Cases in English translation. Cases in English: case systems, use of prepositional constructions

Case is a grammatical category that shows the connection of a noun with other words in a sentence. Previously, there were several cases in English, but over time only two remained: common case(the common case) and possessive(the possessive/genitive case).

The Common Case

Form general case all nouns have. In the common case, nouns have a zero ending ( car,bird), i.e. this case is not indicated in any way. That is why, in the absence of prepositions, the relationship of such nouns to other words in a sentence is determined only by the place it occupies in the sentence.

Let's consider what functions a noun in the general case can perform in a sentence.

• The noun that comes before the predicate is used in the function subject and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the nominative case.

For example:

Thedog bit the man. — Dog bit a man. (Who bit? The dog.)

• The noun that comes after the predicate performs the function direct object and corresponds in Russian to a noun in the accusative case without a preposition.

For example:

The dog bit theman. — The dog bit a man.(Who was bitten? A man.)

• If between the predicate and the noun that functions as a direct object there is another noun in the general case without a preposition that denotes a person, it is an indirect object. Such a noun corresponds in Russian to a noun in the dative case without a preposition.

For example:

Maria showed herfriends the photos. - Maria showed to my friends photos. (Who did you show it to? Friends.)

Nouns in the common case with prepositions of,to,by And with help to express relationships that in Russian are conveyed using indirect cases without prepositions. In this case, prepositions are not translated into Russian as separate words.

Nouns in the common case with the preposition OF

Noun in common case with preposition of corresponds in Russian to a noun in the genitive case and is a definition in relation to the noun that precedes it.

For example:

The walls of the house are made of brick. - Walls Houses made of brick. (Walls of what? Houses.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition TO

Noun with preposition to corresponds in Russian to a noun in the dative case and is used as a prepositional indirect object.

For example:

Maria showed the photos toherfriends. — Maria showed photographs to my friends. (Who did you show it to? Friends.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition BY

Noun with preposition by corresponds in Russian to a noun in the instrumental case. This combination is usually used in the passive voice to denote an agent or force. The noun in this case is used as a prepositional object.

The book was written bymyfriend. - The book was written my friend. (Written by whom? A friend.)

The building was destroyed by the hurricane. The building was destroyed hurricane. (Destroyed by what? Hurricane.)

Nouns in the common case with the preposition WITH

Noun with preposition with also corresponds to a noun in the instrumental case in Russian. This combination is used to designate an object with which a certain action is performed. The noun in this case is also used as a prepositional object.

For example:

I can't write withthispen. - I can not write with this pen. (Write with what? Pen.)

Note: nouns in the general case can be used with any prepositions and convey those relationships that in Russian are expressed using indirect cases with prepositions.

For example:

I live with my friend.- I live with a friend.

This present is for you. - This gift for you.

The Possessive Case

Regarding the form possessive case, then only some groups of nouns have it (more on this below). The possessive case most often expresses the ownership of an object. A noun in the possessive case performs the function of determining in relation to another noun.

What does the possessive case look like?

Form

The possessive case is formed using an apostrophe and the letter s - 's — or just an apostrophe - ‘ . The first way you can get the possessive case form for nouns that are in the singular (your father -> your father ‘ s book = your father's book). Second way the form of the possessive case is obtained for the plural of nouns, which are formed according to the basic rule (his parents -> his parent s‘ car = his parents' car), as well as for some proper names that end in - s(Socrates -> Socrate s‘ ideas = Socrates' ideas ) .

If the plural of a noun is formed differently than most, then use first way(their children -> their children ‘ s toys = their children's toys ).

Note 1: for a compound noun ‘ s is added to its last element: my mother-in-law -> my mother-in- law ‘ s car = my mother-in-law's car; the passer-by —> the passer- by ‘ s glasses = passerby's glasses.

