Prepositional Case Modifiers

Stems & Endings Russian nouns and modifiers have stems and endings. The stems are more or less fixed, while the endings change, predictably and consistently, according to the gender, number and FUNCTION of the noun. Noun’s are the boss: They tell the modifiers what to do. Every noun has a function in a sentence: Subject, object, indirect object, object of a preposition, etc.

Prepositional Case Certain prepositions “govern” the prepositional case. That means that the nouns that are the objects of the preposition take prepositional endings. The three most important prepositions that govern the prepositional case are В (in, at) НА (in, on at), О (about).

Where? To indicate WHERE something takes place “in or at” we use в.. Unless we’re talking about EVENTS and OPEN SPACE, in which case, we use на Events are location neutral. You can do it anywhere. Can you do it in the bathroom?

Noun Endings NOUNS: – Singular nouns take –е as their ending. – Plural nouns take –ах as their ending (sometimes, predictably, -ях) – But, remember: -ие, -ия, -ий + -e  -ии

Modifier Endings Modifiers – Modifiers modifying masculine and neuter nouns in the prepositional case take –ом (sometimes, predictably, -ем) – Modifiers modifying feminine nouns in the prepositional case take –ой (sometimes, predictably, -ей/-ёй) – Modifiers modifying plural nouns in the prepositional case take –ых – Don’t forget spelling rules!

Interrogative Pronouns As pronouns, question words like кто and что also decline (change): О ком? О чём?

Образцы Я живу в (большой дом) Stems: больш- дом- Endings: Modifier (-ом), Noun (-е) Я живу в большО́М домЕ