The meaning of a phrase in Russian can be communicated by modifying the form of its nouns.
In this article I’ll attempt to describe how we can use the instrumental case to modify nouns in order to convey meaning.
The instrumental case can be used for…
An action being performed using an object.
| I am eating | with a | fork. |
| я ем | вилкой. | |
The accompaniment of a process, person, or object, with another person or object.
| I am eating | with | Boris. |
| я ем | с борисом. | |
| The man | with | a book. |
| мужчина | с книгой. | |
| The sandwich | with | chicken. |
| сэндвич | с курицей. | |
Things occuring within seasons.
| I go cycling | in | Spring. |
| я катаюсь на велосипеде | весной. | |
In all of these cases it is the object (fork, Boris, book, chicken, Spring) that changes to take its instrumental form. The subject (I, the man, the sandwich) does not change form.
Without the instrumental case, those same phrases can get a bit weird…
| I am eating | a fork. |
| я ем | вилка. |
| I am eating | Boris. |
| я ем | борис. |
| The Man | Book. |
| мужчина | книга. |
| The Sandwich | Chicken. |
| сэндвич | курица. |
| I go cycling | Spring. |
| я катаюсь на велосипеде | весна. |
The с can be used to indicate the acompaniment of something. For example…
я ем с борисом - I am eating with Boris. (He’s there and we’re eating together).
я ем борисом - I am eating with Boris. (But I’m using Boris as a tool in order to eat, using his hands to feed myself).
In addition to the above, we use the instrumental case with some specific verbs, and the case also has it’s own pronouns. Which I’ll address in another post.