Note 2: Mary and Peter 's house = Mary and Peter's house (shared). BUT: Mary ‘ s and Peter ‘ s houses = Mary's house and Peter's house (each has their own) or = Mary's house and Peter's house (each has their own).

With which nouns is the possessive case used?

As mentioned above, not all nouns can form the possessive case. The following groups can do this:

1) animate

Mary's bag - Mary's bag

the boys’ bicycles - boys’ bicycles

the team’s defeat - team defeat

the tiger's cage - tiger cage

2) some are inanimate

• a) nouns that mean time And distance:

a month’s holiday - monthly vacation

a mile’s distance - one mile distance

• b) names countries And cities, as well as words world,country,city:

Germany's policy - German policy

the city’s museums - city museums

• c) nouns ship,boat,yacht:

the ship's name - the name of the ship

• d) some nouns that denote shops:

a/the baker’s / butcher’s / chemist’s etc. (shop) - bakery, butcher shop, pharmacy

a/the travel agent's etc. (office) - travel agency

the dentist’s / doctor’s / vet’s etc. (surgery) - dentist/doctor/veterinarian waiting room

NB! in this case, in a sentence it is enough to use the word directly in the form of the possessive case (for example: I’m at the travelagent's(= travel agent's office). She went to the baker's(= baker’s shop).). Word house also often omitted in such cases (for example: I had lunch at my friend's(= my friend’s house). — I had lunch with my friend).

• e) in phrases for heaven’s sake, for goodness’ sake- For heaven's sake
• f) some fixed expressions: at a snail's pace- like a snail (very slowly); a hair's breadth- by a hair's breadth

Note 3: With the exception of those listed above, inanimate nouns generally show ownership using a preposition. of.

the roof of the building

the door of the car

Note 4: Two nouns in the possessive case rarely come one after the other. Usually the preposition is used with the second noun in this case of.

For example:

This is the cat ofmy friend's daughter. (instead of This is my friend’s daughter’s cat)

Also of used when a noun denoting the object to which something belongs is followed by a phrase or sentence:

For example:

I didn't take the advice of the woman I met in the city.

In what other cases can the possessive case be used?

On the one hand, the possessive case is used to show ownership. For example: the girl’s name.

On the other hand, it can convey certain qualitative characteristics of an object. In this case, we are not talking about belonging, but about the properties of the object.

For example:

a children’s room = children’s room

women's magazines = women's magazines

a Bachelor's degree - bachelor's degree

This is only true if we are talking about a relation to another noun (for example: the roof of a house ofthehouse). Other relations conveyed in Russian by the genitive case are expressed differently in English (for example: the chair is smaller than the table = the chair is smallerthan the table).

Those. by adding -s to the singular form.

The resulting word is pronounced in this case in the same way as the original: parents'- [ˈpeərənts].

Among proper names that end in -s, there are those in which the possessive case form can be formed in either way. For example: Burn s‘ life = Burns ‘ s life; Jone s‘ flat = Jones ‘ s flat.

Regardless of how exactly the form of the possessive case is formed in this case, the ending of the word, as a rule, reads as [...iz]: Jones’ / Jones’s - .

The simplicity of the English language lies in the fact that, unlike other languages, English nouns do not change by case. More precisely, in English there are two whole cases (general and possessive), but everything is much simpler than what we are used to when studying 6 Russian cases in elementary school. Therefore, the case of a noun in English is determined extremely simply.

Common case

In this case, English nouns do not change and no endings or suffixes are added to them. In this case, a noun can play completely different roles in a sentence (subject, direct, indirect and prepositional object, attribute). No matter in what capacity the noun is used, it will look the same.

He reads a book.
She goes to the school.
The plate is on the table.

The only difficulty that may arise when using the common case is the use of the correct prepositions. When a noun acts as a subject or direct object, they are not required. In other cases, sometimes you will have to think about what preposition should be used in this or that case. That is, if in Russian the connection of nouns with other words is expressed by changing endings (in different cases - in different ways), then in English, when declension of a noun, the endings are always the same, and the connection with other words is conveyed using various prepositions.

