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why the 'em' ending in медведем ?

Posted: Oct 30th, 15, 15:06
by novoidioma
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

Re: why the 'em' ending in медведем ?

Posted: Oct 31st, 15, 12:57
by Taras
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!

Re: why the 'em' ending in медведем ?

Posted: Nov 7th, 15, 13:43
by novoidioma
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