Улица

by Don  

The Russian word for ‘street’ is улица, which has got to be related somehow to улитка ‘snail,’ but I haven't figured out a way to connect them in an engaging fashion. It is declined like this.

SgPl
Nomулицаулицы
Accулицу
Genулицыулиц
Preулицеулицах
Datулицам
Insулицейулицами

Both Russian streets and American streets can be named after people. So in the US you can have Washington Street or Lincoln Street Street. In Russian when you name a street after someone, the name goes in the genitive case and comes after the word улица. You don't normally capitalize улица, except of course at the beginning of the sentence.

Где улица Баумана? Where is Bauman street?
Поверните налево на улице Пушкина. Turn left on Pushkin Street.
Как доехать до улицы Михаила Миля? How do you get to Mikahil Mil street?

Note that when you translate the street into English, the name must be transliterated from the nominative form, not the genitive form.

Many Russian last names resemble adjectives in form, like Достоевский or Толстой. They must decline like adjectives.

Как пройти к улице Достоевского? How do you get to Dostoevski Street?
Улица Толстого сегодня закрыта. Tolstoy Street is closed today.

Now, what if the name of the street isn't a person's name, say, something like Trade Union Street or Kremlin Street? Then there are a couple of ways to go about it. The first way is to turn the noun into an adjective and put it in front of the noun; of course, the adjective agrees with the noun in gender, number and case.

Где Профсоюзная улица? Where is Trade Union Street?
Геологический музей находится на Кремлёвской улице. The geology museum is located on Kremlin Street.


(BTW, I currently really like the map at zurbarzar.ru, and I also love the program 2гис for both maps and linking with reviews.)

Sometimes the adjective will come after the noun, and it will still agree with the noun.

— Где улица Москвовская?
— Что за дурацкий вопрос. Вы на улице Московской и стоите!
“Where is Moscow Street?”
“What a stupid question. You’re standing on Moscow Street!”

I seem to notice a tendency on internet maps to put the «ул.» in front of the adjective; Google maps seems to have made that editorial decision. However in speech the Russians seem to accept the adjective either before or after the noun... at least I haven't been corrected so far.

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