Genitive case for possession

'The book of the student' — and how Russian builds it.

The genitive case is Russian's all-purpose 'of' case. It does the work of English 'of', it shows possession (whose), and it has many other jobs we'll meet across A2.

What it means

When English says 'the book of Anna' or 'Anna's book', Russian says книга Анны — literally 'book of-Anna'. The owner takes the genitive ending. Word order: thing first, then owner.

Genitive endings (singular)

Masculine inanimate: -а / -я. Стол → стола. Учитель → учителя. Masculine animate (people, animals): -а / -я. Иван → Ивана. Друг → друга. Feminine -а: → -ы (or -и after the 7-letter rule). Книга → книги. Анна → Анны. Feminine -я: → -и. Семья → семьи. Neuter -о: → -а. Окно → окна. (Same letters as plural, but the meaning is clear from context.) Neuter -е: → -я. Море → моря.

Personal pronouns in genitive

я → меня. ты → тебя. он / оно → его. она → её. мы → нас. вы → вас. они → их. Note: его / её / их are the same as the possessive pronouns from lesson 7. That's not a coincidence — Russian uses the genitive of 'he/she/they' to mean 'his/her/their'.

Examples of possession

Книга Анны = Anna's book. Дом Ивана = Ivan's house. Семья учителя = the teacher's family. Друг папы = dad's friend.

Examples

Это книга Анны.

This is Anna's book.

Анна → Анны.

Дом Ивана большой.

Ivan's house is big.

Иван → Ивана.

Это друг папы.

This is dad's friend.

Папа → папы (feminine ending → genitive).

У меня есть книга.

I have a book.

Literally: 'At me there-is a book.' Russian uses genitive after у to express possession.

У них семья большая.

Their family is big.

Genitive of они = их, then with у → них (the н- is added after prepositions).