Svetlana Flemming - Colloquial Russian - The Next Step in Language Learning

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primoŕskaq dere´vnq). 3 Vy xoti´te idtińa (sovremeńnaq angli´jskaq 1

p;eśa) iĺi (klassi´heskaq ruśskaq o´pera)? 4 (Vsq nedeĺq) my egońe 421111

vi´deli. 5 My eźdili vo (Frańciq) na (meśqc). 6 My vstre´tili

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Russia and the Russian language

The Russian White House, home of the parliament or Duma.

Photo: N. Kay

(va´wa sestra´) u vxo´da v (tea´tr). 7 Leńin perene¨s (ruśskaq stolića) v (Moskva´). 8 (Kto) vy vi´deli? 9 My o´hen; xorowo´ (on) znaém.

The genitive case

Uses of the genitive case

1 The genitive is the only case ending which English retains on nouns. It is the -’s ending used to denote possession. Similarly, in Russian, the genitive indicates possession or translates ‘of ’.

Pu´tin – prezideńt Rossií.

Putin is the President of Russia.

Rol; prezideńta o´hen; slo´'naq.

The President’s role (role of the President) is very complex.

2 The genitive is also used after a very large number of prepositions: bez ‘without’; vdol; ‘along’; vne ‘outside’; vnutri´ ‘inside’; vperedi´ ‘in front of, before’; vmeśto ‘instead of’; vo vre´mq

‘during’ (named events in history); voźle ‘by, near’, vokru´g

‘around’; v teheńie ‘during’ (with words such as nedeĺq ‘week’

Rossiq i Russkij Qzyk

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or god ‘year’, indicating periods of time); dlq ‘for (the sake of)’; 2

‘do ‘up to, until’ (time or place); iz ‘from, out of’; iz-za ‘because 3

of, from behind’; iz-pod ‘from under’; kro´me ‘except’; mi´mo ‘past; 4

napro´tiv ‘opposite’; o´kolo ‘around, near’; ot ‘from’; pośle 5

‘after’; pro´tiv ‘against’; ra´di ‘for the sake of’; s / so ‘from’; sredi´

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‘among; u ‘by, near, chez ’:

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vo vre´mq perevoro´ta

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during the coup

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pro´tiv prezideńta

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against, opposed to the President

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ra´di Bo´ga

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for God’s sake

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5

do raspa´da Sove´tskogo So[

źa

until the collapse of the Soviet Union

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7

by

ĺi tańki vokru´g Beĺogo do´ma

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there were tanks round the White House

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More detailed information is given about iz-za in Unit 7, about 20111

the differences between iz, ot and s in Unit 5 and between s 1

and so in Unit 12.

2

3

The preposition u + genitive ‘in the possession of’ is used to trans-4

late ‘to have’ into Russian:

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U prezideńta byla´ bol;wa´q vlast;.

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The President had great power.

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Note that bol;wa´q vlast; is the subject of this sentence; liter-9

ally ‘Great power was in the possession of President’.

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3 The genitive singular is used after o´ba / o´be ‘both’ and the numerals 1

dva / dve ‘two’; tri ‘three’; hety

ŕe ‘four’ and compounds ending

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in those numerals. The genitive plural is used after all other 3

numerals, except for odiń / odna´/ odno´/ odni´ ‘one’, which is an 4

adjective agreeing with the noun it describes.

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dva´dcat; tri hleńa Du´my

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twenty three members of the Duma

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pqtna´dcat; hleńov Du´my

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fifteen members of the Duma

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1

There is much more detailed treatment of cardinal numerals in 421111

Unit 9.

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Russia and the Russian language

4 The genitive is used after expressions of quantity such as mno´go

‘a lot’; maĺo / nemno´go ‘a little, few’; neśkol;ko ‘several’, skoĺ;ko

‘how many’; bol;winstvo´ ‘the majority’, and on its own as a partitive genitive, to indicate part of a substance or ‘some’: Poli´tika vyzyvaét maĺo intereśa v Rossií.

Politics arouses little interest in Russia.

My vy

´ pili vina´

We drank some wine

contrast:

My vy

´ pili vino´

We drank the wine

5 The genitive is found in several negative constructions: after net / ne´ bylo / ne bu´det ‘there is not / was not, will not be’: U Gorbahe¨va ne´ bylo kompeteńtnyx sove´tnikov.

Gorbachev did not have competent advisers.

V tako´j situaćii net drugo´go vy´xoda.

In such a situation there is no other way out.

after ne vi´dno / ne sly´wno / ne zame´tno ‘cannot be seen / heard /

discerned’:

Beĺogo do´ma ne vi´dno ots[

´da.

The White House cannot be seen from here.

as the direct object of negative verbs:

Gorbahe¨v ne imeĺ poddeŕ'ki sredińaro´da.

Gorbachev did not have support among the people.

However, when the object is more concrete, the accusative is preferred:

Q ne vi´'u ego avtomobiĺ;.

I don’t see his car.

There is much more detail about the negative in Unit 13.

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6 The genitive is also used as the direct object of certain verbs: 2

'ela´t; (po-) ‘to wish’; dostiga´t; / dosti´gnut; ‘to achieve’.

3

Expressions such as shastli´vogo puti´ ‘bon voyage’ are in the 4

genitive because the verb 'ela´t; is understood. Some other verbs 5

take either the genitive or the accusative: boq´t;sq ‘to fear’; 'dat; 6

‘to wait for’; iska´t; / po- ‘to seek, look for’; o'ida´t; ‘to expect’; 7