Dative(To whom? To what? Where?) is conveyed in English using the preposition to:

Emma goes to school every day.— Emma goes to school every day.
Give it to me. - Give me that.

Instrumental case depending on the situation, it can be expressed using with, by and some other prepositions.

I wrote this text with the pen. — I wrote this text with a pen.
Come with me. - Come with me.

Possessive case of nouns in English

The possessive case of a noun in English can be a little difficult to learn at first, but if you understand the basic rules from the very beginning, then everything will seem very simple in the future.

The main feature: the possessive case is formed using a simple “‘s” construction, which is added to each “owner”. That is, the one who owns something. You already know that possessive pronouns express the ownership of something by certain persons - me, you, him, her, and so on. Here the situation is somewhat different - we know a specific person. That is, my mother's house will be translated as " my mother 's house ". Pretty simple, right? In fact, this is what we are used to Genitive. Whose house? Moms.

For example:

cat's fur- cat fur
women's cars- women's car

If you read textbooks or articles on the Internet, then in most cases you will see an indication that the possessive case in English using the construction 's only possible for animate nouns. Inanimate forms form the genitive case only with the help of the preposition " of". However, if you dig deeper and ask English speakers themselves, they don’t see any particular crime in what you, for example, say “ the book's cover", but not " the cover of the book". There is an opinion that people for whom English is not their native language often overdo it with the formation of the possessive case using a preposition and, conversely, use the possessive form too rarely 's.

According to some sources, the ban on the formation of the genitive case using 's in inanimate nouns is no longer supported by speakers. However, in England this is stricter than in the USA. But in any case, you shouldn’t bother with this if you’re just starting to learn the language. Over time, listening to English speech often, you will figure out what's what. And asking native speakers themselves is not so difficult.

Here are some examples of forming the genitive case using “‘s” for inanimate nouns:

Everest's peak- summit of Everest
Earth's climate- Earth's climate
Moscow's life— Moscow life
England's football team- England national football team
The Times' article- The Times article
today's schedule- schedule for today
the summer's heat- summer heat
the car's engine- car engine

But keep in mind that sometimes you can do without adding 's. This happens when the first word is a definition. For example, in the last two words you can also say: “ the summer heat" And " the car engine«.

By the way, in addition to adding an “s” and an apostrophe to a word, the genitive case can also be obtained using the preposition “of,” as you might have guessed. And this applies not only to inanimate objects.

The possessive case of nouns in English has another feature. If a word is plural and ends in “s”, then instead of 's only an apostrophe is added ‘ . This way, when writing, we will be able to distinguish how many persons we are talking about, and it will be more convenient to pronounce without doubling. However, if you look at singular words ending in “s”, this rule does not apply to them. Even a word like boss (with two “s” at the end!) gets another “s” in addition, only with an apostrophe.

Finally, I will give examples that will allow you to understand how to use correctly 's when forming the possessive case with different types of nouns.

Noun case in English, which has any differences in education, in fact, there is only one. You definitely need to know it. You probably noticed that there were no difficulties in this lesson. Therefore, I hope that you have learned the material and can now easily apply it in practice.

Any language, including English.

A grammatical category is a union of two or more grammatical forms, opposed or correlated by grammatical meaning. This grammatical meaning is assigned to a given set of forms (paradigm). There is no grammatical category outside of constant formal indicators. A grammatical category includes at least two opposed forms, but possibly more. Thus, there are three forms of time - present, past and future, four verb categories - basic, continuous, perfect and perfect-continuous, but two forms of the number of nouns, two voices, etc. There are no categories that have only one form: not there may be one article, one voice, etc. Opposition within a category is necessary, although not necessarily binary.

In contrast to the clearly defined category of number (the contrast between singularity and plurality of objects), the problem of case comes down to the question of whether case exists at all in the English language.

