Кот
Russian has a word кот which means a male cat, in other words what we in English would call a tomcat. It's an end-stressed word, which means it always has the stress on the first syllable of the grammatical ending, if there is one, and on the last syllable of the word if there is not a grammatical ending:
| Sg | Pl | |
| Nom | кот | коты |
| Acc | кота | котов |
| Gen | ||
| Pre | коте | котах |
| Dat | коту | котам |
| Ins | котом | котами |
Here are a few sample sentences:
| Под окном дрались два кота. | Two tomcats were fighting under the window. |
| Ты видишь того кота? Я вчера видел, как он прогнал двух немецких овчарок. | Do you see that tomcat? Yesterday I saw him chase off two German Shepherds. |
| Господи, наш кот опять нассал на кухне. Надо его кастрировать.* | Good Lord, our cat has pissed in the kitchen again. We should neuter him. |
| Кот подкрался к мыши и прыгнул на неё. | The cat snuck up on the mouse and pounced on him. |
The Russians have a phrase that means “very little” which is related to cats, and that is «кот наплакал», literally “the tomcat cried.” For instance,
| — Сколько у тебя денег? — Кот наплакал. |
“How much money do you have left?” “Next to none.” |
| — Сколько осталось водки? — Кот наплакал. |
“How much vodka is left?” “Scarcely a drop.” |
* Warning: don't use the word нассать in polite company. It's pretty crude.
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