Thread: без and genitive

Hello Everybody,

sorry for the stupid question, but:

без always needs a genitive after?

ex: он переводит без словаря

One more question, Could anybody explain me the structure of the following sentence:
ты сегодня выглядишь молодецом

why has been used молодецом?

Thanks

без + genetive. Yes, that's it. Can;t think of an exception to this.

ты сегодня выглядишь молодецом - This one is not right it should be:

Ты сегодня выглядишь молодцом.

Originally Posted by bacco22

One more question, Could anybody explain me the structure of the following sentence:
ты сегодня выглядишь молодецом

why has been used молодецом?

As iCake pointed out, the correct spelling is "молодцом" (and, similarly, the genitive singular is молодца, not молодеца; dat. sing. is молодцу, not молодецу, etc.)

But to explain the grammar a little more: Russian typically uses the instrumental case after verbs that mean "to be, to become, to seem, to appear, to turn out to be," etc.

При праздновании бар-мицвы, еврейский мальчик произносит, "Сегодня, я становлюсь мужчиной!"
During the celebration of (his) bar mitzvah, a Jewish boy says, "Today, I become a man!"

Remember that мужчина ("a man") is an example of a masculine noun that is feminine in appearance. That's why the instrumental singular ending is -ой here, not -ом as in молодец --> молодцом.

Another example -- and notice that the past-tense verb is feminine (to agree with the nominative subject, not with the instrumental object, which is masculine here):

Эта "собака" оказалась волком!
That "dog" turned out to be a wolf!

BUT

Этот "волк" оказался собакой!
That "wolf" turned out to be a dog!


And finally, the original sentence:

Сегодня ты выглядишь молодцом.
You look excellent today. (Literally: "Today, you look like a truly excellent person.")

Some prepositions are "lucky" in that they always demand a specific case,
без - Genitive
к - Dative
о - Prepositional
через - Accusative

etc

Some examples of Instrumental, demonstrating, that not only nouns, but also pronouns and adjectives behave in similar way.

В своё время Сократ как-то мне сказал: «Женись непременно. Попадётся хорошая жена — станешь счастливым. Плохая — станешь философом». Не знаю, что лучше.
© "Тот самый Мюнхгаузен"

Наутилус Помпилиус - Марш левой ! | Текст и перевод песни

Thanks a lot Throbert,

it's very useful.

to Resume:
with verbs like be, become, seems, ... we must use the instrumental case, which ends in -ой for fem. and -ом for masc.
For this example:
оказалась (past tense verb - feminine) --> волком (instrumental - masculine) --> собака (nominative subject - feminine)

is it correct?

we must use the instrumental case

Yes.

which ends in -ой for fem. and -ом for masc.

Unfortunately, it's not always so simple.
The ultimate Russian noun-endings list

Originally Posted by bacco22

Thanks a lot Throbert,

оказалась (past tense verb - feminine) --> волком (instrumental - masculine) --> собака (nominative subject - feminine)

is it correct?

The words are correct, but the word-order you've used seems a bit strange to me -- not wrong, but not quite like natural speech, either.

Russian word-order is very flexible, and yet some word-orders are encountered much more often than others. Personally, I think that in this case it's best to have "оказалась" in the middle -- either "Волком оказалась собака" or "Собака оказалась волком." (There's possibly a slight difference in nuance, because in general, putting a word at the very end of a sentence can tend to emphasize it.)

To me, the order "Оказалась волком собака" sounds like it should be a question, with a "?" at the end and a strong emphasis on the second "-а-" in the verb ("оказАлась волком собака?"), meaning "Did the dog in fact turn out to be a wolf?"

В своё время Сократ как-то мне сказал: «Женись непременно. Попадётся хорошая жена — станешь счастливым. Плохая — станешь философом». Не знаю, что лучше.
© "Тот самый Мюнхгаузен"

A если не ошибаюсь, именно Сократа имел в виду Вольтер, когда раз он посоветовал какому-то "bi-curious" приятелю: "Спи мужчина однажды с мужчниой, он станет философом. Дважвды -- уже стал содомитом!"

<---- Ксантиппа, бедняжка
<----- Сократ (слева) вместе со неопознанным студентом

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

The words are correct, but the word-order you've used seems a bit strange to me -- not wrong, but not quite like natural speech, either.

Russian word-order is very flexible, and yet some word-orders are encountered much more often than others. Personally, I think that in this case it's best to have "оказалась" in the middle -- either "Волком оказалась собака" or "Собака оказалась волком." (There's possibly a slight difference in nuance, because in general, putting a word at the very end of a sentence can tend to emphasize it.)

To me, the order "Оказалась волком собака" sounds like it should be a question, with a "?" at the end and a strong emphasis on the second "-а-" in the verb ("оказАлась волком собака?"), meaning "Did the dog in fact turn out to be a wolf?"

Собака оказалась волком is most neutral, otherwise, emphasis should fall on "волком".

word-order might seem strange, but it works. Compare:
"Не бывать вороне коровою,
Не летать лягушатам под облаком!"