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Russian word endings

  Tags: Grammar | Russian
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843
Tetraglot
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 Message 1 of 6
29 March 2010 at 6:28pm | IP Logged 
Excuse my romanized Cyrillic because I'm horrible at spelling vowels correctly.

I've just reached Pimsleur 3-12 and it's full of weird variations in word endings. For
example, ulitsa (street) becomes ulitsu (along with the street name) when they're not
specifying direction. Object like knigu (book) becomes knigi or kniga seemingly randomly.
Also, I know eta (this) becomes etei if the following noun is feminine and etad if
masculine, but somehow it becomes eto at one point. I don't understand these changes
because they aren't explained and I can't seem to find a pattern. Can someone help?
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Siberiano
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 Message 2 of 6
29 March 2010 at 6:59pm | IP Logged 
You're asking to explain you the whole declination system and a bit of grammar and the changes of gender of adjectives :)

Unfortunately, I can't advise you how to find the pattern, but it is there. The problem is that you mix up (1) declination, (2) gender, and (3) plural forms. They are separate dimensions. So, technically there's a big matrix (or a tensor) of endings.


Well, when a word is a subject in the sentence, it's in nominative case, its base form. (улица, книга, эта, этот, это). But if it's an object, it changes the ending depending on the relation with the main word or clause:

(nominative) улица начинается от площади. (The street starts at a square.)
(accusative) я вижу улицу (I see the street)

Then, there's a plural form: эти улицы пересекаются (These streets intersect.)
And for plural forms the endings are different.

The same for book. Книга лежит на полке. The book lays on the shelf. Книги лежат на полке. The books lay in the shelf.
Принеси мне книгу. Bring me the/a book.

эта means "this" for feminine gender (the object can be a non-living, a car, a road, and there's no rule what is of which gender, you just see it by the word ending. Книга has feminine gender)
Эта книга упадёт с полки тебе на голову. (This book will fall from the shelf onto your head). Я стукну тебя этой книгой по башке. (I'll hit you with this book by [your] head).

это is the same for neuter gender (again, judging by word endings)
этот = masculine "this".



Edited by Siberiano on 29 March 2010 at 7:04pm

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843
Tetraglot
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Studies: French, German

 
 Message 3 of 6
29 March 2010 at 7:52pm | IP Logged 
Большое спасибо!
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Siberiano
Tetraglot
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 Message 4 of 6
29 March 2010 at 7:58pm | IP Logged 
Не за что!

I have a great respect of your effort. It must be much harder for a native of another language family. Good luck with Russian!
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843
Tetraglot
Newbie
Singapore
Joined 5438 days ago

16 posts - 22 votes
Speaks: Indonesian*, English, Malay, Mandarin
Studies: French, German

 
 Message 5 of 6
29 March 2010 at 8:33pm | IP Logged 
Russian is actually more similar to my native tongue than English. Regardless, nothing is
harder than learning Mandarin. That language killed many years of my life, even though
I'm a Chinese. -_-

By the way, I notice some differences in word usage:
- You said Не за что, but Pimsleur uses пожалуйста and на здоровие. Which is the more
commonly used term for 'you're welcome'?
- You said Принеси, Pimsleur uses something that sounds like отвисти. Do they both mean
bring?
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Siberiano
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name
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465 posts - 696 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish
Studies: Portuguese, Serbian

 
 Message 6 of 6
30 March 2010 at 12:08pm | IP Logged 
1. пожалуйста is more commonly. You say На здоровье (to your health) when you gave someone a drink or food, and the person thanked you.

2. отвести means to take (lead) somewhere, отвести ребёнка в школу - to take the child to school. The prefix от- means action going away: отвести, отойти (walk away), отъехать (to ride away). При- means action getting closer: принести (bring [to some place]), прийти (to come), приехать (to arrive (riding) somwhere).

Edited by Siberiano on 30 March 2010 at 12:09pm



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