why the 'em' ending in медведем ?

Why do we use this case here? And this verb? What rule should I use here?
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novoidioma
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why the 'em' ending in медведем ?

Postby novoidioma » Oct 30th, 15, 15:06

Hello

I am new here and excited to have found this forum for linguistic enthusiast'. I'm reading some of the text available on the site here and I encountered my first problem.

Why is it the 'em' ending in медведем in the sentence (Встреча с медведем может быть очень опасна)?

As I understand the 'c' proposition is used with the instrumental case which give the 'em' ending for neuter nouns. But isn't a 'ь' noun either feminine or masculine?

Hope someone can enlighten the issue.

novoidioma

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Taras
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Re: why the 'em' ending in медведем ?

Postby Taras » Oct 31st, 15, 12:57

Hi,
"медведь" is an animate masculine first declension noun ending in "ь" (see http://www.study-languages-online.com/russian-nouns-declension.html). Thus, its prepositional case is "медведем".

Moreover, as you can see in the link above, the instrumental case doesn't always give the ending "ем" to a neuter noun.

The Russian declension system is not going to be easy ;). Good luck in palling up with it!

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novoidioma
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Re: why the 'em' ending in медведем ?

Postby novoidioma » Nov 7th, 15, 13:43

Thanks a lot, that was very helpful.

You're definitely right, the declension system is tough and is going to by the center for much frustration! :D


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