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Confused over apparent use of Instrumental Case

Posted: May 11th, 17, 08:47
by anthon14
Very new Russian language student trying to get to grips with cases and want to translate the phrase, 'what are you doing to me?' I would expect to see 'to me' in the accusative, i.e. для меня but I keep seeing this: 'что ты делаешь со мной?' in translation. That seems to use the Instrumental case. What am I missing? Many thanks!

Re: Confused over apparent use of Instrumental Case

Posted: May 12th, 17, 20:27
by Jeremy Katz
About the cases - Russian is not German. Accusative case isn't always used here as a tool to direct the object of speaking.
The best way to learn, what case to use, is to memorize the prepositions. "С" ("with") - always instrumental. Scratch the accustive, my mistake.
Want me to help researching into it? PM to Skype, or whatever.

Re: Confused over apparent use of Instrumental Case

Posted: May 15th, 17, 06:46
by anthon14
Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question, your comments were very insightful.

Re: Confused over apparent use of Instrumental Case

Posted: Jun 4th, 17, 09:15
by harry56
I'm learning Russian. Only know few basic phrases. Want to improve dialogues.


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