prepositional sg

The Prepositional Case in Russian (Singular)

The Prepositional case (предложный падеж) is one of the most common cases in Russian. It is unique because it is always used with a preposition. It is primarily used to indicate location (where something is) or the topic of speech and thought (what someone is talking/thinking about).

1. Common Prepositions

• в (v): in / inside
• на (na): on / at
• о / об (o/ob): about
• при (pri): in the presence of / at the time of

2. How to Form the Prepositional Singular

For most nouns, the ending changes to -е. however, there are specific rules based on the gender and the original ending of the word.

Masculine Nouns

Most masculine nouns ending in a consonant or -о/-е add or change to -е.

• стол (stol - table) → о столе (o stole - about the table)
• музей (muzey - museum) → в музее (v muzeye - in the museum)

Note: Some masculine nouns take a stressed -у when used with 'в' or 'на' to show location.

• лес (les - forest) → в лесу (v lesu - in the forest)
• сад (sad - garden) → в саду (v sadu - in the garden)

Feminine Nouns

Nouns ending in -а or -я change to -е. Nouns ending in a soft sign (-ь) or -ия change to -и.

• книга (kniga - book) → в книге (v knige - in the book)
• россия (rossiya - Russia) → в России (v Rossii - in Russia)
• ночь (noch' - night) → о ночи (o nochi - about the night)

Neuter Nouns

Nouns ending in -о or -е usually end in -е. Nouns ending in -ие change to -ии.

• окно (okno - window) → на окне (na okne - on the window)
• море (more - sea) → в море (v more - in the sea)
• здание (zdanie - building) → в здании (v zdanii - in the building)

3. Summary of Usage

Use the prepositional case when you want to answer the questions Где? (Gde? - Where?) or О ком? / О чём? (O kom? / O chyom? - About whom? / About what?).

Example: Мы говорим о работе. (My govorim o rabote - We are talking about work.)