Russian Accusative Case — Direct Object Case
The accusative case (вини́тельный паде́ж) marks the direct object — the thing acted upon. The trick to Russian accusative is the animate / inanimate distinction:
- Inanimate masculine and all neuter nouns have the same form in accusative as in nominative: Я ви́жу стол ("I see the table"), Я ви́жу окно́ ("I see the window").
- Animate masculine nouns (people, animals) take genitive endings in the accusative: Я ви́жу студе́нта ("I see the student"), not *студе́нт.
- Feminine nouns ending in -а / -я change to -у / -ю in the accusative: кни́га → кни́гу, неде́ля → неде́лю.
Plurals follow the same animate / inanimate rule: inanimate plurals look like the nominative; animate plurals borrow the genitive form.
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