The Russian Pronoun Declensions The bad news is: Russian pronouns also decline and agree with

the noun they modify or replace. The good news is: you already know how to decline most of the pronouns. With the exception of the 1st and 2nd person personal pronouns, pronouns decline according to the following general principle: The Pronoun Declension Rule

The nominative-accusative case endings of pronouns are the same as the nominative-accusative endings of nouns. The remaining pronominal endings are the same as the remaining adjective endings.

So, for example, the nominative and accusative neuter endings of "this", are identical -o's, just like those in okno "window" (but unlike , the nominative and accusative neuter forms of the adjective meaning "new"). The nominative and accusative feminine are and , just like and . The other cases of , however, are in the masculine-neuter gender, just like the adjective "new": , , , , , . The exceptions are the 1st and 2nd singular and plural personal pronouns, so let's start with them. They have to be memorized. The Highly Personal Pronouns The personal pronouns are irregular (in their vowel movements) but regular in their own way. They are called 'personal' pronouns because there are always at least six of them corresponding to the six grammatical 'persons', i.e. 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person singular and plural. In English the personal pronouns are:

English Personal Pronouns

Person Singular 1st I 2nd you 3rd he, she, it Plural we you (all) they

Just below are the Russian pronouns that correspond to English I, you, he/she/it, we, you (all), they. That is, they either refer to the participants in a conversation or replace a noun which is known to the speaker and listener.

Russian Personal Pronouns

Person Singular 1st 2nd 3rd , , Plural

You must keep in mind that , , do not mean "he, she, it"; rather they simply reflect the gender and declension class of the noun they replace. So, an English-speaker would refer to a table as "it" and a book as "it". A Russian, however, refers to a table () as and a book () as because requires masculine agreement and requires feminine. All of these pronouns decline in all six cases. However, the 1st and 2nd person singular pronouns decline similarly and the 1st and 2nd plural decline similarly. The stem of the third person pronoun (notice there is only one) is - in the nominative singular and - everywhere else.

Personal Pronoun Declensions: 1st & 2nd Persons

Case
Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Prepositional Instrumental

Singular

Plural

The paradigm above is a complete one, but keep in mind that the genitive of the personal pronouns is rarely used since the genitive sense is usually conveyed by the possessive pronouns. Otherwise, when you use these pronouns in positions where case is required, just as you have to adjust the ending of the noun, you have to use

the appropriate case form of the pronoun. Here are some examples:
. . . . . I saw Sasha Sasha saw me Sasha helped me. Sasha thought about me ['I' in the nominative] ['I' in the accusative] ['I' in the dative] ['I' in the prepositional]

Sasha talked to/with me ['I' in the instrumental]

Take advantage of the syncretism of several cases. The dative and prepositional forms are identical in the 1st and 2nd persons singular and the genitive, accusative, and prepositional are identical in the 1st and 2nd persons plural. Finally, you have to remember to insert and before all the third person pronouns when the occur after prepositions.
Without Prep . I saw him. I saw her. . 'I saw them. With Prep . I'm leaving his place. . I'm leaving her place. . I'm leaving their place.

That's it. Now you know all about Russian pronouns that you need to speak the languagefluently. Your Personal Personal Pronoun Exercises Here are a few exercises to test your grasp of the personal pronoun in Russian. Choose the correct case form of the pronoun listed to the right of the sentence and type it into the appropriate space.

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