Instrumental Case: Nouns

An overview of endings for nouns in the instrumental case, with attention to a few important irregular forms. You'll need these endings when saying things like "with a friend," "with a fork," "proud of," "satisfied with," and many more useful contexts.
NOTE: there's a typo at 1:24; Москва́ should of course be stressed on the ending (it's pronounced correctly in the audio).
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[@user-sk6xt6zt9p]

Learning russian for like 7 years and still not knowing it more than 40% 👍

[@russiangrammar]

It's often not a matter of how many years, but how many contact/class hours, how much actual practice etc. I've been learning it over 40 years and I'm still not to 100%! (not sure that's possible anyway 🙂 )

[@kemchobhenchod]

helpful to capitalize the "um" in instrumental, as its non feminine endings are usually some derivative of this sound

[@desativado9332]

Love your voice

[@smuecke]

The stress shifts are killing me...

[@LiquidSasha]

Thanks, this was helpful, but I'm getting confused with Russian word stress and soft and hard consonants, do you perhaps have any videos on these topics?

[@russiangrammar]

My FIDE Rating is 2700 I don't have any videos on stress, I'm afraid; while there are some patterns, it generally needs to be learned with each word. But check the Pronunciation playlist for 2 videos on hard & soft consonants - it's really helpful to get comfortable with that concept.

[@LiquidSasha]

Russian grammar Okay, I added those videos to my русский Грамматика playlist, will watch them later, and ah I see, it needs to be learned with each word, thanks :)

[@russiangrammar]

Since грамматика is feminine you might want to rename your playlist русская грамматика (see the video on gender & adjective endings). :)

[@LiquidSasha]

Russian grammar Okay haha thanks, I thought there was something wrong with it. I'll watch the gender-adjective video aswell :)

[@obsidian_gmd]

Is there any way to know when the stress changes in a word? Like язЫк to языкОм

[@russiangrammar]

I'm afraid there is no easy set of rules to apply. Some nouns have fixed stress (always on the same syllable), others have shifting stress. Best practice for learners is to always mark the stress if you make flashcards, and take note if your textbook indicates shifting stress in the word lists or glossaries.

[@zulkiflijamil4033]

Например, это был интересный разговор с учителями.

[@kazinazmul3709]

good Job

[@chriswilliams9394]

very good but example phrases of when these would be used would help a lot.

[@russiangrammar]

Good point, though I do try to keep these videos brief, and there are so many uses for the instrumental that it's worth a separate video. In the meantime, a few quick examples: 1) a tool or means by which you do something: Как есть палочками? How to eat with chopsticks? 2) after the preposition 'c' in the meaning 'together with': Я говорил с братом. I was talking with my brother. 3) how something is done: Он говорил громким голосом. He was talking in a loud voice. 4) A number of useful verbs are used with the instrumental: --Она интересуется музыкой. She's interested in music. -Надо пользоваться словарём. You should use a dictionary. --Мы гордимся детьми. We're proud of the children.

[@chriswilliams9394]

@@russiangrammar Much appreciated, i can see where you're coming from

[@part9952]

"Мягкими перьями белыми укрывая внизу города." Thats a line of the lyrics from a russian song. Could you please explain why the Instrumental is used here and basically why you should use it here? It confuses me cause there is no "c" for the instrumental to follow. So i dont really know why this case is used here for "Soft white feathers..."

[@russiangrammar]

С + instrumental has the meaning of ‘together with’: Я говорил с Таней. = I spoke with Tanya. …but the instrumental has other meanings when c is not used; common ones include ‘by means of,’ or ‘how’ something is done: Она писала карандашом. She wrote using a pencil/with a pencil. Он говорил громким голосом. He was speaking in a loud voice. Your example is similar: in this song the clouds are covering the city with soft white feathers - not ‘together with’, or accompanied by feathers; rather it’s a description of how the city is covered).

[@part9952]

@@russiangrammar Ahh okay! I knew that you gotta use the instrumental with "c" but the absence of this word confused me. Very good description! Спасибо тебе!

[@robertandersson1128]

‘Они говорили с родителями’ - They spoke to _their_ parents? Should that be ‘Они говорили с _их_ родителями’? Is их implied automatically? Also, maybe it’s a good idea making a video on the uses of the instrumental case, like with the prepositions like за, под, перед and verbs that take intrumental, e.g работать, стать & интересоваться.

[@russiangrammar]

'Spoke with' is also possible - for me, 'to speak to' and 'to speak with' are very close in meaning, and both can correspond to говорить с. Russian does often leave out possessives where context makes it clear - this happens especially often with family relations and parts of the body (у меня болит голова = I have a headache/my head hurts; я сказал брату, что... = I told my brother that...). Also be aware that их means someone else's parents, not their own; 'with their (own) parents' would be со (своими) родителями. I'll do a video on that (and case usage) someday, but Angelos has a very nice blog post about свой at explorerussian.com/svoj-reflexive-possessive-pronoun/

[@robertandersson1128]

Russian grammar There is a similar word in Swedish, _sin_, so I think I can grasp the usage of свой. Anyway, thank you for the link. Большое спасибо!

[@russiangrammar]

I'll get to those someday - in the meantime, Angelos has a nice series of videos on case usage in the context of a film Ирония судьбы that every Russian student should get to know. He's just put one up on the instrumental: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mp7Qh6CKhr95has

[@robertandersson1128]

Russian grammar Thank you very much for the link. It sound like a good idea. Большое спасибо!

[@wwoonnjjuunn]

at 0:48, stress on the dictionary isn't b but why it said it is stressed? obviously stress is on a.

[@russiangrammar]

For some words the stress shifts when you add an ending. With словарь, in all forms other than nom. and acc. singular, stress moves to the ending, so we get instrumental словарём, with stress on -ём. (I tend not to use the accent mark there because ё is always stressed anyway, and it tends to look cluttered with dots and the accent mark!)

[@wwoonnjjuunn]

thank you!

[@Yrenne]

No way I'll remember any of this... wtf

[@russiangrammar]

Don't give up so easily! Think of some friends: Борис, Сергей, Лиза, Таня; and just memorize a phrase: Я говорил с Борисом, с Сергеем, с Лизой, и с Таней... when you've got that down, add с матерью and с детьми, and that'll give you pretty much all you need. You can do it! :)