Master Russian Noun Cases: 96 Flashcards on All Six Cases and Three Declensions

Russian has six cases, three noun declensions and a few rules that override everything else (animacy, numbers, negation). The Russian Noun Cases deck on Flip It (deck code FB6114, 96 cards) covers all of it with one example noun, студе́нт (student), followed through every case, plus stress marks on nearly every form.

Sample cards

Topics covered

Six cases with Russian names (имени́тельный, роди́тельный, да́тельный, вини́тельный, твори́тельный, предло́жный) and question words (кто/что, кого/чего, кому/чему, кем/чем, о ком/о чём); prepositions by case: без, у, из, от (genitive); к, по (dative); в, на, за, под with motion (accusative); с, за, над, под, пе́ред (instrumental); в, на, о, при (prepositional). Also: the locative в лесу́, the partitive ча́шка ча́ю, the vocative Бо́же мой!; first, second and third declension singular endings (кни́га, земля́, студе́нт, окно́, ночь, дверь); plural endings -ов/-ев/-ей and the zero ending (книг, земе́ль); the spelling rules after к/г/х and ш/ж/ч/щ; hard vs. soft stems (стол vs. учи́тель); verbs that govern a case (боя́ться, помога́ть, интересова́ться); indeclinable nouns (ко́фе, пальто́, метро́); and the irregular путь, вре́мя, и́мя.

A study plan

Study the deck in two passes. Cards 1–51 are organized by case and cards 52–80 by declension, so each ending appears twice. Study it the first way (one case at a time), then the second way (one declension at a time) on another day. On the second pass, build a 6 × 3 grid of singular endings from memory and check it against the cards. The grid shows where the endings overlap: the dative and prepositional share -е in the first declension (кни́ге), and the genitive, dative and prepositional all end in -и in the third (но́чи).

Fix card 35 before you memorize it. It says Он студе́нтом means "He is a student". In the present tense Russian drops быть and uses the nominative: Он студе́нт. The instrumental appears with the past, future or infinitive: Он был студе́нтом, Он бу́дет студе́нтом, Хочу́ быть врачо́м. Rewrite the card with был. While you're editing, add the missing stress to ноча́м on card 78.

Write three missing cards. The deck never shows the accusative plural of an inanimate feminine noun (кни́ги = nominative), the fleeting vowel (оте́ц → отца́, день → дня), or nouns ending in -ий/-ия (зда́ние → в зда́нии, ста́нция → на ста́нции). Those three patterns cause most beginner errors after the basic endings.

Next steps

Cases and verbs are the two halves of Russian grammar. Once these endings stick, move to Russian verb aspect and conjugation and practice them together: помога́ть + dative, ждать + accusative or genitive, занима́ться + instrumental.

Find Russian Noun Cases (FB6114) in the library on Flip It.