Core Grammar / Grammar
Russian pronouns, personal and possessive, across all six cases. Every form is playable. The two things that actually trip people up are here too: the н- prefix after a preposition, and the fact that a possessive agrees with the thing owned rather than the owner.
Russian is a case language: the ending of a word signals its grammatical role in the sentence, and pronouns are no exception. English does this too, in a smaller way. "I / me / my / mine" and "he / him / his" are case forms of one word. Russian simply extends that logic across six cases for every pronoun.
The case a pronoun takes depends on its job: subject of the verb (nominative), direct object (accusative), possession or absence (genitive), indirect object or recipient (dative), instrument or companion (instrumental), or topic after a preposition (prepositional). The meaning stays the same. Only the form changes.
The form changes by case, not by gender. Rows run in the site's standard order: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, prepositional.
| Case | яI | тыyou | онhe | она́she | мыwe | выyou (pl) | они́they |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominativewho? (subject) | я | ты | он | она́ | мы | вы | они́ |
| Accusativewhom? what? (direct object) | меня́ | тебя́ | его́него́ after prep | еёнеё after prep | нас | вас | ихних after prep |
| Genitiveof whom? without whom? | меня́ | тебя́ | его́него́ after prep | еёнеё after prep | нас | вас | ихних after prep |
| Dativeto whom? for whom? | мне | тебе́ | ему́нему́ after prep | ейней after prep | нам | вам | имним after prep |
| Instrumentalby whom? with whom? | мноймно́ю (literary) | тобо́йтобо́ю (literary) | имним after prep | ейе́ю, and ней / не́ю after prep | на́ми | ва́ми | и́мини́ми after prep |
| Prepositionalabout whom? (always after a prep) | мне | тебе́ | нём | ней | нас | вас | них |
A possessive agrees with the noun it describes, not with the owner. The four columns below are the nominative forms for each gender and for the plural.
| Pronoun | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| мойmy / mine · (я) | мой | моя́ | моё | мои́ |
| твойyour / yours · (ты) | твой | твоя́ | твоё | твои́ |
| его́his / its · (он / оно́) | его́ | его́ | его́ | его́ |
| еёher / hers · (она́) | её | её | её | её |
| нашour / ours · (мы) | наш | на́ша | на́ше | на́ши |
| вашyour / yours · (вы) | ваш | ва́ша | ва́ше | ва́ши |
| ихtheir / theirs · (они́) | их | их | их | их |
The form of a possessive reflects the noun being described, not the owner. So "my" takes a different form depending on what is mine, one per gender and number in the nominative alone.
Those four forms then change by case as well, exactly like an adjective:
Third-person possessives skip all of it. его́, её and их are invariable in every context, which makes them the three easiest words on this page.