The answer to this question depends primarily on whether case is considered as a form or only as content conveyed by one or another means. We proceed from the position that case is a morphological category that conveys the relationship of a name in a sentence. It follows that certain relations conveyed by case must be conveyed by the form of the name itself. All other means not contained in the form of a name (prepositions, word order) are not morphological and therefore cannot be considered as case forms. It also follows that there cannot be less than two cases. Unlike the Russian language, which has six cases, in English it is usually customary to talk about exactly two cases of nouns in English: the common case (Common Case) and the possessive case (Possessive Case).

The common case is the dictionary form of a singular noun or the plural form of a noun:

student – ​​students student - students

man - men man - men

I am a student. I have a friend. My friend is a student too. We are a students.

I am a student. I have a friend. He is also a student. We are both students.

A noun in the general case without a preposition, depending on the place it occupies in a sentence, conveys the relationship expressed in Russian by nouns in the nominative, accusative or dative case:

The student answered well. (This) student answered well .

The teacher asked the student about his work. (This) teacher asked (this) student about his work.

The suffixes –‘s and – s‘ are signs of the possessive case of a noun:

Common case		Possessive
Brother	Brother	Brother's	(Who? Whose?)	Brother
Brothers	Brothers	Brothers'	(Who? Whose?)	Brothers
Worker	Worker	Worker's	(Who? Whose?)	worker
Workers	Workers	Workers'	(Who? Whose?)	workers

Nouns in the possessive case express the relation of an object's belonging to a person or another object. And for comparison:

Mr. Ford's cars. - Cars belonging to Mr. Ford.

The cars of Ford. – Ford cars, their brand .

Ann's photo. – a photograph of Anna that belongs to her, but this photo may not depict Anna .

The photo of Ann.- a photograph of Anna in which she is depicted, but this photo may not belong to Anna.

Tolstoy's books– books by Tolstoy (belonging to him)

The books by Tolstoy– books by Tolstoy (written by him)

For an unambiguous expression of belonging and possession, the possessive case form is preferable.

The possessive case sign can form the entire group of a noun:

The Prime Minister of England's residence. – Residence of the Prime Minister of England.

A noun in the prepositional case in Russian usually corresponds to a noun in the genitive case:

The Earth's rotation. – Rotation of the Earth.

Marx's works. – Works of Marx.

A noun in the possessive case can also be translated into Russian as an adjective:

Walker's parties- workers' parties.

Today's level– modern level.

In the possessive case, nouns can be used to denote:

a) Persons : you friend's name– your friend’s name;

b) Animals: the dog's head– dog’s head;

c) Time and other units of measurement: a month's term– period of one month;

d) names of countries, months, seasons, astronomical concepts:

Great Britain's territory is the territory of Great Britain.

Nouns denoting inanimate objects, as a rule,

are not used in the possessive case.

Nouns with the suffix – ‘s (–s’) together with the noun that follows them form a possessive construction, in which the noun with the suffix – ‘s (–s’) is a determiner to the noun that follows it and answers the questions Whose? Whom? What?

Jack's room– Jack’s (whose?) room.

Typical situations in which the possessive construction is used:

1) Designation of ownership of a given thing by a person:

Ivanov's pen- Ivanov's pen.

2) Designation of a person’s ownership of ideas, theories, works, etc.:

George Byron's poems- poems by George Byron

3) Designation of actions, properties, states and their correlation with a person as a performer or bearer:

The doctor's arrival– arrival of the doctor

The old woman's story- old woman's story

The ship's departure- departure of the ship.

The relationships between nouns and other words in a sentence are expressed as follows:

I. Relations conveyed in Russian by a noun in the nominative case, which performs the function of the subject, are expressed in English by a noun in the general case, occupying first place in the sentence. The nurse brought him a glass of water.– The nurse brought him a glass of water.

