Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк.

Russian has several verbs that translate as to put, but they’re used in different situations.

• класть / положить = to put/lay something somewhere (general verb for placing objects)
  • кладу is 1st person singular, present tense, imperfective: я кладу = I am putting / I put (regularly).
  • положу is 1st person singular, future tense, perfective: я положу = I will put (once).
• ставить / поставить is usually to put in an upright/standing position (e.g. put a bottle on the table).

Putting change into a wallet is a normal “put/place” action that doesn’t focus on vertical position, so класть / положить is the natural choice.

So:

• Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк. – I’m putting change into my wallet (now / habitually).
• Я положу мелочь в кошелёк. – I will put the change into my wallet (single future action).

The choice here is about case after the preposition в:

• в + accusative = motion into / to a place
• в + prepositional = location in / inside a place

In this sentence there is movement of the change into the wallet, so you use accusative:

• кошелёк (nominative)
• в кошелёк (accusative, same form for masculine inanimate)

Compare:

• Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк. – I’m putting change into the wallet.
• Мелочь в кошельке. – The change is in the wallet. (prepositional: в кошельке)

In Russian, мелочь here is a collective singular noun:

• мелочь (singular) means loose change / small coins as a mass.
  • У тебя есть мелочь? – Do you have any change?
  • Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк. – I’m putting (some) change into my wallet.

There is a plural:

• мелочи (plural) – but that more often means little things / trifles (non-money meaning), or separate “small things”.

So for money, everyday Russian usually uses singular: мелочь to mean “change” as a whole, similar to “money” in English (also formally singular).

Мелочь is:

• Gender: feminine
• Nominative singular: мелочь
• Accusative singular (inanimate): мелочь (same form)

In Russian, for inanimate feminine nouns ending in -ь, the accusative singular = nominative singular.

In this sentence, мелочь is the direct object of the verb кладу, so it should be in the accusative case. Because it’s inanimate and feminine with -ь, the form doesn’t change:

• Nominative: мелочь лежит на столе. – The change is lying on the table.
• Accusative: Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк. – I’m putting the change into the wallet.

Same visible form in both cases.

Класть is an irregular verb. Its stem changes when conjugated:

• Infinitive: класть
• 1st person singular: я кладу
• 2nd person singular: ты кладёшь
• 3rd person singular: он/она кладёт
• 1st person plural: мы кладём
• 2nd person plural: вы кладёте
• 3rd person plural: они кладут

So:

• The stem класть- changes to клад- in most present-tense forms.
• The -с- disappears in conjugation.
• The endings are like other -ть → -ду/-дёшь type verbs (e.g. нести → несу, несёшь).

You just have to learn the conjugation of класть as a pattern.

Я кладу is present tense, imperfective. It can mean:

• I’m putting (right now).
• I put (regularly, as a habit).

To talk about the future, you usually choose the perfective partner:

• Я положу мелочь в кошелёк.
  = I will put the change into my wallet (one-time future action).

Or, if you want to stress repeated / long-lasting future actions, you use the imperfective future:

• Я буду класть мелочь в кошелёк.
  = I will be putting / I will (regularly) put change into my wallet.

So:

• кладу – present, imperfective.
• положу – simple future, perfective (one completed act).
• буду класть – future, imperfective (process/habit).

Key points:

1. кошелёк

   • Standard modern word for a wallet or coin purse.
   • Often used for a small wallet, especially one for money (notes + coins).

2. бумажник

   • Literally from бумага (paper).
   • Traditionally: a wallet for paper money (banknotes).
   • Nowadays also just “wallet”, usually for cards and cash, often a bit larger/flat.

3. кошелек / кошелок (spelling with е)

   • In modern standard spelling, it should be кошелёк (with ё).
   • In many texts, ё is often written as е, so you see кошелек but it’s pronounced кошелёк.
   • кошелок is usually either a misspelling or an older/rare variant; in normal modern usage, stick to кошелёк.

In your sentence, кошелёк is the normal, natural choice.

Russian distinguishes strongly between:

• в = into / inside
• на = onto / on (a surface)

You put something inside a container ⇒ в + accusative:

• класть мелочь в кошелёк – to put change into the wallet.
• класть книгу в сумку – to put a book in the bag.

You put something onto a surface ⇒ на + accusative:

• класть книгу на стол – to put a book on the table.
• класть деньги на счёт – to put money into an account (literally “onto the account”, but logically it’s a “target/surface”).

Here, a wallet is treated as a container, so Russian uses в.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible, but it changes emphasis, not the basic grammar.

Neutral, most common:

• Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк. – Normal, unmarked statement.

Other possible orders:

• Я мелочь кладу в кошелёк. – Emphasis slightly on мелочь (what you’re putting).
• Мелочь я кладу в кошелёк. – Stronger emphasis on мелочь (as opposed to something else).
• В кошелёк я кладу мелочь. – Emphasizes the place: Into the wallet I’m putting the change.

All of these are grammatically correct; the pronoun я often stays near the verb, but can also move if you want some special emphasis. For a learner, Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк is the safest, most neutral ordering.

Yes, a few pronunciation points:

1. мелочь

   • Stress on the first syllable: МЕ-лочь.
   • е is pronounced like [mʲe].
   • The final чь is like a soft ch
     • palatal sign, approximately [mʲelʲət͡ɕ] in connected speech, often sounding a bit like “mye-lach’”.
   • Don’t pronounce the ь as a separate sound; it just softens the consonant.

2. кошелёк

   • Stress on ё: ко-ше-ЛЁК.
   • ё is always stressed and pronounced yo: [jo].
   • Even if it’s written кошелек (with е), it’s pronounced кошелёк: [kəʂɪˈlʲok].
   • The ш is hard (not “shch”), and к at the end is a normal hard k.

Putting it all together:

• Я кладу мелочь в кошелёк. ≈ [ja klɐˈdu ˈmʲelʲət͡ɕ f kəʂɪˈlʲok] in careful pronunciation.