Learn Russian

it is a matter of cases, they are hard to grasp, and i currently have a lot of problem with them. i can get what they're about, but i cannot talk or write with case declinations. you have to print the table of russian cases and learn it by heart. or you have to take a book in russian, and read it side by side with the table of cases, and that's what i plan to do after my exams.

I'll help you as i can:

Директор ушёл и сегодня его не будет
The Director is gone, and today (there) won't be him.
"The Director is gone, and today (there) won't be he" doesn't make sense.

пойти - go in a future perspective, уйти - go in a past perspective.

Кто к вам приходил после собрания. - Who went to You after the meeting? к вам is a case usage.

my russian is not profficient enough, hope you could understand. and the last example i have no explanation for.

you get all my respect for wanting to learn Russian, though =]

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I don't agree with your пойти/уйти explanation. Пойти - means to go somewhere. Уйти - to leave the place.

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brain-death.livejournal.com

Yes, because? for example, the frase "я уйду в монастырь" is definitely in a future perspective...

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So in this case it's meant that the person is to leave the mundane world?

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cema.livejournal.com

Indeed. Compared to "я пойду в монастырь", which simply means to go pay a visit to (a, the) monastery.

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I think as soon as you add a preposition to verbs of motion they take a future perspective.

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so i just learned something new today =]

although i've never seen or heard "Я уйду."

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Yes, we use an expression Я уйду widely. For example husband tells wife: если ты не перестанешь кричать, я уйду к другу".

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cema.livejournal.com

Или "к другой". :-)

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Most probably...
:)

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welgar.livejournal.com

Remark: "уйду к другой" means "уйду к другой женщине".

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OH - EГО: it's so called падежи of Russian language. OH - именительный падеж. ЕГО - родительный падеж. most of the words are changing with падеж slightly but some drastically, like он/его.

"Кто к вам приходил после собрания?" - "Who have visited you after the meeting?"

"Вчера к нам в гости (приезжал) Олег, он (привез) с собой своего внука."

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welgar.livejournal.com

Падеж = case
Именительный падеж = nomniative case

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cema.livejournal.com

Не будет — кого? — его, директора (родительный падеж).

Пойти is simply to set off, to start to go somewhere; the meaning of leaving is not necessary, unlike уйти. Example: "я сейчас пойду в магазин" means "I will go to (a, the) store now", whereas "я сейчас уйду" means "I will leave now". Also notice that "пойти" is used as an auxiliary verb (this is probably not the right term), forming various fixed phrases, so much so that the first example in the previous phrase is likely to be said as follows: "я сейчас пойду схожу в магазин". Another example just came in my head: "Я ухожу. Пойдёшь со мной?" Short and clear. :-)

"К вам" answers the question "where?", more or less. A fuller description would be "к вам домой/на работу/в школу/etc", which would correspond to "(to) your home/office/school/etc".

Олег probably взял с собой своего внука. There is redundancy in natural languages, but in this case, compare it with "он взял с собой моего внука". What he did was взял с собой, and the object was своего/моего внука.

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That sentance takes его because when you you negate something, it always takes genitive case. Whenever there is a lack of something, the case changes
ie:
У меня нет денег.

-Где Саша?
-Его нет. Ушёл на работу.

As for К вам, when you are going to a person and not a place, it takes the dative case. For example, you'll hear parents telling their kids... especially wen just learning how to walk
Иди ко мне.

Or if you're inviting someone to visit you, you say
Приежай к нам в гости.
So the translation of your example would be "Who came to visit you after the meeting?"

Someone already gave a better explanation of пойти anf уйти than I could.

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Он is he, and Его is him. кто is "who" and кого is "whom". but that's only two of the cases, the nominative and the accusative. there is also кому, кем, and so forth, which i can't explain.

there's nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, propositional.

