Accusative case

[beltspinner.livejournal.com]

Ok, I'm not amazing in English, and I'm only starting Russian.

I don't understand what the accusative case means in English, therefore it is pretty hard to convert that to another language. Can anyone help me out? I know, its sad that we English speakers know our language so poorly.

Comments

I hope this helps a bit

[crimson-clover.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accusative_case

It's why you said "Can anyone help me out?" rather than "Can anyone help I out?". When some English pronouns are the direct object of a verb, they change "case". So, it helps to realize that English *does* change just to remind yourself that you should decline objects in Russian, even if it doesn't run exactly parallel to the way English works.

In Russian, there are more cases and more rules about which ones go after/before which verbs, which you will learn all about :). For example, in English it would be "I called him", the same as if I said "I saw him". In Russian, the first "him" would go in the dative case, while the second "him" would be in accusative/genitive - both spelled differently. But, in English, it's the same "him"- our cases have either been combined or have disappeared altogether.

Sometimes I like to think about all the weird things that go on in English (trough versus though vs through vs rough) that I'm sure are just as frustrating for non-native English speakers as cases are in Russian for me. :)

Re: I hope this helps a bit

[gintaras.livejournal.com]

Why? :-))))
"I called him" - "Я позвал его" (Кого? - Accusative case)
"I saw him" - "Я увидел его" (Кого?- Accusative case too)

Re: I hope this helps a bit

[ars-longa.livejournal.com]

I called him in Russian is translated rather as Я позвонил ему. :)

Re: I hope this helps a bit

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Both, actually. If you mean "I called him on the phone," then you're right. If it's just "I called him [without any technical means]," then it's Я позвал его.

[suku-vse.livejournal.com]

If you want to know what case you should use, just put a question to this word.

I saw him. Я видел его.

Whom did I saw?

Accusative case answers questions Whom and what.

Вижу стол.
Вижу Петрова.
Mainly, the difference is in the adverbs you should ask these questions with.

Like By whom, with whom, about whom, without whom - all of that would be different cases.
By the way, interesting, вижу покойника - но вижу труп. See the difference? It does not change when the noun is неодушевленный. (if the gender is male, or it's plural.) But I had a friend whose nickname was Труп, so in this case people said Трупа не видел?

[kahala.livejournal.com]

I know you mean this to be helpful, but Russian speakers always seem to offer this kind of explanation to language learners when we ask how to tell which case to use. The problem is, it often relies on already having a knowledge of Russian, and knowing which cases 'sound' right with a particular question. I once found myself stuck in a very frustrating lesson with a teacher who was equally frustrated, shouting 'But whom did you see?'

(Incidentally, 'whom did you see?', though technically correct, is so little used in modern English that it almost sounds wrong to modern ears - and thus will be even more misleading!)

[nbuwe.livejournal.com]

Heh, yes, because that's what we were tought in school. Of course the problem is that what we were tought in school has a completely reverse purpose: to teach the kid to *identify* which case is used by matching it against the pronoun. The ability to *use* the correct case is presumed.

If that's of any consolation, Russians has the same problem when they learn another language that has declension.

The only real solution is to memorize the government for each verb you learn.

[kahala.livejournal.com]

:) Yeah, I assumed it was something like that.

Declension is just a beast, no matter what your language!

Whom

[linnapaw.livejournal.com]

You know, I've had so much grammar drilled into my head throughh learning German, Latin, and Russian that it now does sound wrong to me to use "who" in most instances like the one above.

[idealforcolors.livejournal.com]

Accusative case is used in most situations where the person or thing is a direct object in the sentence. A direct object is what the subject of the sentence is acting upon:

I ate a cupcake.
I hit my mother.
I saw George.
Did you see anyone (Ты видел кого-нибудь?, not Ты видел кто-нибудь?)
I chased the cat out of the house.

In Russian, the accusative case is used for the words in bold, because they are the direct objects, the objects that are acted upon. In English, I think pronouns are the only words that change case as direct objects, but in Russian, nouns, proper nouns, and adjectives change case as well. (There are some verbs, like calling on the telephone mentioned above, that require dative or genitive cases, but you just have to learn those as you come upon them.)

these resources might help

[surok75.livejournal.com]

try looking at:

http://www.du.edu/langlit/russian/grammar.htm

and there is also a small book which might help you with the english terminology called English Grammar for Students of Russian:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0934034214/002-7415680-0912058?v=glance