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CLASS 6 · LEARNING KNOWLEDGE

Genitive in Russian: possession and negation

How it works

The genitive case is used in Russian to indicate possession, for example ‹книга брата›. After ‹нет›, what is missing is also in the genitive, for example ‹у меня нет ручки›. In the genitive, the endings change: masculine and neuter nouns often end in the singular in ‹-а/-я›, feminine nouns often in ‹-ы/-и›.

Note
After indicating possession with two nouns, e.g. ‹книга брата›, and after negation with ‹нет›, the noun stands in the genitive. Typical singular endings are: masculine/neuter ‹-а/-я›, feminine usually ‹-ы/-и›.

An example

What is the Russian for: ‘I do not have a book’? Use ‹У меня нет ...›.

‹У меня нет книги› is correct because after ‹нет› ‹книга› changes in the genitive to ‹книги›.

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Own explanation and own practice exercises by AmyMath. Subject reference framework: Russian. The topic assignment may vary by federal state.