II. Relations, which in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the genitive case, expressing belonging, part of a whole, etc., are most often conveyed in English through the preposition of in combination with a noun that acts as a right attribute. The face of the clock– clock dial;

The hands of the clock- clock hands.

III. Relations, which in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the dative case, are expressed in English by combining a noun with a preposition to .

Give the newspaper to Father. - Give the newspaper to your father

I am often invited to him. – I am often invited to see him.

IV. Relations that in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the accusative case are usually expressed in English by a noun placed after a transitive verb.

The boy is writing a letter. - The boy is writing a letter.

Take the skates to my brother. - Take these skates to my brother.

V. Relations, which in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the instrumental case, are expressed in English through the preposition by in combination with a noun or preposition with . Noun with preposition by (with ) is a prepositional object.

The dishes were washed by Mary. – The dishes were washed by Mary.

VI. Relations, which in Russian are conveyed by nouns in the prepositional case, are expressed in English by various prepositions ( in, on, at, from , etc.) in combination with a noun.

The ship was sailing in the ocean. — The ship was sailing in the ocean.

The teacher put the books on my desk.– The teacher put the books on my desk.

In English, personal pronouns, as well as the interrogative pronoun who In addition to the nominative, they also have an objective case.

Nominative	Objective case
Who	Whom	Whom	To whom
			1. I.M. Berman “English Grammar”, M: “Higher School”, 1994 2. P.I.Starostin “Textbook of the English language”, Moscow, 1976 3. “A Course of English.” First year”, ed. T.I. Matyushkina-Terke et al., M: “Higher School”, 1990 4. I.P. Ivanova, V.V. Burlakova, G.G. Pocheptsov “Theoretical grammar of modern English”, Moscow, 1981 5. N.A. Bonk, G.A. Kotiy, N.A. Lukyanova “Textbook of the English language”, Rybinsk, 1996 1. The concept of grammatical category in English..... 2 2.1 General case. ............................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Possessive case. .......................................................................................... 3 2.3 Possessive constructions. .............................................................................. 5 2.4 Ways of expressing grammatical relations of a noun. .... 5 2.4 Correspondence of English and Russian cases when translating a noun without a preposition. ................................................................................. 7 2.5 Correspondence of English and Russian cases when translating a noun with a preposition. .................................................................................. 7 3. Case of pronouns.................................................... ................................................. 8 4. Problems associated with determining case in English. 8 Bibliography................................................ ........................................................ ... 9 I.P. Ivanova, V.V. Burlakova, G.G. Pocheptsov “Theoretical grammar of modern English”, Moscow, 1981, p. 11-12. If a noun with the suffix – ‘s (–s’) is not followed by a qualifying word, – ‘s (–s’) may not indicate a possessive construction. A noun with the suffix – ‘s (–s’) in this case can indicate the location of: The baker's- implied The baker's shop .

If you expect cases in English to be similar to Russian, you will be disappointed. But you definitely won’t be disappointed because everything is very simple with cases in English. English nouns have, apart from the common case, only two case forms and have one more form.

In English, only three cases can be distinguished, with the first and second being the same in form for all nouns:

1. Subjective or nominative when a noun or pronoun functions as a subject;
2. Objective or accusative when a noun or pronoun functions as an object after a verb or preposition;
3. Possessive, which shows possession of something.

In the case of nouns, the first and second cases are usually combined into one - common case. But pronouns (pronouns) change in form in all three cases.

Subjective case

The subject case is used to identify the subject of a sentence. Nouns in the subject case do not change in any way and remain in their original form. The same applies to pronouns:

I	I
You	You you
He	He
She	She
It	It/it
We	We
They	They
Who	Who

Examples:

The tree fell on my car– A tree fell on my car.
Paul owns this website– Paul owns this site.
I hope to finish my homework tomorrow– I hope to finish my homework tomorrow.
She enjoyed her English lessons– She enjoyed her English lessons.
He is very bad person- He is a very bad person.

