looking for Citizen Ilyin's apartment." Comparative adjectives have the object of comparison g: он старше своего брата "he is older than his brother" (also, он старше чем брат, with n after чем "than"). A few adjectives have a g object: карман полон денег "the pocket is full of money." Time when, in a few expressions, is g: я приехал третьего сентября "I arrived on the third of September." Most prepositions take an object in the g case; §31. For the g with numbers, see §22.
The dative case is used for the second (usually personal) object of verbs that take tow objects: он дал книги отцу "he gave the book (a) to his father (d)." Some verbs with one object have it d: он помогает брату "he helps his brother"; so especially some verbs whose subject is not necessarily personal but whose object is a person: брату нравится Москва "Moscow pleases our brother; brother likes Moscow"; что вам снилось? "what appeared to you in a dream? What did you dream?" With most impersonal expressions, especially predicative adjectives, the person affected is d: мне холодно "it's cold to me; I feel cold"; нам надо денег "to us there is need of money; we need some money"; мне сорок лет "to me forty years; I'm forty years old", мне пора "it's time for me (to go)." A few adjectives have a d object: я рад случаю "I'm glad of the opportunity." A few preposition like a d object; §3l.
The instrumental case tells the means: он пишет карандашом "he writes with pencil"; also the respect: он родом руский "he is a Russia by family." A predicate noun is i when the beginning or end of the state is involved: он был солдатом "he was (then) a soldier; he has been a soldier" but, with n, он был солдат "he (as, a stranger with whose earlier and later states we are not concerned) was a soldier." The actor of a passive expression is i: письмо написано отцсом "the letter was written by my father"; so especially with impersonal expression: избу зажгло молнией "it (impresonal) set the hut (a) on fire with lighting (i); the hut was set on fire by lightning." A few verbs take an i object: он правил автомобилем "he was driving the automobile" A few expressions of time when are i: зимой "in winter," днём "in the daytime; in the afternoon." A few prepositions take an i object; §31.
The locative case occurs only as the object of a few prepositions; §31.
Animate and Inanimate. There is a distinction between animate nouns, which denote a living being, and inanimate nouns, which do not. This distinction appears chiefly in the a form: in all plurals and in one large class of masculine singular nouns, the a of animates is like the g, and the a of inanimates is like the n. Thus, the n is книги "books" and the a has the same form: я вижу книги "I see the books"; the n люди "people" has by its side the g людей, and the a has this latter form: я вижу людей "I see people." Only in a few fixed expressions is the a plural of animates like the n: он поехал в гости "he went among the guests; he has gone on a visit"; compare: я вижу гостей "I see the guests."
Thus we have for each noun six singular form and five plural forms: ns (nominative singilar), as, gs, ds, is, ls; np (nominative plural), gp, dp, ip, lp, the accusative plural (ap) having the same form either as the np or as the gp.
Declensions. There are four types of nouns inflection; we call them declensions. Same nouns, however, do not change their form for the various cases and numbers; these nouns are indeclinable (indecl). Thus, the N noun пальто "overcoat" is the same for all cases and both numbers.
In all four types of declension the dp, ip, and lp have the same endings: dp, [-am], ip [-amji], lp [-ax]; when the endings are stressed, the stress is on the [a]: к столам "on the tables," под столами "under the tables," на столах "on the tables." Only a very few nouns have a different ip ending.
Ordinarily a preposition before its object is unstressed, but in some special expressions a noun stressed on the first syllable loses its stress after a preposition, which receives the stress: он держал котёнка за голову [za g'l'vu] "he held the kitten by its head"; §31.
Certain combinations of prepositions plus noun, usually with special meanings, are run together in writing: верх "top, upper part," наверху "on top, upstairs"; муж "husband," замужен "married" (of a woman).
Class of Nouns. Nouns are given in the dictionary in the ns form: стол "table." The gender and declension are shown as follows by the shape of the ns form and the gender marks:
-а, -я, with no gender sign: the noun is F, of declension 1: сила, пуля
-а, -я, with the sign M: the noun is M, of declension 1: слуга M, дядя M
-а -я, with the sign M, F, the noun is of declension 1 and is M when it means a male, F when it means a female: сирота M, F "orphan"
-я with the sign N: the noun is N, of declension 4: имя N
-о, -е, with no gender sign: the noun is N, of declension 3: слово, поле, ружьё
-о, -е, with the sign M: the noun is M, of declension 3: домище M "big house"
Hard consonant, except ж, ш, with no gender sign: the noun is M, declension 2: стол
-й, with no gender sign: the noun is M, declension 2: музей
-ж, -ч, -ш, -щ, with the sign M: the noun is M, declension 2: нож M, ключ M
-жь, -чь, -шь, -щь, with the sign F: the noun is F, declension 4: рожь F, вешь F
Soft consonant, with the sign M: the noun is M, declension 2: руль M (except only путь M "road," which in M, declension 4)
Soft consonant, with the sign F: the noun is F, declension 4: грязь F
Nouns which occur only in plural form are given in the np with indication of the gp and the sign P: ножницы, -ниц P "scissors."
Indeclinable nouns are marked indecl, with a gender sign: палто indecl N.
In nouns of Declensions 2 and 4 the ns form has no ending and therefore fails to show whether the stress in the remaining forms is on the stem or on the endings. When the stress is on the endings we therefore always show the gs ending with an accent mark:
факт (all forms stress the stem: gs факта, np факты, and so on); стол, -а (all forms stress the ending: gs стола, np столы, and so on).
The ns form of these nouns also fails to show whether the last vowel is an inserted vowel. When the last vowel is an inserted vowel we therefore always show the gs form:
