Learn Hardcore Russian: Я понял правило.

In Russian, only the first word of a sentence is capitalized. Unlike English, the pronoun я (I) does not get a capital letter every time it appears—here it’s Я simply because it starts the sentence.

What case is правило in, and why doesn’t it change its ending?

Правило is the direct object of the verb понял, so it’s in the accusative case. Since правило is a neuter noun, its accusative singular form is identical to the nominative singular (правило), which is why you don’t see any visible change.

What does the ending -л in понял indicate?

The -л ending marks the past tense, masculine singular of the perfective verb понять (to understand). In Russian past forms, verbs agree in gender and number—not person—so понял means “I (male) understood” or “he understood.”

How would this sentence change if a woman said it?

A female speaker would use the feminine past ending -ла: Я поняла правило. Only the verb form changes gender; the noun правило remains neuter. For “we understood,” you’d say Мы поняли правило (plural past).

What’s the difference between and ?