The Instrumental Case of Russian Nouns

If you want to learn basic Russian language, you can just learn some idioms and phrases. But, if your goal is to master the Russian language, you must have a good understanding of Russian grammar. You can learn one by one aspect of the Russian language, such as the perfective, imperfective aspect, adjective, and Russian cases here. In a previous post we have learned the Dative case of Russian nouns. Now let’s talk about the instrumental case of Russian nouns.

The instrumental case is used to describe a noun as an instrument. There are several prepositions that follow the instrumental case: c (with), между (between), перед (in front of), за (behind), над (over), and под (under). To make a sentence in the Instrumental case, you should know the formulas as you can see below.

How To Form Instrumental Case of Russian Nouns

Masculine

• Replace a noun with a consonant ending with –ом

Брат – Братом (brother)

нож –  ножом (knife)

Карандаш –  Карандашом  (sugar)

• But there are exceptions when the masculine nouns are –й and –ь. Replace it with –ем.

Учитель  –  учителем (teacher)

Чай –  чаем (tea)

• When the masculine nouns ending are -я or -a, add –ей or –ой

Дядя – дядей (uncle)

Папа –  папой (papa)

Here are for further example of masculine nouns:

• Он пишет карандашом.
  (On pishet karandashom.)
  He writes with a pencil.
• Ирина хочет чай с лимоном.
  (Irina khochet chay s limonom)
  Irina wants tea with lemon.

Feminine

• Most feminine nouns have ending –а. Replace it with -ой

Книга – Книгой (Book)

Девушка – девушкой (Girl)

Картина – Картиной (Picture)

• Replace -я  with –ей

Тётя – тётей (aunt)

• Replace -ь  with -ью

Ночь – ночью (night)

Here are for further example of feminine nouns:

• я с любимой книгой.
  (Ya s lyubimoy knigoy)
  I’m with my favorite book.
• Я дышу под водой.
  (Ya dyshu pod vodoy)
  I’m breathing under water.

 

Neutral

• Replace –о  with –ом

Окно – окном (window)

Радио – Радиом (radio)

• Replace –ем with –е

Море – морем (sea)

Here are for further example of neutral nouns:

• Она пьет кофе с молоком.
  (Ona p’yet kofe s molokom)
  She drinks coffee with milk.
• я ем хлеб с мясом.
  (ya yem khleb s myasom)
  I eat bread with meat.

Plural

• Change the plural form with –ами or –ями

Учитель – учителями (teacher)

Девушка – Девушками (girl)

Окно  – окнами (window)

• But there are some exceptions to some neutral words like:

ребёнок – детьми (children)

человек – людьми (people)

Here are for further example of plural forms:

• Нина с детьми ходили в кино.
  (Nina s det’mi khodili v kino)
  Nina with children went to the cinema.
• Я окружаю себя хорошими людьми.
  (Ya okruzhayu sebya khoroshimi lyud’mi)
  I surround myself with good people.

Now, it’s your turn to make a sentence of each gender of a noun. After practicing several times, you will find the instrumental case of the noun Russian easier. To experience a fun and different learning environment, you can practice with your friends who also want to learn Russian. Practice makes perfect~