Verbs followed by nouns in the prepositional case

Hello, dear student! Today we will talk about the prepositional case again and some verbs followed by nouns in the prepositional case. As the topic of cases is one of the most difficult in the Russian language and its grammar, let's analyze in detail how to decline such words correctly or just memorize the verbs to make sentences easier.

There are a lot of verbs in Russian which characterize activity related to communication, cogitative process and speech itself. There are a lot of them but I mention the most common ones:

Разговаривать [Razgavarivat'] - To talk to smb/to speak/to tell

Вспоминать [Vspaminat'] - To remember/ to recall

Писать [Pisat'] - To write

Спорить [Sporit'] - To argue

Узнавать [Uznavat'] - To recognize/ to find out

Друзья обычно разговаривают обо всём на свете [Druzya abychna razgavarivayut aba fsyom na sfete] - Usually friends talk about everything under the Sun.

Разговаривать (о чём?) обо всём - To talk (about what?) about everything (after a verb + preposition "о"/"обо" is always followed by a noun in the prepositional case)

Маша часто вспоминает о своей семье, когда находится далеко от дома [Masha chasta fspaminaet a sfaej sim'ye, kagda nakhoditsya daleko ot doma] - Masha often recalls her family when she is far away from home.

Вспоминает (о чём?) о семье - Recall (what?) a family ( noun "семья" in the prepositional case)

Поэты довольно часто пишут о России [Paekhty davol'na chasta pishut a Rasii] - Poets write about Russia quite often.

Пишут (о чём?) о России - Write (about what?) about Russia (noun "Россия" is in the prepositional case)

Хватит спорить о мелочах! [Khvatit sporit' a milachakh!] - Stop arguing about little things!

Спорить (о чём?) о мелочах - Argue (about what?) about little things (noun "мелочи" is in the prepositional case)

Therefore, when you memorize these verbs and the preposition "о"/"об" (about), you can undoubtedly decline a noun in the prepositional case. However, there are also some nuances - sometimes, depending on a sentence and its meaning, a noun can be in another case, for example:

Разговаривать с мамой [Razgavarivat' s mamaj] - To talk to mum

In this example there is no preposition "о"/"обо" and the noun "мама" is in the instrumental case (с кем? С мамой)