Steven
Community Tutor
Learning Russian Endings

What is the best way to become aquainted with case endings in Russian.  Although I can understand the rules, it is very difficult to remember them all.  Does anyone have any ideas about the best way to do this?

May 2, 2014 9:28 PM
Comments · 6
6

It all comes down to lots of practice and constant repetition, I suppose. It might sound a bit boring but that's how things work. Learning a foreign language is similar to learning how to dance or play a musical instrument. You'll never be able to dance if you start thinking how to make a movement.  I guess, that's more or less the same about learning a language.
Another key factor, in my opinion, is personalisation. It's impossible to remember everything, so it's best to try and choose what you can use in your everyday Russian.

 

May 2, 2014
3

I must say, I absolutely agree with Tatiana and James, it's all about practice. However, I wouldn't recommend just learning grammar tables by heart, since it might be difficult to relate it to speaking later (though I know few people who did this successfully).

What I would recommend to do is to try to learn phrases which you can relate to some routine situations, and then practice them. For example, instead of learning endings of nouns in the prepositional case you can make up phrases like "Я живу в Европе" (I live in Europe). You can also make up sentences related to your relatives, friends etc. (try to use nouns of different gender, since the ending vary with it) and then practice them. And of course, if a situation is somehow important to you, it'll be easier to learn the phrases related to it. For example, for one who has always dreamed about visiting Paris and finally got there, it'll be easier to remember phrases like "Ура! Я в Париже!"(Hurrah! I'm in Paris!) Later you can try to remember phrases from texts, movies or videos etc.

You can also describe parts of your everyday routine in Russian. For example, if you're used to get up at 8 a.m., you can learn a phrase "Я встаю в восемь часов" and then say it to yourself every day while getting up. If you have a textbook or follow some online learning resource, it may be easier, since they normally describe situations one may face.

I know, this might seem more difficult than just learning the tables, since there are only 6 cases in grammar tables, and the infinite number of situations. :) However, later you'll realize that many situations have something in common. And then it's all about repetition and practice, you may use your notebook or find language partners here for this.

May 3, 2014
1

language is an instrument, not a goal. treat it as a goal (i've to memorize all the rules) and you will stuck forever. use it as an instrument (look up the rules when you need them) and you will master it.

 

 

of course you need to create conditions where you would need to look them up. for that just choose a book and start reading it in russian using your textbooks and dictionaries. you won't notice how you will memorize all the endings. hire teachers to help you resolve things you can't handle on your own. 

May 3, 2014
1

Here is a link to some charts: http://www.russianlessons.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=898
You can find others by googling russian case ending chart. Note that the linked chart doesn't include excpetions, but those generally come later.

Anyways, the chart should be a great reference, but of course the most challenging part will be placing the endings yourself. In the end, it's really just a lot of review and practice. 

May 3, 2014

Thank you everybody for your help, you have given me some good tips, I will use them.

May 5, 2014
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