Russian Prepositions & Cases Cheat Sheet: Which Case After Every Preposition

In Russian, prepositions govern cases — they force the following noun into a specific grammatical case. Unlike English where prepositions just sit before nouns ("in the house", "to the school"), Russian prepositions actively change the noun's ending.

Some prepositions always require the same case. Others — the tricky ones — require different cases depending on whether you mean direction (movement) or location (stationary). This direction-vs-location distinction is the #1 source of case errors for learners.

Here is the complete reference. Prepositions marked with ★ can take multiple cases (explained in detail below).

These 5 prepositions are responsible for the vast majority of case confusion. Master them and you eliminate most preposition errors.

These 10 prepositions account for roughly 80% of all preposition usage in Russian. If you only memorize these, you'll cover most situations:

The genitive case has the most prepositions — which makes sense because the genitive expresses relationships like origin, possession, absence, and cause. Here are the key ones:

The dative has fewer prepositions but they're used very frequently:

The instrumental case marks accompaniment, location behind/under/above, and the means by which something is done:

Despite being named after prepositions, the prepositional case actually has the fewest dedicated prepositions. It's mainly used with в/на (location) and о (about):

Here are proven mnemonics that help learners remember preposition-case pairings:

• Direction = Accusative, Location = Prepositional/Instrumental. If you're going somewhere (в/на + motion), use accusative. If you're already there, use prepositional (в/на) or instrumental (за/под).
• "With" = Instrumental. The instrumental case literally means "by means of" — so "with" (accompaniment or tool) always takes instrumental: с другом, с ножом.
• "From" = Genitive. Origin, source, removal — anything that means "from" or "away" takes genitive: из России, от друга, с горы, без воды.
• "To a person" = Dative. Going to someone's place or giving something to someone: к другу, по улице.
• "About" = Prepositional. Talking or thinking about something: о книге, о России.
• Practice by pairs. Learn direction/location pairs together: в школу / в школе, на работу / на работе, за дом / за домом. The pair reinforces both cases simultaneously.

These are the preposition-case errors we see most often from learners:

Print this or save it to your phone — it's the fastest way to look up any preposition:

Knowing which case follows which preposition is half the battle of Russian grammar. The other half is being able to produce the correct noun ending automatically — without pausing to think.

This cheat sheet gives you the rules. Now you need repetition. Use the free declension quiz to practice each case individually until the endings become second nature. Start with accusative and prepositional (the most common preposition cases), then add genitive, dative, and instrumental.

Bookmark this page and come back whenever you're unsure about a preposition. Over time, you'll need it less and less — and that's when you know the cases have truly clicked.