Russian Verb Government: Cases and Prepositions
A Russian verb often determines which case or preposition its complement needs. Learn a complete frame—verb, question, and example—rather than transferring the English preposition or assuming every object is accusative.
Learn common Russian verb-and-case frames, including helping, taking an interest, waiting, and looking at someone.
Learn the verb with its question
Помогать кому? takes the dative for the person helped: помогать другу. Помогать кому? с чем? can add с + instrumental for the task: помогать другу с работой.
Compare помогать другу with видеть друга. The same animate noun appears as другу (dative) after помогать, but as друга (accusative) after видеть.
Я помогаю другу с уроками.
I help my friend with homework.
Я вижу друга каждый день.
I see my friend every day.
Try a drill
Practise everyday verb framesInterest: what is interesting, and to whom?
Интересоваться чем? takes the instrumental: интересоваться музыкой. The related adjective интересен uses a different pattern: кому? интересно что? or кому? интересен кто/что?, depending on the sentence.
Compare я интересуюсь музыкой (I am interested in music) with мне интересна музыка (music interests me). In the second sentence, музыка is the nominative subject, not an instrumental object.
Она интересуется русской историей.
She is interested in Russian history.
Ей интересна русская история.
Russian history interests her.
Try a drill
Choose cases after common verbsWaiting for someone versus looking at someone
For a person, ждать кого? commonly uses the accusative: ждать друга. Смотреть на кого? uses на + accusative: смотреть на друга. The identical surface form друга here hides two different frames.
With inanimate nouns, ждать can have an accusative (ждать автобус) or a genitive (ждать автобуса), depending on usage and nuance. Do not turn the common animate pattern into a blanket rule for every noun.
Я жду друга у входа.
I am waiting for my friend at the entrance.
Я смотрю на друга.
I am looking at my friend.
Мы ждём автобус.
We are waiting for the bus.
Ждём автобуса is also possible.
Try a drill
Distinguish direct and prepositional framesA new frame can change the meaning
Some verbs allow more than one complement, but the choice is meaningful. Говорить о чём? means to talk about a subject; говорить с кем? means to talk with a person. Both can appear together.
Compare слушать кого/что? (listen to a person or thing; accusative) with слышать кого/что? (hear; accusative). English adds “to” with listen, but Russian does not add к or на in this frame.
Я говорю с другом о музыке.
I am talking with a friend about music.
Она слушает музыку, но не слышит меня.
She is listening to music, but she cannot hear me.
Try a drill
Apply verb-and-preposition patternsCheck the verb before the noun ending
When writing a sentence, identify the exact verb and ask its question first: помогать кому?, интересоваться чем?, ждать кого?, смотреть на кого? Only then choose the noun form. Memorise a short example with each frame.
A preposition governs its own case too: на in смотреть на друга takes the accusative for the target of looking, whereas о in говорить о друге takes the prepositional for the topic.
Мы помогаем учителю.
We help the teacher.
Dative: учителю.
Мы говорим об учителе.
We are talking about the teacher.
Prepositional: об учителе.