The genitive is the case of “of”: whose something is, what is missing, and how much there is. It is the most frequent case in Russian after the nominative, and this guide covers every use, from a cup of tea to a full date.
A1 to C1·18 min read·Audio for every example
Ча́шка ча́я, “a cup of tea”. The container stays in its normal form; the contents, чай, take the genitive ending -я.
The short answer
A case is the ending a word takes to show its job in the sentence. The genitive (роди́тельный паде́ж, ra-DEE-tyel’-niy pa-DYEZH) marks the owner (кни́га бра́та, my brother’s book), the missing thing after нет (нет вре́мени, no time), amounts (мно́го люде́й, a lot of people), and follows about twenty prepositions and a handful of verbs. Feminine nouns usually end in -ы/-и, masculine and neuter in -а/-я.
Seven jobs of the genitive
Every genitive you meet does one of these seven things. The word in the genitive is shown in red throughout this page. Tap any Russian sentence to hear it.
1PossessionWhose something is, or what it is part of.More on this →
2AbsenceSomething that isn’t there, after нет.More on this →
3QuantityAfter numbers and words like “a lot”, “a few”.More on this →
4PrepositionsAfter из, от, у, без, для and a dozen more.More on this →
5Certain verbsVerbs of fear, avoidance, wishing and reaching.More on this →
6Comparison“Than” after bigger, older, better.More on this →
7DatesThe month, and the day you do something on.More on this →
Singular endings
Russian nouns have a gender: masculine, feminine or neuter. You can almost always tell it from the last letter. The genitive ending depends on that gender and on whether the last consonant is hard (a plain sound) or soft (said with the tongue raised, as if a faint “y” follows; written with -ь, -й, -я, -е).
Noun type
Dictionary form
Genitive
Ending
Masculine, hard
столtable
-а
Masculine, -й
музе́йmuseum
-я
Masculine, -ь
слова́рьdictionary
-я
Masculine, -а (people)
па́паdad
-ы
Feminine, -а
ко́мнатаroom
-ы
Feminine, -а after г к х ж ш ч щ
кни́гаbook
-и
Feminine, -я
неде́ляweek
-и
Feminine, -ия
ста́нцияstation
-и
Feminine, -ь
тетра́дьnotebook
-и
Neuter, -о
окно́window
-а
Neuter, -е / -ие
мо́реsea
-я
Neuter, -мя
вре́мяtime
-ени
The spelling rule. After г, к, х, ж, ш, ч and щ, Russian never writes ы; it writes и. That is why ко́мната becomes ко́мнаты but кни́га becomes кни́ги.
Stress can move. Some short nouns shift the stress onto the ending: стол → стола́, сестра́ → сестры́, рука́ → руки́. The dictionary shows this; listen for it.
Fleeting vowels. A few masculine nouns lose their last о or е: оте́ц → отца́ (father), день → дня (day). See fleeting vowels.
Plural endings: five patterns
The genitive plural is the form you hear after пять (five), мно́го (many) and ско́лько (how many), so it comes up constantly. Choose the ending from the last letter of the dictionary form.
Masculine words take an ending; feminine and neuter words mostly lose one. “No ending” means the final vowel simply drops off.
-овMasculine nouns ending in a hard consonant.
-евMasculine nouns in -й, and in -ц when the ending is unstressed.
-ейNouns in -ь of both genders, masculine nouns in ж ш ч щ, and neuter nouns in -е.
no endingFeminine -а / -я and neuter -о: the last vowel drops. -я leaves a soft sign behind.
-ийFeminine nouns in -ия and neuter nouns in -ие.
When dropping the vowel leaves two consonants clashing at the end, an о or е slips in between them: окно́ → о́кон, ру́чка → ру́чек. This is the same fleeting vowel as in оте́ц, working in reverse.
Irregular genitive plurals worth learning by heart
Adjectives, possessives and pronouns
An adjective (a describing word like “new”) always takes the same case as its noun. In the genitive the endings are just three: -ого / -его for masculine and neuter, -ой / -ей for feminine, and -ых / -их for the plural of every gender.
Word
Masc. · neuter
Feminine
Plural
но́выйnew
си́нийdark blue
хоро́шийgood
большо́йbig
мойmy
нашour
э́тотthis
весьall, the whole
Say г as v. In -ого and -его the г is pronounced like an English v: но́вого is “NO-va-va”, моего́ is “ma-ye-VO”. The same goes for его́ and сего́дня (today).
