What makes up a Russian noun is like a candle flame...

[Udut, Kenneth]

[Please delete if not interested in
the short ramblings of a young fool.]


I'm starting to see why certain parts of
Russian grammar have been giving me so much
mental trouble.

For example, a Russian noun.


A Russian noun has a 'case' (Nom, Acc, Gen, Dat, Instrum, Prep)
A Russian noun has a 'gender' (Masc, Fem, Neut)
A Russian noun has a 'number' (Sing, Plur)

[there is more than this, of course, but I'm still at basic levels]

Now, I should have just accepted these things, and have,
to a degree, but for some reason, I just couldn't wrap
my mind around what was bothering me.

Now I'm starting to see why.

Without a case, it is not a Russian noun.
without a gender, it is not a Russian noun.
Without a number, it is not a Russian noun.

Do you have a noun if you have only case and gender?
No - you also need number.
Do you have a noun if you have only gender and number?
No, you need the case.
Do you have a noun if you have only number and case?
No - you need the gender.

It is within the communion of those three things
that a noun is a noun, and its function/place known.

The entry in dictionaries, is done properly.
It shows the Gender (masc, fem, neut), and
sometimes Number (usually Singular, but sometimes
Plural), and the case is almost always Nominative.

The Number usually can change.
The Case certainly can change.
The Gender does not (as far as I know).

But there can be no entry in the dictionary
if it does not indicate the noun's Case, Gender,
and Number.

It's usually assumed that you know it is:

Masculine
Nominative
Singular

unless it specifies otherwise.


It is like a candle flame - without heat, it is
not a flame.  Without light, it is not a flame.
It is both heat and light.  There are different
degrees of heat and light, but there is always heat
and light in a flame.

Just like there is always case, gender and number
in a Russian noun.


I knew this before - it's explained well enough in
the various books I have on it.  But it's only just
'sunk in'.

Never study Russian Orthodox Christian theology (esp on
nature of the Trinity) at the same
time you are trying to comprehend Russian grammar!

Apophatic (sp?) theology of the Trinity (does not exist
without the Son, does not exist without the Father,
does not exist without the Holy Spirit), and trying
to get a 'grasp' on that, and accept it, led me to
proceed with the same process of thinking on Russian nouns,
pronouns, adjectives, and verbs.

It's taken about a year before my first exposure to Russian
cases, before it is finally just starting to sink in deeply.

It only just 'clicked in' that I was using the same process
of thinking on Russian grammar -- which is entirely unnecessary.

[and, actually, it leads to the same point - that you just
have to accept that "it is so".  Some accept it right away,
some after just a little questioning and thinking, and some
take a whole year before it 'clicks in', and it can be
accepted]

Thanks for listening to my ramble!

-Kenneth

--
-- Kenneth.Udut at SPCORP.COM
--

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