Accusative Case: Basics - Nouns and Personal Pronouns

The Russian accusative case is simple to understand — and, more importantly, easy to form. I like to think of it as a little thief: it steals most of its forms from the nominative and genitive cases.

If you are new to Russian cases in general, or to the accusative case in particular, I recommend starting with this article first: Russian Cases: The Logic Behind the System. 

The accusative case is used for the direct object — the person or thing that directly receives the action. It answers the questions кого? что? (whom? what?). When someone does something to an object (person or thing), that object usually appears in the accusative case.

The accusative case is also used to talk about direction, especially with verbs of motion. In this case it answers the question куда? (where to?).

Direct object

The accusative case denotes the direct object of a verb. It means that if the thing or person receives the action of the verb directly it must be in the accusative case. For example:

• Я читаю книгу. - I am reading a book.

What am I reading? Книгу — a book. So книга changes to книгу in the accusative case.

• Я вижу друга. - I see a friend.

Whom do I see? Друга — a friend. So друг changes to друга in the accusative case.

Most often, the accusative case appears after verbs, because verbs describe actions — and the accusative shows the person or thing affected by that action. Here are some of the most common Russian verbs that are often followed by the accusative case:

Of course, this does not mean that every object after every verb is automatically accusative. Russian verbs can require different cases. But when the verb acts directly on a person or thing — “I see what?”, “I read what?”, “I love whom?” — the accusative case is usually the one you need.

Animate vs inanimate

For the accusative case, the most important distinction is whether the noun is animate or inanimate. In Russian, animate nouns usually refer to people and animals. Inanimate nouns refer to things, ideas, places, substances, and abstract concepts.

It is interesting to look at the Russian words themselves. Одушевлённый means “animate,” and неодушевлённый means “inanimate.” Both are connected to the word душа — “soul.” So, very literally, an animate noun is something “with a soul,” and an inanimate noun is something “without a soul.”

As I said before, the accusative case is a little thief. Look at its questions: кого? что?

Do these questions look familiar? They should — they belong to two other cases.

• кого? is  one of the questions of the genitive case (кого? чего? - of whom? of what?)
• что? is one of the questions of the nominative case (кто? что? - who? what?)

This means that animate nouns — the ones that answer кто? — use the genitive form in the accusative case. Inanimate nouns — the ones that answer что? — use the nominative form in the accusative case. In other words, they usually do not change. If you need a quick reminder, you can learn how to form the genitive case of nouns here: Genitive Case: Basics — Nouns and Personal Pronouns.

And, of course, Russian wouldn’t be Russian if everything were that simple. This animate/inanimate rule works for masculine, neuter, and plural nouns. Feminine nouns, however, have their own accusative form.

The table below shows everything we have just learned in a more visual way:

*You may also notice that animate neuter nouns in the accusative case are an exception: they usually follow the nominative form, not the genitive form. But let’s be honest — there are very few of these words, and I recommend not worrying about this rule too much at the beginning.

Here are some examples:

• дитя - child
• существо - creature / being
• животное - animal
• насекомое - insect
• млекопитающее - mammal
• земноводное - amphibian
• чудовище - monster
• божество - deity / godlike being

Feminine nouns

To decline feminine nouns ending in -а/-я, the accusative case uses the endings -у/-ю. Remember: the stem of a noun does not change its hardness or softness. If the stem is hard, choose a hard ending: -а → -у. If the stem is soft, choose a soft ending: -я → -ю.

Feminine nouns ending in -ь do not change their form in the accusative case.

You can see the accusative endings of feminine nouns with examples in the table below:

Notice that feminine nouns change in the same way whether they are animate or inanimate.

Russian nouns are declined according to their endings, not only according to their gender. So masculine nouns with feminine endings also follow the feminine accusative rule:

• Я вижу папу. - I see a dad.
• Ты знаешь моего дедушку? - Do you know my grandfather?

I highly recommend remembering the letters -у/-ю for feminine singular forms in the accusative case. You will see them not only in nouns, but also in adjectives, possessive pronouns, and demonstrative pronouns.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns in the accusative case take the genitive form. In this sense, they behave as if they were all animate — even when they refer to objects.

It is also very important to remember that Russian uses personal pronouns according to the gender and number of the noun. That is why we say:

• Где моя книга? Я не вижу её. - Where is my book? I don't see it. (The word книга is feminine, so we use её.)
• Это мой журнал. Я читаю его. - This is my magazine. I'm reading it. (Журнал is masculine, so we use его.)
• Тут есть окно? Можешь открыть его? - Is there a window? Can you open it? (Окно is neuter, so we also use его.)
• Ты не видел мои ключи? Нигде не могу их найти. - Have you seen my keys? Can't find them anywhere. (Ключи is plural, so we use их.)

Где? vs куда?

Russian is obsessed with directions. That's why English question "where?" can have three different meanings in Russian: 

• где? - where?
• куда? - where to?
• откуда? - where from? 

In this article, we will talk only about the first two: где? and куда?. Both the accusative and the prepositional case can be used after the prepositions в (in/inside/at) and на (on/at). However, they answer different questions. When we answer где? (where?) — we talk about location. There is no movement from one place to another, so we use the prepositional case. When we answer куда? (where to?) — we talk about direction or movement toward a place, so we use the accusative case. 

I am sure examples will make this clearer: 

• Ключи в сумке. - The keys are in the bag.
  • Где ключи? - Prepositional case
• Я положила ключи в сумку. - I put the keys into the bag.
  • Куда я положила ключи? - Accusative case
• Мы живём в России. - We live in Russia.
  • Где мы живём? - Prepositional case
• Мы едем в Россию. - We are going to Russia.
  • Куда мы едем? - Accusative case
• Она сейчас на работе. - She is at work now.
  • Где она сейчас? - Prepositional case
• Она идёт на работу. - She is going to work.
  • Куда она идёт? - Accusative case 

Good news: when we use the accusative case for direction, we are usually talking about inanimate nouns — places and locations. This makes the forms much easier. In most cases, only feminine singular nouns get a special accusative ending. Masculine, neuter, and plural inanimate nouns usually do not change. 

Verbs of motion 

Very often, this use of the accusative case appears with verbs of motion. Verbs of motion are verbs that describe movement from one place to another. In simple words, they are verbs like: 

• идти — to go on foot
• ехать — to go by transport
• бежать — to run
• лететь — to fly
• плыть — to swim / sail
• нести — to carry
• вести — to lead / take someone somewhere
• везти — to transport / take someone by vehicle 

The topic of verbs of motion deserves its own article. Or even a couple of articles… Let’s not focus on them too much now.

Here are a few examples to make this idea clearer:

• Я иду в школу. - I am going to school.
• Мы едем в Москву. - We are going to Moscow.
• Она бежит на работу. - She is running to work. 

In all these examples, we are not simply saying where someone is. We are saying where someone is going. That is why the question is куда?, and after в or на, we use the accusative case. 

But this idea is not limited only to classic verbs of motion. The accusative can also appear with other verbs when there is movement or direction toward a place: 

• Я кладу книгу на стол. - I put the book on the table.
• Она положила ключи в сумку. - She put the keys into the bag. 

Here, the book and the keys are moving toward a place. So again, the question is куда?, and we use the accusative case. 

So the simple rule is: 

• где? = location → prepositional case
• куда? = direction → accusative case

As you can see, the accusative case is actually quite simple to form and use. From my experience, the accusative case is one of the easiest cases for students to understand and start using. 

To help this topic really stick, I highly recommend doing the exercises in the exercise section above. They will help you notice the patterns faster and feel more confident using the accusative case in real sentences.