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Yes, Russian language has six main cases (падежей).
Именительный - кто, что
Родительный - кого, чего
Винительный - кого, что
Дательный - кому, чему
Творительный - кем, чем
Предложный о ком, о чем, на ком, на чем

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Именительный - кто, что - он пошел
Родительный - кого, чего - его нет
Винительный - кого, что - у него перерыв
Дательный - кому, чему - ему некогда
Творительный - кем, чем - с ним скучно
Предложный о ком, о чем, на ком, на чем - поговорим о нем

Is it any better?
:)

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Nominative- кто что Who/what
Accusative- кого что Whom/what (direct object)
Genitive- кого чего of Whom/ of What (denotes posession)
Dative Кому чему - To Whom/to what
Instrumental Кем/чем - With whom/ what*

*For the instrumental case, if it takes the preposition "С", then it means you're doing something, and someone or something is tagging along and doing it with you.
Ie: I am going to the store with Masha.
Я пойду с Машой в магазин
or if you want to be more colloquial:
Мы с Машой пойдём в магазин.
Without "с" it means that you are using it to do something ie:
I am hitting a nail with a hammer.
Я бью гвоздь молотком

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Oh right. Forgot prepostitional..
Prepositional - о ком о чем about whom/ what

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wolfie-18.livejournal.com

I understand the cases, but what I don't understand is why they used "с СОБОЙ СВОЕГО внука" the soboy is in the instrumental, but the svoyevo is in the genetive. Porque?

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wolk-off.livejournal.com

You can change the word order and it'll look a bit more clear:

он взял своего внука с собой - he took his grandson with him.

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wolk-off.livejournal.com

Чьего внука он взял с собой? Whose grandson he took with him? -- Он взял с собой своего внука. It was his grandson whom he took with him. Кого он взял с собой? Whom he took with him? -- Он взял с собой своего внука. It was his grandson whom he took with him.

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yms.livejournal.com

Here "svoyevo" is the accusative which is the same as genitive for animate objects only. But we say "взял с собой свой чемодан"; the accusative case here is the same as the nomitative.

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ex-evengar540.livejournal.com

By the way, there's a punctuation mistake in this sentence:
Директор ушёл и сегодня его не будет.

You should put coma after the word "ушёл":

Директор ушёл, и сегодня его не будет.

This is so because this sentence is actually made of two sentences:

[Директор ушёл] and [сегодня его не будет].

Why "его"?
Ask a question: сегодня не будет (кого?) — его. Thus "сегодня его не будет".

Also it'd have been correct if you said, "Директор ушёл и сегодня уже не придёт".

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idealforcolors.livejournal.com

I'm sure you probably know what's going on by now so no need to read this if you do, just thought I'd lend you my simplistic thoughts as a non-fluent Russian speaker in case they are helpful.

"Директор ушёл и сегодня его не будет" Why его instead of он?

Because when something's absent, it is put into the genitive case. I think of it in a very bad way in English to remember, it's like "The director left and today there will be nothing OF HIM here." It's the same as if you say "У тебя есть карандаш?" "У меня нет карандаша." "Do you have a pencil (nominative)?" "I have no pencil," or "I have nothing OF a pencil." Totally ungrammatical but hey it makes me remember.

And also, I'm confused when to use пойти and уйти. My book says пойти is used for leaving for a known goal (Он пошёл домой) and can't be referred to the place being left, unlike уйти. Now can someone give me some examples on the differences?

There've been good explanations of this so I'll just add. I'm not very good with verbs of motion, but I think "пойти" is forward-looking, like you are setting off to the store, or to Russia, and the important thing is where you are going. "уйти" is more backward-looking, like you are leaving from the house or from the country and that's what you want to emphasize.

And in this exercise (my own answers are in the parentheses)... Вчера к нам в гости (приезжал) Олег, он (ушёл) с собой своего внука. Why do they use the reflective/possesive so much? Cобой своего внука seems redundant.

The first means with him, the second means that it's his own.

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noser.livejournal.com

пойти vs уйти problem is very simple if you use grammar terms:

пойти = walk (perfective aspect)
уйти = walk away, leave (perfective aspect)

If you don't want to stress the walking part, you translate this as "go/go away" into English. Bot not vice versa: "go" does not necessarily mean "пойти". Sometimes it means "поехать"(go in a car or train) or "полететь"(fly). There is no universal "go" verb in Russian.

E.g., you can not say "пойти в Россию", because that would mean you are going to do it by walking ("walk to Russia", not "go to Russia").

For short distances, you can use пойти, even though you are going to take a bus, or metro. So, "пойти в магазин" is OK, even though you'll be going in a bus most of the way. But if you are going to go in a car, "поехать" is still more appropriate, though you can use "пойти" as well.

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idealforcolors.livejournal.com

"пойти в Россию"

haha, oops. remind me not to do that on my final next friday.

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