Я читаю книгу. Мы покупаем хлеб.I'm reading a book. We're buying bread.

The thing a verb acts on is called the direct object: what you read, see, buy or love. In Russian the direct object stands in the accusative case. For things (inanimate nouns), the accusative is easy: most nouns look exactly like the nominative, and only feminine nouns in -а / -я change.

Quick shortcut: for a thing, masculine and neuter nouns stay the same (вижу стол, вижу окно), feminine -а becomes -у and -я becomes -ю (читаю книгу, люблю песню), and plurals stay the same.

The endings

Gender Nominative Accusative Example
masculine стол, дом, хлеб same as nominative Я вижу стол. (I see a table.)
neuter окно, молоко, письмо same as nominative Мы покупаем молоко. (We're buying milk.)
feminine in -а книга, вода -у: книгу, воду Я читаю книгу. (I'm reading a book.)
feminine in -я неделя, песня -ю: неделю, песню Они любят песню. (They love the song.)
feminine in -ь дверь, ночь same as nominative Я вижу дверь. (I see a door.)
plural книги, столы, окна same as nominative Мы покупаем книги. (We're buying books.)

The lesson Noun gender explains gender and Plural of nouns in the nominative covers plurals. The subject stays in the nominative, as in The nominative case: Мама читает книгу. (Mum is reading a book.) Here мама is the subject and книгу the object.

The question "что?"

The question for a thing as the object is что? (what?): Что ты читаешь? — Книгу. (What are you reading? A book.) Что вы покупаете? — Хлеб. (What are you buying? Bread.) The answer is in the accusative.

Common verbs with a direct object

  • читать (to read): Я читаю письмо. (I'm reading a letter.)
  • видеть (to see): Мы видим дом. (We see the house.)
  • покупать (to buy): Она покупает воду. (She is buying water.)
  • любить (to love, to like): Он любит музыку. (He loves music.)
  • писать (to write): Ты пишешь песню. (You're writing a song.)
  • делать (to do, to make): Мы делаем уроки. (We're doing our homework.)

The verbs are conjugated as in Present tense: first-conjugation verbs and Present tense: second-conjugation verbs.

Adjectives and word order

An adjective before a feminine object also changes: -ая becomes -ую and -яя becomes -юю (красивая песня → красивую песню). The nominative forms are in Adjective agreement in the nominative; the other cases come in later lessons. The neutral word order is subject, verb, object (Я читаю книгу), but Russian can move the object to the front for emphasis (Книгу я читаю), and the ending helps show which word is the object (as in книгу); when the forms coincide (стол), word order and context help.

When the object is a person

Only the nouns for things are covered here. For people and animals, masculine singular nouns and plurals differ from the nominative (feminine nouns in -а / -я behave as above only in the singular; in the animate plural the accusative follows the genitive), as in The accusative case: animate objects and pronouns.

Common mistakes

  • ❌ Я читаю книга. → ✅ Я читаю книгу. (a feminine object in -а takes -у)
  • ❌ Они любят песня. → ✅ Они любят песню. (-я becomes -ю)
  • ❌ Я вижу столу. → ✅ Я вижу стол. (a masculine thing does not take -у)
  • ❌ Мы покупаем молоку. → ✅ Мы покупаем молоко. (a neuter noun stays the same)
  • ❌ Ты пишешь письму. → ✅ Ты пишешь письмо. (письмо is neuter and does not change)

Quick check

Which form fits each gap?

  1. (книга) Я читаю ____.
  2. (стол) Я вижу ____.
  3. (вода) Она пьёт ____.
  4. (молоко) Мы покупаем ____.
  5. (песня) Они любят ____.
Show answers
  1. книгу   2. стол   3. воду   4. молоко   5. песню

Key takeaways

  • The direct object stands in the accusative; the question for a thing is что?
  • Masculine and neuter nouns for things, feminine nouns in -ь, and all plurals look like the nominative.
  • Feminine nouns in -а take -у, and those in -я take -ю: книгу, песню.
  • When the forms differ (книгу), the ending marks the object; when they coincide (стол), word order and context help.