Objective case

Refers to an add-on. The object is what the subject directs its action to. In English, a noun or pronoun that is an indirect or direct object is always in the objective case.

Nouns in the objective case are no different in form from the subject case, but they change:

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Me	Me, me
You	To you/you, to you/you
Him	Him, his
Her	She, her
It	This
Us	Us, us
Them	Them
Whom	To whom

Examples:

Robert fixed the car— Robert fixed the car.
I want a new book- I want a new book.
All my friends celebrating Thanksgiving Day All my friends celebrated Thanksgiving.

Possessive

The purpose of the possessive case in English is to show that something belongs to someone or something.

Nouns in the possessive case acquire a number of features:

• show the ownership of an object by answering the question “whose?”;
• always stand before another, defined by a noun;
• are always animate (for inanimate ones the common case and the preposition of are used).

The possessive case is formed as follows: at the end of a singular noun an apostrophe and the letter s (‘s) are added:

It is a girl's guinea pig- This is the girl's guinea pig.

If a singular noun ends in “s”, then two options for forming the possessive form are allowed:

• add only an apostrophe at the end of a word;
• add an apostrophe with the letter 's.

However, the differences here are only written - spoken, both options sound the same:

James’ [‘GeImsIz] wife is a pretty woman– James’s wife is beautiful.
James's ['GeImsIz] dog bit a rat James’s dog bit a rat.

To plural nouns ending in “s” When forming a possessive form, only an apostrophe is added. However, the pronunciation does not change:

Boys play X-box– The boys are playing X-box.
Boys' X-box is broken– The boys’ X-box is broken.
Alex' X-box- Alex's X-box.

If not formed using the endings “s” and “es”, then the possessive form is formed in the standard way – with the help of ‘s.

People's behavior is very strange- People's behavior is very strange.
A beard is an important component of men’s style– The beard is an important component of male style.

Pronouns in the possessive case take the following form:

My	My
Your	Yours, yours
His	His
Her	Her
It's	His
Our	Our
Their	Their
Whose	Whose

How to read possessive endings

1. After voiceless consonants in the possessive case - s:

2. After voiced consonants and vowels in the possessive case - z:

After s, ss, j, sh, z, ch and x (as well as the use of an apostrophe without s) in the possessive case - iz:

Charles's, waitress', Sanchez's, wings'

Common case

A noun in the common case does not have separate endings. The noun is listed in the general case form in dictionaries. It is connected with other words using prepositions and the place it occupies in the sentence. In the general case, a noun can be without a preposition or with a preposition.

Noun without preposition

1. Nouns without a preposition are translated into Russian depending on the place they occupy in the sentence. Nominative case (what? who?) - a noun that stands before the predicate is translated into the nominative case, being the subject.

   The pupil asked the teacher— The student asked the teacher.

2. Accusative case (what? whom?) - a noun that comes after the predicate is translated into the accusative case without a preposition, acting as a direct object.

   The pupil asked the student— The teacher asked the student.

3. Dative case (to what? to whom?) - a noun without a preposition, which stands between the predicate and the direct object, is translated into the dative case without a preposition, being an indirect object.

   The teacher showed the pupil a picture— The teacher showed the student the drawing.

Noun with preposition

A noun with prepositions expresses relations that are conveyed by Russian indirect cases without prepositions or with prepositions.

1. Genitive case (of what? whom?) - of, from. The noun here is the modifier of the preceding noun.

   She had received a gift from her boyfriend— She received a gift from her boyfriend.

2. Dative case (to what? to whom?) - to, for. The noun here is an indirect object.

   You gave the ball to my brother— You gave the ball to my brother.
   She bought a car for her son— She bought a car for her son.

3. Instrumental case (by what? by whom?) - by, with.

   A noun with the preposition by is a prepositional object and denotes an active force (after a verb in the passive voice):

   America was discovered by Columbus— America was discovered by Columbus.

