(no subject)

[kittydesade]

1. The genitive case is used after the prepositions у (by, as in possession), без, до, после, из, от, с (when it means from), и напротив.

У моего брата есть телевизор. My brother has a television.
Мы из Америки. We are living in from America. Amerika! Ist wunderbar!

2. The genitive case is used after нет, не было, не будет to indicate absence or nonexistence.

У нас нет машины. We don't have a car.
У нас не было машины. We didn't have a car.
У нас не будет машины. We won't have a car.

3. The genitive case is used to express possession ('s) or 'of'

Это книга нашей соседки. This is our neighbor's book.

4. The genitive case is used after numbers.

-- genitive singular noun after numbers ending in два (две), три, четыре.

У Ивана две сестры. Ivan has two sisters.
Они купили тридцать четыре журнала. They bought thirty-four magazines.

-- genitive plural after numbers that end in some way other than один (одна, одно), два (две), три, иди четыре. This includes the numbers 5 through 20, 25-30, 35-40, and so on, as well as numbers denoting hundreds, thousands, etc.

У Джона пять сестёр. John has five sisters.
Они купили двенадцать билетов. They bought twelve tickets.

5. The genitive case is used after the words сколько - how many, how much, много - many, a lot, немного - a little, несколько - a few, and мало - a few, too little

-- genitive singular of nouns denoting things that are not counted (e.g. milk, sugar, time); несколько is not used with such nouns.

Сколько молока мне купить? How much milk should I buy?
Здесь много воды. There's a lot of water here.
У нас мало времени. We have little time.

-- genitive plural of nouns denoting things that may be counted (e.g. books, students, questions).

Сколько у вас студентов? How many students do you have?
У меня много книг. I have a lot of books.
У нас несколько вопросов. We have a few questions.
В этом городе мало гостиниц. This town has (too) few hotels.


I love this Russian book. It has review built in. I was just saying how I needed to go back and review the last four chapters, and look! The next four pages are genitive review!



Oof. It's really getting bloody cold here. It's below freezing right now, at a time when I'm usually getting ready to walk over to carpool to work. There might be snow eventually, which will be nice, but, brr! On the other hand this also gives me an excuse to knit ALL THE THINGS. And spin. And knit. And do funky stuff with wool and things.

And have a cat on my back, evidently. Hi, Murdock.

Human Target was pretty awesome. The writers need to be smacked about a few things, specifically about Ilsa's characterisation, which has gotten way, way more uneven. One moment she's verbally bitchsmacking Ames, the next minute she's acting shocked that Guerrero's about to torture someone for information and all about calling the cops. When she knows exactly what kind of criminal Chance, at least, is. And probably sort of what kind of criminal Guerrero is considering he's sniped people in front of her before. On the other hand, Chance seems to be mostly back to his usual awesome self. Snarky and subtly snarky at that, competent, capable, much less angst. Guerrero is awesome, as per usual. Winston is a bit uneven, but that seems to be more character development than character derailment. Ames's actress is settling into her role, which is a tremendous relief. Her role and her accent, for that matter. I could have done without the two-dimensional old friend, though. It was obviously a plot device to get people to empathize with her, to give her a bit of character development (which it didn't do any better than a normal episode would have) and it was heavy handed at best. Still, it's working out some of the problems. And I like that Guerrero's still cranking about the girls in his boys' club. And he's waiting on further evidence to accept Ilsa's influence over the team. It also kind of implies that he's in it for more than just the pay, which I also like. And Ames is settling into the group, into the idea of being with a group. Next up, seeing if they can even Ilsa the fuck out and make the writing a little less broad strokes with crayon and fingerpaint and more subtle sketches with pencils.

Okay, I'm kind of liking having Murdock on my back. He's warm, he's pleasant, he feels good. He's purring. Sadly, I have to get up in another minute and start moving, getting my shit towards the door. I could stay like this for a while. Especially if he actually lets me get my exercises in like he did this morning. Woot! It's the start of a good day.