Language Structures and Linguistics
Language Structures and Linguistics tests explicit control of Russian grammar: the six cases, animacy, verb aspect, verbs of motion, reflexives, participles, gerunds, and information structure. Questions often ask you to choose the form that fits a syntactic slot or to explain why one form is unacceptable in context.
Core rules
- Case is governed by government and preposition: в/на + accusative for direction, + prepositional for location; с + genitive for 'from/with'; по + dative for 'along/by'; за + accusative for 'for/behind' with motion.
- Animacy affects accusative masculine singular and plural: вижу студента/студентов vs вижу стол/столы.
- Aspect pairs distinguish process or repetition (imperfective) from result or single completion (perfective).
- Verbs of motion: идти/ехать are unidirectional; ходить/ездить are multidirectional or habitual. Prefixes add completion or direction.
- Participles agree like adjectives; gerunds are invariable and usually refer to the subject.
Worked example
Choose between решал and решил: «Вчера я ___ задачу два часа» vs «Вчера я ___ задачу за два часа.» The first needs решал because два часа measures the process; the second needs решил because за два часа marks completion within a time limit. Swapping them changes the meaning or makes the sentence illogical.
Traps
- Using в школе for direction; use в школу.
- Saying два студентов instead of два студента; numerals 2–4 take genitive singular, 5+ genitive plural.
- Confusing учиться ('study') with учить ('teach' or 'learn something').
- Using свой when the possessor is not the subject; use его/её/их.