Prepositional case. Singular and plural nouns

1. The prepositional case is used to indicate the place, or location, where something or someone is situated, or where something is happening.
2. This case is called 'prepositional' because the noun that has this ending is always preceded by a preposition.
3. Russian uses three prepositions with the prepositional case:
   в, во - in, at
   на - on, at
   о, об - about
4. We use the preposition в primarily to indicate a location that is generally an enclosed place: дом=house, квартира=apartment, страна=country.
5. We use the preposition на to indicate location that is usually some kind of a surface or an activity that one can attend: площадь=square, улица=street, лекция=lecture, концерт=concert, урок=lesson.
6. We also use the preposition на with the directions of the compass: север=north, запад=west, восток=east, юг=south.
7. There are always exceptions to the rule regarding the use of the prepositions в and на. These nouns will take the preposition на, although they designate enclose places: фабрика=factory, почта=post office, станция=station, улица=street, вокзал=train station.

1. To show that a noun is in the prepositional case, you put the ending -e to the stem of the noun.
2. To a masculine noun you add the ending immediately after the last consonant:

   nominative	prepositional
   дом	в доме
   журнал	в журнале
   Вашингтон	в Вашингтоне
   институт	в институте

3. If the masculine noun ends in a soft sign, you drop the soft sign before you add the prepositional ending: портфель - в портфеле.
4. Some one syllable masculine nouns have the ending -у in the prepositional case:

   nominative	prepositional
   мост	на мосту
   пол	на полу
   лес	в лесу
   сад	в саду
   шкаф	в шкафу

5. For feminine and neuter nouns, you first drop the last vowel before you add the -e ending:

   nominative	prepositional
   газета	в газете
   Москва	в Москве
   библиотека	в библиотеке
   деревня	в деревне
   письмо	в письме

6. Feminine nouns that end with the vowel combination -ия and neuter nouns that end with the vowel combination -ие, take the special prepositional ending -и.
7. As with other feminine and neuter nouns, first you have to drop the last vowel before you add this ending:

   nominative	prepositional
   Калифорния	в Калифорнии
   упражнение	в упражнении

8. Feminine nouns that end in soft sign (ь) will have the ending -и in the prepositional case: площадь - площади, тетрадь - тетради

   nominative	prepositional
   площадь	на площади
   тетрадь	в тетради

9. These two nouns extend their stem with -ер- before adding the prepositional ending:

   nominative	prepositional
   мать	о матери
   дочь	о дочери

10. Prepositional phrases should be read as a single word, without stopping between the preposition and the noun.

1. The prepositional plural endings for nouns are the same for all genders:
   -ах for hard stem nouns
   -ях for soft stem nouns
2. Review Hard and soft stems

   	Nominative	Prepositional plural
   Hard stem	журнал	журналах
   	письмо	письмах
   	школа	школах
   Soft stem	музей	музеях
   	словарь	словарях
   	платье	платьях
   	кухня	кухнях
   	тетрадь	тетрадях
   	версия	версиях
   	общежитие	общежитиях