9
To summarize: In the sentence Я студентка. you have студентка (nominative) serving as a predicate without a copula. In the modern usage, the copula is usually omitted in the present tense. If you don't have a copula, your predicate is always in a nominative case. In the sentence Я была студенткой. you have a compound predicate была студенткой (in ...
6
"Кто бы он ни был" tends to mean 'no matter who he is' (in person or by position),
Этот человек, кто бы он ни был, (даже если это сам генеральный
директор или рекомендованный нам Иван Иваныч) не сможет решить нашу
проблему.
while "кем бы он ни был" is close to 'whatever kind of person he is' (e.g. by profession).
Человеку, у которого столько ...
6
В подтверждение версии, высказанной @user4419802:
В позиции именной части сказуемого именительный падеж конкурирует с творительным падежом. Форма именительного падежа употребляется тогда, когда речь идет о постоянном признаке, присущем носителю на протяжении длительного промежутка времени.
Именительный падеж в позиции именной части сказуемого
Также:
...
5
Formally, быть (to be) requires the instrumental when used in the past tense:
Работа тяжелая ("the job is hard"). The linking "to be" is omitted in the present tense, the adjective is in the nominative).
Работа была тяжелой ("the job was hard"). The linking "to be" is in the past tense, the adjective is in the instrumental).
However, colloquially, many ...
5
Surprisingly, but - no! In a certain context, the first sentence is absolutely correct and is the only possible option. It can be used as a rhema-response (as opposed to a thema-response) to a topic question, e.g.
- Мой брат [topic] работает карманником. А твой [[кем] работает]?
- Мой брат - журналистом.
For the past tense, both был журналистом and был ...
5
был + nominative means constant (not temporary) feature. For example, you can say both Горький был писателем and Горький был писатель (the latter is colloqiual). You, however, cannot say Горький был грузчик, because his work as a loader was temporary. You should say Горький был грузчиком.
4
Object здоровым here answers the question быть каким? (to be which?) which defaults to Instrumental case
быть честным
быть сильной
быть (по)битым
With the verb быть the object defaults to Instrumental also when answering the question быть кем? (to be whom?), only in this case the object is not an adjective but a noun
быть студентом
быть другом
...
4
Был вором = занимался воровством; был вор = являлся вором по своей сути.
Это примерно как в английском What he was vs Who he was.
3
While this construction is grammatically correct, it sounds awkward and unusual to me because of unnecessary complication. In 95% of cases Russian would rather say:
Я был на очень интенсивной конференции.
If you want to describe where have you been (at the conference). If you want to emphasize that this conference was very intensive, you'd say:
...
3
An excellent question which in my opinion has an answer, it's just the difference is quite tricky to grasp. Any time you can ask "кем он является" instead of "кто он", you can use "кем" in your phrase as well, so
Не стремись облапошить ближнего своего, кто бы они ни был – православный, иудей, мусульманин
and
Не стремись облапошить ближнего своего, кем бы ...
3
What can be added to the answers in the past topics referenced by Sergey Slepov in the comments, is that at least in your example, usage of adjective in nominal or instrumental affects semantics of the phrase.
Ты был забавный Nom. would relegate your being забавный to a distant past, when there was another you so to speak, for example in the childhood, ...
3
The noun and adjective functioning as the nominal part of a compound predicate can be in the nominative or in the instrumental case.
Typically, the nominative here [where the linking verb быть is present] corresponds to a permanent quality of the subject while the instrumental case better combines with a temporary quality.
In much more detail (Розенталь Д.Э....
3
In English you could say “Dzherzhinsky was a revolutionary”, while in Russian this would be «Дзержинский был революционером» – in the Instrumental case.
Perhaps it is a little easier to see in the following sentence: “Dzherzhinsky worked as a politician” and «Дзержинский работал политиком» – in English you use a preposition, while in Russian you use a ...
3
Какая can take any case according to the content of the second clause, as you suggest:
Она такая, какая есть.
Она такая, какой была раньше.
Она такая, какой можно многое пообещать.
Она такая, какую ещё поискать надо.
Она такая, какой можно гордиться.
Она такая, на какой можно даже жениться.
2
It's correct to say быть кем-то/быть чем-то:
Он хочет быть учителем. (not он хочет быть учитель)
Она красивая BUT Она была красивой. (Она была красивая can sometimes be heard but it's less correct than она была красивой)
Шоу будет зрелищным (I think I've heard шоу будет зрелищное but actually, just like in the sentence above, the form of the ...
2
From your examples it's evident that какой is part of the second clause and inflects accordingly. In all your examples какой is in the instrumental case which is required by был/увидел.
You can use nominative with был (Она такая, какая она была раньше.) but to me that sounds colloquial.
See also this question.
2
In the past tense, predicate nouns that are linked to the subject through the forms был/была́/бы́ли can be in either the nominative or instrumental cases. There is a lot of variation. A basic rule of thumb is that the predicate noun will be in the nominative case if it refers to some permanent quality (such as nationality), but in the instrumental case for a ...
2
You are right. "Мой брат -- журналистом." is almost always incorrect and plain wrong.
One exception which I can think about is skipping words when a sentence is repeated:
- Твой брат стал журналистом.
- Мой брат -- журналистом?!
or
Я стал писателем, а мой брат -- журналистом.
Another one is a colloquial form expressing somebody's position: Я здесь ...
1
I'd rather ask why those ending should match. But wait, they do.
The phrase "Я - студентка" (notice the hyphen, it is commonly* required) is a shortcut for: "Я являюсь студенткой". The shortcut would sound weird if the object preserved the form ("Я - студенткой"); thus it switches to "infinitive" neutral form. The hyphen would signal the verb omission.
The ...
1
I think that what you have here is the complex predicate consisting of the helping verb "be" ("есть" : "был" 3rd person Past Tense) and the noun phrase. That is similar to the sentence:
Я - пользователь на сайте StackExchange.
In that sentence 'я' - subject and 'пользователь' - predicate. The verb 'есть' is omitted and replaced with a dash. With the ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible