Где? “Where?” is answered by в or на plus the prepositional. в means inside; на means on top of, or at an open place or an event.
Russian cases·Предло́жный паде́ж
The Russian prepositional case
The prepositional answers two questions: where? and about what? It is the only case that never appears without a preposition, which is where its name comes from. Its endings are the simplest of all six: nearly always -е.
A1 to B2·15 min read·Audio for every example
The short answer
A case is the ending a word takes to show its job in the sentence. The prepositional (предло́жный паде́ж, prid-LOZH-niy pa-DYEZH) follows just five prepositions: в and на for location (в Москве́, in Moscow), о for the topic (о рабо́те, about work), and the rarer при and по. Almost every noun ends in -е; nouns in -ия, -ие and feminine -ь take -и; the plural is -ах/-ях.
Endings: -е almost everywhere
Russian nouns have a gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), which you can usually tell from the last letter. In this case, gender hardly matters: three small groups take -и, and everything else takes -е. The word in the prepositional is red throughout this page; tap a form to hear it.
-еevery gender, hard or soft
-иthree groups only
Plus the ten neuter nouns in -мя, which take -ени: о вре́мени (about time), об и́мени (about a name).
Plural: -ах / -ях for every gender
The stressed -у́: в лесу́, на мосту́
About a hundred common masculine nouns, mostly one syllable long, take a special stressed ending -у́ (or -ю́) after в and на when they mean a place. Grammarians call it the locative. After о (about), the same nouns take the normal -е: в лесу́ (in the forest) but о ле́се (about the forest).
Adjectives and pronouns
An adjective (a describing word) takes the same case as its noun: -ом / -ем for masculine and neuter, -ой / -ей for feminine, -ых / -их for the plural.
Word
Masc. · neut.
Fem.
Plural
но́выйnew
си́нийdark blue
хоро́шийgood
большо́йbig
мойmy
нашour
э́тотthis
весьall
Personal pronouns, after о
The he, she and they forms always start with н- here, because this case always has a preposition in front.
в or на? Choosing “in” and “at”
Both mean “in” or “at” with the prepositional. The basic idea is simple: в for enclosed spaces, на for surfaces and open areas. But a set of everyday words simply take на by convention, and those have to be learned as a list.
наon a surface, at an open place or an event, and by convention
Surfaces
Open places
Events and activities
Learn as a list
Where, or where to? The same prepositions take the accusative for movement towards a place: Я в Москве́ (I’m in Moscow) but Я е́ду в Москву́ (I’m going to Moscow). The question где? (where?) gives the prepositional; куда́? (where to?) gives the accusative.
о, об, обо: talking about something
о (a) means “about” and is followed by the topic in the prepositional. Before a word starting with a vowel sound (а, о, у, э, и) it becomes об, to keep two vowels from clashing. With a few pronouns it becomes обо.
е, ё, ю and я count as consonant-first, because they start with a “y” sound: о Евро́пе, о ю́ге.
на for transport and instruments
“By bus”, “by train” is на + prepositional. The same на is used for playing a musical instrument and for speaking or writing in a language when you name the language as a noun.
Months, years and weeks
Larger stretches of time use в or на + prepositional. Smaller ones (days of the week, times of day) use other cases, shown in the right-hand column for comparison.
Time span
Prepositional
Example
Month
в январе́
Year
в … году́
Century
в ве́ке
Week
на неде́ле
Life stage
в де́тстве
For comparison: в сре́ду (on Wednesday) is the accusative, у́тром (in the morning) and ле́том (in summer) are the instrumental.
Clothes, при, по and set phrases
The remaining uses, from everyday (wearing clothes) to formal writing (при, “in the presence of; under”).
Check yourself
Put the word in brackets into the prepositional, and choose в or на where there’s a gap. Say the answer out loud, then reveal it.
1Я живу́ в (Петербу́рг).I live in St Petersburg.
2Мы говори́ли о (фильм).We talked about the film.
3Кот сиди́т ___ (крова́ть).The cat is sitting on the bed.
4Она́ рабо́тает ___ (по́чта).She works at the post office.
5Мы гуля́ли в (лес).We went for a walk in the forest.
6Он у́чится в (Герма́ния).He’s studying in Germany.