Meaning and grammatical features

The pronoun is a part of speech that denotes subject, characteristic and quantity, but doesn't name it.

The pronoun can answer кто? (= who?) что? (= what?) какой? (= which?) чей? (= whose?) как? (= how?) где? (= where?) когда? (= when?) questions etc. Pronouns are used instead of nouns, adjectives, numerals or adverbs. Most pronouns in the Russian language change by case, many pronouns change by gender and number.

Types of pronouns

Pronoun is divided into several categories according to its grammatical features and meaning:

Declination of pronouns

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns have forms of

• persons
• numbers
• of case
• of gender (only pronouns of the 3rd person singular).

Pronouns я (= I) and ты (= you (singular)) indicate participants of the speech.

Pronouns он (= he) , она (= she) , оно (= it) , они (= they) indicate the subject that is spoken ,was spoken or will be spoken about.

Pronouns мы (= we) and вы (= you) indicate the speaker or his interlocutor together with other persons.

After the preposition the pronouns of the third person ( он (= he) , она́ (= she) , оно́ (= it) , они́ (= they) ) have in the beginning н:

The genitive and accusative formse of all personal pronouns coincide.

Reflexive pronoun

The reflexive pronoun себя́ (= self) indicates the person being spoken about. This pronoun doesn't have the nominative form , and also the form of the person, number and gender.

Interrogative and relative pronouns

Interrogative and relative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to express the question.

Relative pronouns are used to link parts of a complex sentence.

Interrogative and relative pronouns кто (= who) and что (= what) have no gender and number.

Pronouns како́й (= which) , кото́рый (= which) , чей (= whose ) change in case, number and gender and are declined as adjectives. They agrees with nouns in case, number and gender .

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns indicate indefinte objects, characteristic and quantity. They are formed by attaching prefixes не- ( кое-что́ (= something ) , кое-каки́е (= some) ) and кое- ( не́кто (= somebody) , не́что (= something) ), which is always under stress, as well as suffixes -то, -либо, -нибудь ( кто́-то (= someone) , кто́-либо (= somebody) , кто́-нибудь (= someone) ) to the interrogative ( relative) pronouns.

Indefinite pronouns are declined as pronouns from which they are formed (interrogative and relative pronouns).

Negative pronouns

Negative pronouns are used to deny the existence of any object, attribute and quantity, or to enhance the negative meaning of the whole sentence. They are formed from interrogative (relative) pronouns with the unstressed prefix ни- ( никто́ (= no one) , ничто́ (= nothing) , никако́й (= no) , ниче́й (= nobody's) ) and the stressed prefix не- ( не́кого (= there is no one) , не́чего (= there is nothing) ). Pronouns не́кого (= there is no one) and не́чего (= there is nothing) don't have the nominative form.

Negative pronouns change by cases and numbers, and in the singular they change by genders . The pronoun никто́ (= no one) doesn't change either by number or by gender.

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns indicate to which person the object belongs.

Possessive pronouns мой (= my) , твой (= your) , ваш (= your) , наш (= our) , свой (= own) change as adjectives by cases, numbers and genders.

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns тот (= that) , э́тот (= this) , тако́й (= such) , тако́в (= such) , сто́лько (= so many) are used to distinguish among others some particular object, characteristic and quantity . Demonstrative pronouns тот , э́тот , тако́й , сто́лько change as full adjectives by cases, numbers and genders. The pronoun тако́в changes as a short adjective, i.e. by numbers and genders.

Defining pronouns

The definining pronouns весь (= all) , вся́кий (= any) , ка́ждый (= each) , сам (= self) , са́мый (= very) , ино́й (= other) , друго́й (= other) indicate one object from a number of homogeneous objects.

In some forms pronouns сам (= self) , са́мый (= very) differ only by stress.

The pronoun весь (= all) ( всё (= all) , вся (= all) , все (= all) ) has special forms in the instrumental case of the singular of the masculine and neuter gender and in all forms of the plural.

Defining pronouns aren't declined.

The pronoun сам (= self) indicates a person or a thing that produces the action.

The pronoun весь (= all) , вся́кий (= any) indicates the completeness of coverage; it defines the subject as something inseparable.

The pronoun вся́кий (= any) indicates any object from many homogeneous objects.

Pronouns са́мый (= very) , ка́ждый (= each) , любо́й (= any) indicate the emphasis of a single object or person from a number of homogeneous objects or persons.

The pronoun са́мый (= very) can also denote the highest degree of the attribute and can be used to form the superlative degree of adjectives.