Я пью кофе с молоком.
I drink coffee with milk.
Ольга разговаривала с Борисом.
Olga was talking with Boris.
Они говорили с родителями.
They spoke with their parents.
It's fairly easy to tell from the example above that the Russian word "с" corresponds to the English "with". The only difference being that in Russian we have to change the ending of the noun that comes after "with". Nouns with this ending change are part of the instrumental case.
In my opinion the instrumental case is one of the easier cases in the Russian language. There aren't very many exceptions and the word endings are quite predictable. Let's take a look:
Instrumental endings: masculine and neuter nouns
The basic endings for masculine and neuter nouns in the instrumental case is -ом.
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
язык | -ом | языком |
окно | -ом | окном |
Soft ending + stressed = ём ending
If the masculine or neuter noun ends in a soft sign and the ending is stressed we use the -ём ending.
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
словарь | -ём | словарём |
король | -ём | королём |
Soft ending + unstressed = -ем ending
If the ending of a masculine/neuter noun is soft but is unstressed, then we use the -ем ending.
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
музей | -ем | музеем |
платье | -ем | платьем |
Instrumental case endings: feminine nouns
The basic instrumental case ending for feminine nouns is -ой.
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
книга | -ой | книгой |
школа | -ой | школой |
Soft consonant ending + stressed = ёй
In the instrumental case feminine nouns that end in a stressed soft consonant use the -ёй ending.
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
семья | -ёй | семьёй |
Soft consonant ending + unstressed =ей
If a feminine noun ends in a soft consonant but is unstressed it uses the -ей ending in the instrumental case.
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
неделя | -ей | неделей |
кухня | -ей | кухней |
Feminine nouns that end with "ь" = -ью ending
There's a special ending for feminine nouns that end with the soft sign (ь): -ью
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
тетрадь | -ью | тетрадью |
кровать | -ью | кроватью |
мать | -ью | матерью* |
дочь | -ью | дочерью* |
*these nouns are two common exceptions to the rule because their stem changes.
Instrumental endings for plural nouns
Plural nouns that have a hard stem will use the -ами ending (it doesn't matter is they're masculine, feminine, or neuter). Plural nouns that have a soft stem will use the -ями ending (again irrespective of gender).
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
студент | -ами | студентами |
студентка | -ами | студентами |
вечер | -ами | вечерами |
письмо | -ами | письмами |
музей | -ями | музеями |
кровать | -ями | кроватями |
платье | -ями | платьями |
Two common exceptions
There are two common exceptions to the usual instrumental plural endings:
nominative | instrumental | |
|---|---|---|
люди | -ей | людьми |
дети | -ей | детьми |
Conclusion
There you have it, nouns in the instrumental case! To be honest you'll probably find this case to be one of the easier ones to use and remember. Nevertheless it's still an important case to learn, as you will be using it a lot.
Try using the instrumental case in your next Russian conversation!
