Thread: The verb ненавидеть

I understand that the verb means "to hate" but my question is:

Which casу does it take? I thought it took accusative, but i've seen a couple of sentences in which it takes the genetive case (when dealing with inanimate nouns).


If I wanted to say 'I hate business' (the subject of a class, not a particular firm), would I say "Я ненавижу бизнес" or "Я ненавижу бизнеса"? I've seen both.

Спасибо за помощь!

"Я ненавижу бизнеса" is incorrect completely. The accusative of бизнес is бизнес.

Actually, it fairly often happens when we substitute accusative case for genitive in colloquial speech, and contrariwise.
E.g. 1) "Я хочу (попить) воду"(incorrect) и "Я хочу (попить) воды" (correct);
2) "Я не строю трагедии из произошедшего" (incorrect) и "Я не строю трагедию из произошедшего" (correct);
3) "Я не сделаю упражнения к завтрашнему дню" (incorrect) "Я не сделаю упражнение к завтрашнему дню" (correct);
4) "Я не подам вида"(incorrect), "Я не подам вид"(incorrect) и "Я не подам виду"(correct)
Although, I've given two alternatives (correct or incorrect), all these statements are equally possible. Especially in colloquial speech. And that's ok
Sometimes these mistakes take place because of lack of knowledge about some idioms (like (1) or (4)). Sometimes it happens because people confuse the singular with the plural in rapid speech (like (2) or (3)). Sometimes people deliberately use such old-fashioned folksy language (which didn't have any rules on its own account because of total illiteracy at that time). They do it just for fun or any other reasons

"Я хочу [выпить] воду" is completely correct.

Originally Posted by IamMarat

3) "Я не сделаю упражнения к завтрашнему дню" (incorrect)

почему?

Kwright, I googled "Я ненавижу бизнеса" and got 2 results. One was your post, other was some king of deliberate nonsense. "Я ненавижу бизнес" gave 283 results. Probably you got confused with negative constructions, where Genitive is acceptable and even preferable: "Я вижу кирпич." - "Я не вижу кирпича."

IamMarat, look, I am afraid your post can only confuse foreigners. As a native speaker you have a natural feeling of language, but to point out what is correct and what is not, you need more literary practice and in-depth theoretical background. In your examples 1a may be correct with some context (for example, when you speak in fact about a bottle of water), 1b - see Partitive Case, 2a and 3a are correct and even preferable because of negation (see also Abessive Case). 4c is a set phrase (again with Abessive) rather than idiom, but 4a most probably will be recognized by experts as correct as well.

Well, may be those examples and their assessment aren't very good. But what i would say was about substitution accusative case for genitive (deliberately or by mistake). It sometimes occurs. I know it for sure

Btw. I know nothing about Abessive Case, but "Я не строю трагедии из произошедшего" and "Я не сделаю упражнения к завтрашнему дню" sound incorrect for me anyway (if we talk about the singular forms "трагедия" and "упражнение")

Originally Posted by IamMarat

Btw. I know nothing about Abessive Case, but "Я не строю трагедии из произошедшего" and "Я не сделаю упражнения к завтрашнему дню" sound incorrect for me anyway (if we talk about the singular forms "трагедия" and "упражнение")

I was thinking about plural form

Originally Posted by IamMarat

Btw. I know nothing about Abessive Case, but "Я не строю трагедии из произошедшего" and "Я не сделаю упражнения к завтрашнему дню" sound incorrect for me anyway (if we talk about the singular forms "трагедия" and "упражнение")

"Я не строю трагедии из прошлого" is definitely correct. I'd say even more natural than "Я не строю трагедию из прошлого", though both phrases are hardly colloquial. As for "упражнения", usually it is some specific exercise rather than exercise is general, so the use of Genitive is unjustified.