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 куда́? (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 чита́ю кни́гу. - I am reading a book.

What am I reading? Кни́гу — a book. So кни́га changes to кни́гу in the accusative case.

• Я ви́жу дру́га. - I see a friend.

Whom do I see? Дру́га — a friend. So друг changes to дру́га 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 душа́ — “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:

• дитя́ - child
• существо́ - creature / being
• живо́тное - animal
• насеко́мое - insect
• млекопита́ющее - mammal
• земново́дное - amphibian
• чудо́вище - monster
• божество́ - 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 ви́жу па́пу. - I see a dad.
• Ты зна́ешь моего́ де́душку? - 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 кни́га? Я не ви́жу её. - Where is my book? I don't see it. (The word кни́га is feminine, so we use её.)
• Э́то мой журна́л. Я чита́ю его́. - This is my magazine. I'm reading it. (Журна́л is masculine, so we use его.)
• Тут есть окно́? Мо́жешь откры́ть его́? - Is there a window? Can you open it? (Окно́ is neuter, so we also use его.)
• Ты не ви́дел мои ключи́? Нигде́ не могу́ их найти́. - Have you seen my keys? Can't find them anywhere. (Ключи́ is plural, so we use их.)

Где? vs куда́?

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

• где? - where?
• куда́? - where to?
• отку́да? - where from? 

In this article, we will talk only about the first two: где? and куда́?. 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 куда́? (where to?) — we talk about direction or movement toward a place, so we use the accusative case. 

If you are not sure when to use each preposition, check out this article: В vs На — In / On / At in Russian.

I am sure examples will make this clearer: 

• Ключи́ в су́мке. - The keys are in the bag.

→ Где ключи́? - Prepositional case

• Я положи́ла ключи́ в су́мку. - I put the keys into the bag.

→ Куда́ я положи́ла ключи́? - Accusative case

• Мы живём в Росси́и. - We live in Russia.

→ Где мы живём? - Prepositional case

• Мы е́дем в Росси́ю. - We are going to Russia.

→ Куда́ мы е́дем? - Accusative case

• Она́ сейча́с на рабо́те. - She is at work now.

→ Где она́ сейча́с? - Prepositional case

• Она́ идёт на рабо́ту. - She is going to work.

→ Куда́ 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: 

• идти́ — to go on foot
• е́хать — to go by transport
• бежа́ть — to run
• лете́ть — to fly
• плыть — to swim / sail
• нести́ — to carry
• вести́ — to lead / take someone somewhere
• везти́ — 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 иду́ в шко́лу. - I am going to school.
• Мы е́дем в Москву́. - We are going to Moscow.
• Она́ бежи́т на рабо́ту. - 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 куда́?, 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 кладу́ кни́гу на стол. - I put the book on the table.
• Она́ положи́ла ключи́ в су́мку. - She put the keys into the bag. 

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

So the simple rule is: 

• где? = location → prepositional case
• куда́? = 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.