Мы говорили со священником.

We spoke with the priest.

Breakdown of Мы говорили со священником.

• говорить: to speak
• с: with
• мы: we
• священник: the priest

Questions & Answers about Мы говорили со священником.

Why does священник change to священником?

Because after the preposition с / со meaning with, Russian normally uses the instrumental case.

So:

• священник = priest (dictionary form, nominative)
• священником = with a priest / with the priest (instrumental)

This is a very common pattern:

• с другом = with a friend
• с братом = with a brother
• с учителем = with a teacher

So in Мы говорили со священником, the ending -ом shows the instrumental case.

Why is it со священником and not с священником?

Russian sometimes uses со instead of с to make pronunciation easier.

Here, с св... would be awkward because of the consonant cluster. So Russian prefers:

• со священником

This happens in other expressions too, for example:

• со мной = with me
• со всеми = with everyone

So со is not a different meaning from с here; it is just the smoother pronunciation.

What case is священником?