The Case of the Negated Direct Object: a Russian Grammar Mystery

When you’ve learned the basics of using the six cases of Russian, you might still notice a few subtleties that surprise you, even in simple thoughts like “I didn’t pay attention” or “I don’t see any problems.” In this video we’ll consider the mysterious case (sorry! well not really) of a seeming overlap of the accusative and the genitive, and the nuances it can express.
This video was recently released as part of my Russian Grammar Library project, accompanied by an exercise and more example sentences at www.tips4russian.com. For over 200 more videos like this one, with over 450 embedded comprehension checks, exercises, quizzes, and example sentences, join the Russian Grammar Library Project!
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Sherlock Holmes image in thumbnail courtesy of OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay.

[@MrSkypelessons]

I have been waiting for this class for a very long time! Thanks, Russian Grammar. I love your explanations.

[@JohnSmith-uj4sx]

30 years after I started studying Russian I find out about this... Greetings from a beautiful but slippery Moscow

[@russiangrammar]

I remember those moments when for a second you're in the air, horizontal, gazing at the sky, then

[@user-jp4lt7xu2g]

​@@russiangrammarto be honest, I feel better knowing that it's not me... it's the Russian language...

[@larsped.7388]

Мне кажется, что иногда можно использовать обе версии, но они имеют разное значение, например: Я не хочу пиццу (то есть я не хочу именно эту пиццу, а, возможно, другой вид или другой кусок той же пиццы) Я не хочу пиццы (то есть я не хочу никакой пиццы, но, пожалуй, борщ)

[@russiangrammar]

Хороший пример этих тонких нюансов, спасибо!

[@dmitryche8905]

Это что-то в духе: а не выпить ли нам коньяку/коньяка или чаю/чая? У Микитки сына Алексеева было что-то про это.

[@planetareynoso]

Thank you very much, Professor Ford! I truly enjoy these videos. I envy those students who had the chance to study Russian at the university with you! 😀

[@tofinoguy]

Great to hear from you again, Dr Ford.

[@shukrimahmood]

An interesting topic, and much valued explanation of it. I didn't know, before or since, the reason (causation) behind what seemed to be an aberration from the standard usage... Many thanks. 👍

[@uuco.6037]

Спасибо вам большое за объяснение))

[@umidjonakramovielts6954]

I have waited for this lesson for a long time. Thank you

[@ervakubraburak8211]

This was exactly what I was waiting for. Thank you!

[@MiltonJava]

Great point!

[@alfatejpblind6498]

Will you make a video about the dative being used when "no one" is the subject of the sentence? E.g. "в небе над нами горит звезда, некому кроме неё нам помочь"

[@justjordiano]

Спасибо)

[@Xyriak]

thank you

[@missbloma13]

Thank you short things are good😊😊😊😊😊

[@legrandparrain]

When the genitive is used for the direct object with affirmative sentences, does it have similar rules to the ones described? For example, saying "Она хочет скандалов" seems to unserline that the subject enjoys creating scandals, drama, etc. on a general level, whereas saying "Она хочет скандалы" doesn't carry as much of that nuance. I rarely see this construction with affirmative sentences, but I still think it's worth explaining.

[@russiangrammar]

I'll do a video on this soon - one use of the genitive is sometimes called "partitive," for expressing a portion of something, often like "some" in English. Michele Berdy wrote a nice column to introduce this a while back: www.themoscowtimes.com/2014/02/06/a-little-bit-of-this-a-little-bit-of-that-a31827

[@alexanderl2061]

Как всегда, благодарю Вас. Хорошее видео. Are there any good textbooks for levels b-1 and b-2? The reason I'm asking is that I completed пять элементов (из златоуста) but I'm not very confident I could pass трки-1. Any input is appreciated.

[@russiangrammar]

I'm not too familiar with пять элементов, but if you're at a point where grammar practice is still helpful, I often recommend Русский язык в упражнениях, by Хавронина - exercises on all the essentials, with an answer key.

[@jeffm9227]

I use a textbook from the 70s which states that "the direct object of a negated verb is _usually_ in the genitive" (so, the rule rather than the exception) *except* when referring to a specific object or person (e.g. Я не знаю его женУ.) Even in that case, use of the accusative is considered colloquial.

[@russiangrammar]

I wouldn't argue with that - note careful inclusion of the word "usually." It'd be interesting to see if there's been any shift in what's perceived as markedly colloquial; you'd need to do some careful work in a corpus, but this quick look at an ngram is an interesting comparison of не читал эту vs не читал этой over time: books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=не+читал+эту%2Cне+читал+этой&year_start=1920&year_end=2019&corpus=ru-2019&smoothing=3

[@russiangrammar]

And here's a hint of a shift (just from a quick look at gramota.ru): -Какой падеж в этих конструкциях использовался раньше - родительный или винительный? Прежде при глаголах с отрицанием почти всегда употреблялся родительный падеж. «Русская грамматика» пишет: «Единая старая норма обязательного родительного падежа при глаголах с отрицанием в современном языке под влиянием разговорной речи не выдерживается: во многих случаях употребление винительного падежа не только предпочитается, но и является единственно правильным». -gramota.ru/biblioteka/spravochniki/pismovnik/kakoy-padezh-nuzhen-pri-otritsanii

[@jeffm9227]

@@russiangrammar Interesting graph. I'd put my money on accusative the next few decades. 🙂

[@russiangrammar]

I might too; we'd just need to find a place where you can place bets on developments in Russian grammar in coming decades 🤣

[@fmaylinch]

супер интересно! сейчас понятно, почему русские иногда используют родительный падеж с "не" :)

[@mariorossi-kh9yy]

Very clear and useful video👏👏🇷🇺❤‼️