What it does#
The genitive (родительный падеж) is the most versatile Russian case. Its core idea is "of": possession, belonging, and relationships between nouns. It answers кого? (of whom?) and чего? (of what?). It also marks absence (there is no…), comes after quantities and numbers, and follows a long list of prepositions.
Это книга брата.
This is my brother's book.
У меня нет времени.
I have no time.
Чашка чая, пожалуйста.
A cup of tea, please.
If a phrase would use "of" in English, or an apostrophe-s, it's almost certainly the genitive in Russian: центр города (the center of the city), машина отца (father's car).
Endings (sg. & pl.)#
The genitive singular is regular and quick to learn. The genitive plural is the hardest set of endings in the language, so it's worth studying the two side by side.
- стол
- стола
- столов
- музей
- музея
- музеев
- словарь
- словаря
- словарей
- врач
- врача
- врачей
- книга
- книги
- книг
- газета
- газеты
- газет
- неделя
- недели
- недель
- дверь
- двери
- дверей
- окно
- окна
- окон
- море
- моря
- морей
- здание
- здания
- зданий
Where you use it#
The genitive has more jobs than any other case. The five you'll meet daily:
1. Possession & "of": дом брата.
2. Absence, after нет, не было, не будет: нет времени.
3. Quantities, after много, мало, несколько: много работы.
4. Prepositions: из, от, до, без, для, у, около, после.
5. The partitive, "some" of something: стакан воды.
Он приехал из Москвы.
He arrived from Moscow.
У нас много работы.
We have a lot of work.
Я жду до вечера.
I'm waiting until evening.
Genitive vs. accusative#
The genitive and the accusative overlap in one spot: for animate masculine nouns the accusative borrows the genitive form. So брата can be either case; the role in the sentence tells you which:
Я вижу брата.
I see my brother. (object, accusative)
Это машина брата.
This is my brother's car. (possessor, genitive)
Same form брата, two cases. Once the genitive feels solid, the cases overview maps out the three that remain: dative, instrumental, and prepositional.
Common mistakes#
Leaving the noun nominative after нет. "There is no X" needs the genitive: say нет времени, not нет время.
The wrong number rule. 2–4 take the genitive singular (три книги), 5+ the genitive plural (пять книг). Mixing them up (пять книги) is the classic beginner error.
Adding -ов to feminine plurals. The feminine genitive plural is a zero ending, not -ов: it's много книг, never книгов.