Personal pronouns
After a preposition, его́, её and их add an н-: у него́ (he has), для неё (for her), без них (without them). It just makes them easier to say.
Possession and “of”
Russian has no “’s”. To say whose something is, put the thing first and the owner second, in the genitive. The same pattern covers parts of a whole, contents and many English compound nouns.
Literally “book of Anna”. А́нна changes -а to -ы, exactly like ко́мната in the singular table.
His, her, their. его́ (his), её (her) and их (their) are frozen genitive forms of “he”, “she” and “they”. They come before the noun and never change: его́ маши́на, её дом, их де́ти.
Absence: нет, не́ было, не бу́дет
To say something isn’t there, Russian uses нет (nyet, there is no) and puts the missing thing in the genitive. The verb never agrees with it: in the past it is always не́ было, in the future always не бу́дет, whatever is missing.
Presentнет
Pastне́ было
Futureне бу́дет
Quantities and amounts
Any word that measures an amount is followed by the genitive: countable things go into the genitive plural (мно́го книг), things you can’t count stay singular (мно́го воды́). After numbers the rule depends on the last digit; the numbers in every case guide covers it in full.
“Some”: the whole thing or a part of it
With food and drink, the genitive can mean “some of it”, where the accusative means the whole thing. Grammarians call this the partitive genitive. A few masculine nouns even have a special ending -у/-ю for it, heard mostly in speech: ча́ю, са́хару, су́пу.
The genitive prepositions
A preposition is a small word like “from” or “without” that sits before a noun. Each Russian preposition fixes the case of the noun after it, and more prepositions take the genitive than any other case. These eighteen cover nearly everything you will read.
Preposition
Meaning
Example, word by word
уu
at someone’s; near; (to have)
изiz
out of, from (a place)
сs
from, off, down from
отat
from (a person); away from
доda
until; as far as
безbyez
without
дляdlya
for (the benefit of)
по́слеPOS-lye
after
о́колоO-ka-la
near; about (roughly)
вокру́гva-KRUK
around
ми́моMEE-ma
past
напро́тивna-PRO-tif
opposite
про́тивPRO-tif
against
кро́меKRO-mye
except, apart from
вме́стоVMYES-ta
instead of
среди́sri-DEE
among
из-заIZ-za
because of; from behind
ра́диRA-di
for the sake of
Three ways to say “from”
Russian picks its “from” to match the word you would use for “to”. Places you go в (into) you leave из; places you go на (onto) you leave с; people you go к (towards) you leave от. The “to” takes the accusative or dative; every “from” takes the genitive.
Blue: going there. Red: coming back, always in the genitive. с takes the genitive only when it means “from” or “off”; when it means “with” it takes the instrumental.
Verbs that take the genitive
Most verbs put their object (the thing the action is done to) in the accusative. These verbs use the genitive instead. Many share a sense of fear, avoidance, wanting or reaching, so they are easier to remember as a family.
Comparisons and negated objects
Two uses you will meet from B1 onwards, mostly in writing and careful speech. Each has an equally correct alternative, shown beside it.
“Than” in comparisonsAfter a comparative adjective (bigger, older, better), you can put the thing compared straight into the genitive. Or use чем (than) with the nominative. Both mean the same; the genitive is shorter and very common.
Objects after a negated verbWhen a verb is negated with не, its object can move from the accusative into the genitive, especially when it is abstract or means “any”. With никако́й (no … at all) the genitive is the normal choice; with concrete, specific things the accusative is more usual.
Dates
Russian dates are built like “the fifth of June”, and the month is always in the genitive. To say on a date, the day number goes into the genitive too, with no preposition. Day numbers are ordinals (first, second, fifth), which end like adjectives.
Check yourself
Put the word in brackets into the genitive. Say the answer out loud, then reveal it.
1У меня́ нет (маши́на).I don’t have a car.
2Я живу́ недалеко́ от (вокза́л).I live not far from the station.
3Ско́лько (студе́нт) в гру́ппе?How many students are in the group?
4Э́то ко́мната (сестра́).This is my sister’s room.
5Я бою́сь (пау́к).I’m afraid of spiders.
6Ко́фе без (молоко́), пожа́луйста.Coffee without milk, please.
7Вчера́ не́ было (снег).There was no snow yesterday.