Assigning a Color to each Russian Cases
What would be your choice of color for
Nominative :
Accusative :
Genitive :
Prepositional :
Dative :
Instrumental :
By the way was the order in which you learned them? The list of case is in the order in which I learned them (one by one starting from singular to plural)
Those two questions are not innocent.
Assigning a colour to each Russian Cases
Friendy, is there a rhyme, poem, ditty, anything to assist memorization of all the changes of the endings? I'm desperate here. They are a stumbling block and although I know I will learn them in time I'd like to use them with confidence before I collect my pension. :(
Assigning a colour to each Russian case
You are right Friendy, there really isn't a short cut for the endings but I'll keep plodding along anyway.
Not colours, but actions.
I don't assign colours to the cases, but I always think of them in the order Nom., Acc., Gen., Dat., Inst., Prep.: NAGDIP is an easy acronym to remember.
The accusative lies between the nominative and genetive since in all forms except the feminine singular follow the animate/inaminate rule.
The prepositional is last since it's very easy to decline (-е in the singluar, apart from feminine soft sign endings where it's -и, and -ах/-ях in the plural depending on hardness/softness and the spelling rules) and only used with the four prepositions в, на, о, при.
I also like to keep the Dative, Instrumental and Prepositional together because they are always so similar in the plural (-ам/-ям, -ами/-ями, -ах/-ях).
Instead of using colours, I prefer to have a mental picture of what each case is used for. The instrumental I usually associate with a musical instrument (most often the electric guitar), since it is used to describe how or with what something is done, and similarly there are other images in my head for the other cases. I personally find this easier than using colours.
If you use colours, wouldn't you get confused when you wanted to put a colour in a different case than you associate it with? It would end up like a Stroop test, which is difficult enough in one's native language, let alone a foreign one!
Re: Assigning a colour to each Russian case
Quote:
Originally Posted by irisheyes
You are right Friendy, there really isn't a short cut for the endings but I'll keep plodding along anyway.
Well for the plural of Dative, Instrumental, and Prepositional I have a way of memorizing it of sorts.
nouns : ам, ами ах (ям, ями, ях)
adjectives: ым, ыми, ых (им, ими, их)
Very easy to memorize if you picture the cases as NAGDIP
Re: Assigning a colour to each Russian case
Quote:
Originally Posted by iwrotedrowning
Well for the plural of Dative, Instrumental, and Prepositional I have a way of memorizing it of sorts.
nouns : ам, ами ах (ям, ями, ях)
adjectives: ым, ыми, ых (им, ими, их)
My teacher first year had a little chant and dance to remember those plurals. She'd make us recite:
ым - ам, ыми - ами, ых - ах, boom, boom!
The boom booms were probably the most important part. :lol: