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When talking about a person's profession or career path, use the Instrumental case. This happens most often with the verbs **быть** (to be) and **стать** (to become).

To form the Instrumental case for professions, change the noun ending:
- Nouns ending in a hard consonant add **-ом**. (Most professions fall here, like **юрист** or **дизайнер**).
- Nouns ending in a soft sign (**-ь**) replace it with **-ем** (like **водитель**).
- Nouns ending in **-а** replace it with **-ой** (like **медсестра**).

Keep in mind that most profession words in Russian are grammatically masculine. They keep their masculine endings even when referring to a woman.

### Becoming a Professional

To say someone wants or decides to enter a profession, use **стать** (to become) followed by the Instrumental case.

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### Past Professions

To say what someone used to be, use the past tense of **быть** (**был**, **была**, **были**) with the Instrumental case.

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Professions in the instrumental case

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

predicative

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative (это)

Noun gender

Soft-sign nouns (-ь)

Subject pronouns (я, ты, он...)

Yes/no questions (да / нет)

Basic interrogatives (кто / что)

Basic negation (не)

Coordinating conjunctions (и / а)

Possessive pronouns (мой, твой, наш, ваш)

Demonstrative pronouns (этот, эта, это)

Adjective agreement

Which and whose (какой, чей)

First conjugation verbs, singular (-ать)

First conjugation verbs, plural (-ать)

Second conjugation verbs (-ить)

Irregular present tense verbs

Adverbs of manner (как, очень)

Locations in prepositional case (в / на)

Prepositional case modifiers (-ом, -ой)

Topics of speech (о, об)

Direct objects (-у, -ю)

Direct object pronouns (меня, тебя)

Verbs of motion (идти, ехать)

Destination (куда, в, на)

Plural nouns (-ы, -и, -а, -я)

Irregular plural nouns (друзья, дети)

Plural adjectives and pronouns (-ые, -ие)

Numbers 1 to 10 (один, два, три)

Possession with pronouns (у меня есть)

Possession with nouns (-а, -я, -ы, -и)

Genitive of negation (нет)

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Quantities with mass nouns (сколько, много, мало)

Animate direct objects

The past tense of to be (был, была, было, были)

Regular past tense verbs

Time sequence expressions (вчера, завтра, раньше, потом)

Verb aspect in the past tense

Dative personal pronouns (мне, тебе, ему)

Expressing likes (нравится, нравятся)

Absence (нет)

Expressing age (год, года, лет)

Indirect objects (-у, -ю, -е)

Modal verbs (хотеть, мочь)

Reason and contrast (поэтому, но)

Double negation (ничего, никогда)

Reflexive verbs (-ся, -сь)

Polite requests and instructions (-ите, -йте)

Days of the week (в + Accusative)

Compound future tense (буду...)

Simple future tense

Accompaniment (с)

Multidirectional verbs of motion (ходить, ездить)

Greetings and goodbyes (здравствуйте, привет)

Thank you and sorry (спасибо, извините)

Countries and languages (русский, английский)

Meeting people (меня зовут, как дела)

Public transport (трамвай, остановка)

Left, right and the compass (слева, справа)

Places in the city (цирк, зоопарк)

Fruit and vegetables (помидор, огурец)

Post and travel (открытка, чемодан)

Family and relatives (внук, родственник)

Jobs and professions (инженер, продавец)

Sport and games (футбол, теннис)

Describing people (умный, сильный)

Health and the body (болен, здоровье)

The months of the year (январь, февраль)

Accusative feminine and inanimate adjectives (-ую, -юю)

Accusative animate masculine adjectives (-ого, -его)

Short-form adjectives (готов, занят)

Personal obligation (должен, должна)

Genitive singular adjectives and possessives

Prepositions of absence and purpose (без, для)

Dative singular adjectives and possessives

Impersonal states (мне холодно)

Impersonal obligation (надо, нужно)

Impersonal permission (можно / нельзя)

Instrumental adjectives and pronouns

Reciprocal verbs (с + Instrumental)

Reflexive possessive pronouns (свой)

Reflexive pronouns (себя)

Specific indefinite pronouns (-то)

Non-specific indefinite pronouns (-нибудь)

Negative pronouns (никто / ничто)

Numbers 11 to 20

Tens to 100

Question	Answer
to become	стать
programmer	программист
My brother wants to become a programmer.	Мой брат хочет стать программистом.
Was your friend a programmer?	Твой друг был программистом?
to decide (perfective)	решить
designer	дизайнер
Anna decided to become a designer.	Анна решила стать дизайнером.
Our daughter does not want to be a designer.	Наша дочь не хочет быть дизайнером.
lawyer	юрист
Our son must become a lawyer.	Наш сын должен стать юристом.
Ivan used to be a lawyer.	Раньше Иван был юристом.
architect	архитектор
My grandfather was an architect.	Мой дедушка был архитектором.
He always wanted to become an architect.	Он всегда хотел стать архитектором.
cook	повар
My mom was a cook in a famous restaurant.	Моя мама была поваром в известном ресторане.
My uncle decided to become a cook because he loves to cook.	Мой дядя решил стать поваром, потому что любит готовить.
driver	водитель
Our neighbor was a driver for a long time.	Наш сосед долго был водителем.
Why do you want to become a driver?	Почему ты хочешь стать водителем?
economist	экономист
Anna was an economist at a factory.	Анна была экономистом на заводе.
My younger sister wants to become an economist.	Моя младшая сестра хочет стать экономистом.
accountant	бухгалтер
My aunt was an accountant in a bank.	Моя тётя была бухгалтером в банке.
Why must she become an accountant?	Почему она должна стать бухгалтером?
nurse	медсестра
My grandmother used to be a nurse.	Раньше моя бабушка была медсестрой.
This girl wants to become a nurse in a hospital.	Эта девочка хочет стать медсестрой в больнице.