Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee View Post
волк (Nom)
волка (Gen)
волку (Dat)
волка (Acc)
волком (Inst)
волке (Prep)
When I was starting to learn the case declensions for singular nouns, I started out with this, what I call vertical method. And immediately found that it doesn't answer the question that is actually upper most in mind. What are the endings for the particular case I want right now? That is, a horizontal method needed, not vertical. In other words the starting point is, we know what case we want, so go right to the endings for that case. Thus the mnemonic for a single case, with order hard m, hard f, i. To get the soft nouns, just an easy spelling change. And neutrals are usually as for masc. Genitive => jаnыtиv, this way I get the ending instantly. Instrumental and dative in a previous post: омstrойmюntal - instrumental, dative => dуtеvи. likewise, ones for Accus, prepositional, easy. And the animate/inanimate point is straightforword.
The vertical method is simply a slower search method, since you have to call up a gender type, then trot through the cases till you get the one you want. It works perfectly, but is less rapid than horizontal method. This horizontal way is like a faster algo.