книга. (oo me-NYA yest’ KNEEga) (I have a book.) — literally “by me there is a book”
- У неё есть машина. (oo nye-YO yest’ ma-SHEE-na) (She has a car.)
Practice
Genitive of книга (book, feminine)?
книги (книга → книги)
How do you say 'I don't have a book' in Russian?
У меня нет книги. (нет takes genitive)
How do you express 'I have' in Russian?
У меня есть … (lit: 'by me there is')