The accusative marks what an action is done to: the book you read, the friend you call, the city you travel to. It is the second most common case, and in most sentences only one word changes.
A1 to B2·16 min read·Audio for every example
Я чита́ю кни́гу (ya chi-TA-yu KNEE-gu), “I’m reading a book”. The book receives the action, so кни́га changes -а to -у.
The short answer
A case is the ending a word takes to show its job in the sentence. The accusative (вини́тельный паде́ж, vi-NEE-tyel’-niy pa-DYEZH) answers что? кого́? “what? whom?” and куда́? “where to?”. Feminine nouns change -а → -у and -я → -ю. Masculine and neuter nouns for things don’t change at all; masculine nouns for people and animals borrow the genitive (брат → бра́та).
Endings: most words don’t change
Every Russian noun has a gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), which you can usually tell from the last letter. For things (not people or animals), only nouns ending in -а or -я change in the accusative singular. Everything else looks exactly like the dictionary form. The accusative word is red throughout this page; tap a form to hear it.
Feminine nouns in -ь stay the same: тетра́дь, ночь, мать.
The animate rule: people and animals
Russian splits nouns into animate (people and animals) and inanimate (everything else). When an animate noun is the object, its accusative copies the genitive. In the singular this only affects masculine nouns; in the plural it affects every gender.
Ask: is it alive, and is it masculine or plural? If both, use the genitive form.
Noun
Dictionary form
Accusative
Rule
table
стол
Masculine thing: no change
brother
брат
Masculine person: copies the genitive
teacher
учи́тель
Masculine person, soft: -я
cat (male)
кот
Animals count as animate
sister
сестра́
Feminine singular: the usual -у
books
кни́ги
Plural things: no change
sisters
сёстры
Plural people: genitive plural, any gender
children
де́ти
Plural people: genitive plural
Adjectives, possessives and pronouns
An adjective (a describing word) follows its noun, animate rule included. The feminine ending is -ую / -юю; every other form copies either the nominative or the genitive.
Word
Masc. thing
Masc. person
Feminine
Neuter
Pl. things
Pl. people
но́выйnew
си́нийdark blue
хоро́шийgood
мойmy
нашour
э́тотthis
весьall
Personal pronouns
They are identical to the genitive. After a preposition, его́, её, их become на него́, про неё, в них.
The direct object
The direct object is the person or thing a verb acts on directly: what you see, read, buy, eat, love or wait for. Most Russian verbs that take an object take it in the accusative, with no preposition, just as in English.
A few verbs take their object in another case instead: помога́ть and звони́ть take the dative, боя́ться the genitive, занима́ться the instrumental.
Direction: куда́? “where to?”
The prepositions в, на, под and за take the accusative for movement towards a place, and another case for being there. The question tells you which: где? (where?) or куда́? (where to?).
Same preposition, different case. The ending alone tells you whether someone is at school or on the way.
Preposition
Где? Being there
Куда́? Going there · accusative
вin / into
вin / into
наon, at / onto, to
наon, at / onto, to
подunder
заbehind
Time: when, how long, how soon
The accusative carries most of Russian’s time expressions. Each small word gives a different meaning, so it is worth learning them side by side.
Other accusative prepositions and verb pairs
Beyond direction and time, a handful of prepositions (small words before a noun) always take the accusative, and many common verbs are fixed to в or на + accusative. Learn each verb together with its preposition.
Prepositions
Verb + в / на + accusative
Check yourself
Put the words in brackets into the accusative. Some won’t change at all: deciding that is part of the exercise.
1Я чита́ю (газе́та).I’m reading a newspaper.
2Ты зна́ешь (э́тот студе́нт)?Do you know this student?
3Мы е́дем в (Москва́).We’re going to Moscow.
4Я люблю́ (ко́шки).I love cats.
5Позвони́ мне в (суббо́та).Call me on Saturday.
6Посмотри́ на (я)!Look at me!
7Он купи́л (но́вая кварти́ра).He bought a new flat.