100 Unit 7: Спорт
The instrumental of кто is кем and of что is чем: Кем oн хо�чет
быть? ‘What (lit. who) does he want to be?’ Чем ты интересу�ешься?
‘What are you interested in?’Uses of the instrumental case
(a) The instrumental case is used to translate ‘with’ or ‘by’ denoting
the instrument with which an action is performed: рисова�ть
карандашо�м ‘to draw with a pencil’; снима�ть фотоаппaра�том
‘to take with a camera (photograph)’.
(b) The instrumental case is used after certain verbs: заниматься�
‘to be engaged in, to study’; интересова�ться ‘to be interested
in’; увлека�ться ‘to be fond of; становиться � ‘to become’; Мы
интересу�емся спо�ртом ‘We are interested in sport’; Я yвлека�лся
фyтболом� ‘I was fond of football’.
(c) The instrumental case is frequently used as the complement of
быть ‘to be’ when this verb is in the infinitive form or past or future
tense: Я хоте�л быть футболи�стом ‘I wanted to be a footballer’;
Тама�ра была� чемпио�нкой ‘Tamara was a champion’.
(d) The instrumental case is used after certain prepositions.
Пе�ред ‘in front of’, ‘just before’: пе�ред стадио�ном ‘in front of the
stadium’; пе�ред обе�дом ‘just before dinner’.
Под ‘under’: под столо�м ‘under the table’.
Note that под will be followed by the accusative and NOT the
instrumental if motion into a position under is being described: Он
идёт под мост ‘He is going under the bridge’.
С ‘together with’, ‘accompanied by’: Он рабо�тает с Пи�тером ‘He
works with Peter’.
Note the following construction: Мы c Тама�рой занима�емся
спо�ртом ‘Tamara and I (lit. ‘we with Tamara’) go in for sport’.
Other prepositions taking the instrumental which you will encoun-
ter later include: над ‘over’ and за ‘behind, beyond’. Note that, like
под, за may also take the accusative.
(e) The expressions for ‘in spring’, ‘in the morning’ etc. are formed from the
instrumental case of the appropriate noun, without a preposition: вecна�
‘spring’ вecной � ‘in spring’; ле�то ‘summer’ ле�том ‘in summer’; о�ceнь
‘autumn’ о�сенью ‘in autumn’; зима� ‘winter’ зимо�й ‘in winter’; утро�
‘morning’ утром� ‘in the morning’; день ‘day’ днём ‘in the daytime’;
вечер� ‘evening’ вечером� ‘in the evening’; ночь ‘night’ ночью� ‘at night’.