Learn Hardcore Russian: Пейзаж, который я видел, останется в моей памяти навсегда. - The landscape I saw will stay in my memory forever.

который is a relative pronoun introducing the subordinate clause который я видел (“which I saw”). It refers back to пейзаж (masculine, singular) and carries the same gender, number, and case as its role inside the clause. Here it functions as the direct object of видел.

Why is который not declined as которого?

Because пейзаж is inanimate. In Russian, the accusative form of inanimate masculine nouns is identical to the nominative. Since который stands for the object of видеть, it appears in the accusative, which for inanimate nouns looks like the nominative: который.

Why is пейзаж in the nominative case at the beginning? Shouldn’t it be accusative because it’s what “I saw”?

The noun пейзаж is the subject of the main clause (“Пейзаж … останется …”). In the embedded clause “я видел …” the object role is filled by который, not by пейзаж itself. Therefore пейзаж remains in the nominative case as the head of the entire sentence.

What case is used in в моей памяти, and why does память change to памяти?

The preposition в meaning “in” governs the prepositional (locative) case when indicating a static location or state. The noun память (nominative) takes the prepositional ending -и, becoming памяти, to express “in my memory.”

What tense and aspect are reflected by останется, and why not остается?

остаться is the perfective verb meaning “to remain” as a completed future result. Its future form is останется (“will remain”). If you used остается (present tense of imperfective оставаться), it would read “is remaining” or “keeps remaining,” focusing on an ongoing process rather than the single outcome. Here the speaker stresses that the memory will endure permanently, so the perfective future останется is chosen.

What does навсегда mean, and can it be placed elsewhere in the sentence?

навсегда means “forever” or “for ever.” It modifies the verb phrase останется. Russian adverbs are quite flexible in placement. For example:

Навсегда останется в моей памяти пейзаж, который я видел.
Пейзаж останется в моей памяти навсегда.
All these orders are grammatically correct; moving навсегда simply shifts the emphasis.

Why is there a comma before который?

In Russian, a comma is required to introduce a subordinate relative clause with который. It separates the main clause (“Пейзаж”) from the descriptive clause (“который я видел”). Unlike English, where restrictive clauses sometimes omit commas, Russian almost always sets off any который-clause with commas.

Could you change the word order without altering the basic meaning?

Yes. Thanks to Russian’s case system, word order is relatively free and can highlight different elements:

Навсегда в моей памяти останется пейзаж, который я видел. (emphasizes “forever”)
Пейзаж, который я видел, навсегда останется в моей памяти. (keeps the relative clause close to the subject)
The core meaning—“The landscape I saw will remain in my memory forever”—stays the same; you only adjust what you want to emphasize.