   A noun with the preposition with is a prepositional object and denotes the object with which the action is performed:

   Molly usually eats with this fork— Molly usually eats with this fork.

4. Prepositional case (about what? about whom?) - about, of. The noun is a prepositional indirect object.

   He told us about the play— He told us about this play.
   Maggy spoke of comics and food— Maggie talked about comics and food.

Video about cases in English:

English is the language of opportunity. Today, there is probably no country in which at least one person does not speak it. This is facilitated by its status as a world-class language.

Also among the main reasons:

• career growth;
• the desire to feel comfortable while traveling;
• the desire to improve oneself and develop one’s horizons;
• For some people, learning languages ​​is a hobby.

Every beginning Englishman sets a goal - to reach the highest level and become fluent in speaking. To do this, first of all, you need to know perfectly the rules for constructing sentences, tenses, as well as exceptions and much more.

English grammar is represented by a large number of sections. But for those who are just beginning to take their first steps into the world of linguistics, we advise you to start from the very basics.

Key topics include parts of speech, tenses (past - Past, present - Present, future - Future), main and minor members of the sentence, their declension, etc.

Are there cases in English?

This question is probably asked by every person who begins to learn a language. Note that even the majority who speak foreign languages ​​at the Intermediate level will also not be able to answer quickly and confidently. In fact, English, like any other language, has a rich grammar in which this topic occupies a special place.

It is not one of the complex ones, but like all rules, it requires attentiveness and a special approach to remembering and consolidating the material.

With the help of case, we can easily express the relationship of nouns and pronouns to other words in written or spoken language. For the British, the order in which lexemes are placed plays a big role.

Let's look at examples where the same words are used, but the meaning changes when they are rearranged:

• Granddaughter embraced her grandmother. – The granddaughter hugged her grandmother.
• Grandma embraced her granddaughter. – The grandmother hugged her granddaughter.

It is thanks to the order that the main and minor members of a sentence are determined. If we turn to Old English, then the meaning of the construction depended not on the sequence, but on the endings formed with the help of declension.

So how many cases are there in English and how are they formed? You will find the answer to this question in our article. It is common for us to talk about declension in six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and prepositional. And this is reflected in Old English. It presented the first five titles, which were formed according to the questions well known to us: who/what? who/what? to whom; to what? who/what? by whom/what?

Currently the British use only three cases:

• general (subjective);
• object;
• possessive.

Let's look at each type separately to understand their purpose, shape, and understand when use is appropriate.

The first type of classification applies to both nouns and pronouns, which act as subjects or objects in a sentence. However, they do not change their grammatical form. The subject is not declined and is indicated in its original form. If compared with Russian grammar, it is placed in the nominative case.

The girl(general case/Subjective Case) found the ring. - The girl found a ring.

When acting as a direct object, words are declined according to the accusative case, and in the case of an indirect object, according to the dative case.

Grandmother gave a pie(direct object) to her granddaughter(indirect addition). – The grandmother gave the pie to her granddaughter.

The objective case refers exclusively to pronouns. Here we are talking about the accusative declension.

She helped me(Objective Case). - She helped me.

To use words in the correct form, you need to remember the topic “Possessive Pronouns”. It is in this form that they will be used.

And the last point of the classification is Possessive Case. In modern language, words in this form are used extremely rarely, but they raise many questions if the need nevertheless arises to use them. Such lexemes are formed using inflections and indicate the belonging of a thing, etc. Formation occurs by adding a noun or pronoun, an apostrophe and “s”.

Alexander's book. - Book of Alexander.

Sometimes there is a misunderstanding in which cases such a prefix denotes belonging, and in which – the plural. With time and practice, you will easily understand the semantics of a sentence and put words in the correct form.

To make it easier for you to remember the relationship between English and Russian cases, we have compiled a table for you. Use it to compose sentences and you will easily navigate word formation depending on case.

Table with examples of cases in English.