Thread: A small question about много

Originally Posted by impulse

Each and every document I read about the Russian grammer suggests that the word "много" takes the genative case.

Yes, it's right. It is as if you said "many of something".
In English, you say: "Hundreds of cars", "A lot of cars", "Lots of cars", "Plenty of cars"...
In Russian we say the same way. In addition, we also say "Five of cars", "Ten of cars" etc.
Complare: сотни машин, много машин, множество машин, пять машин, десять машин etc.

Originally Posted by impulse

Is that because the word "много" it self is the genetive form of the adjective "многий"?

No, it is not. "Много" is not a genitive form. And it is not even an adjective. It is more like an adverb, and "много" is unchangeable.
The genitive form of "многий" would be "многого".

Originally Posted by impulse

Is it possible to write "многая машина" to mean "many cars"?

No, it is impossible. "Многий" requires any countable noun to be in plural. "Многие машины" is possible.

However, there is a subtle difference between "много машин" and "многие машины". They are not interchangeable.
"Много машин" is just "a lot of cars": На улице много машин.
"Многие машины" is "many of the cars (but not all of them)". Compare:

На улице много машин. Многие машины совсем новые. - There are lots of cars in the street. Many of them are quite new.

PS Actually, you can say "многие из + GEN" or just "многие". It means the same. The following versions are interchangeable:
Многие из машин совсем новые.
Многие машины совсем новые.
Многие из них совсем новые.
Многие совсем новые. (If it is clear the conversation was about cars).