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### The Indefinite Suffix: -то

In Russian, you can add the suffix **-то** to question words to talk about unknown but *specific* people, things, places, or reasons. You use **-то** when you know that an event happened or someone exists, but you don't know exactly who or what it was.

### Кто-то and Что-то

Adding **-то** to **кто** (who) creates **кто-то** (someone). Adding it to **что** (what) creates **что-то** (something). These behave exactly like the base question words and change cases depending on their role in the sentence.

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### Почему-то: For some reason

You can also attach **-то** to question adverbs. For example, **почему** (why) becomes **почему-то** (for some reason).

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### Какой-то: Some kind of

To say "some" or "some kind of" before a noun, use **какой-то**. Because it is based on the adjective **какой**, it changes its gender, number, and case to match the noun it describes.

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### Где-то and Куда-то: Somewhere

Just as **где** and **куда** distinguish between location and destination, so do their indefinite forms:

- **где-то** means "somewhere" (where an action happens or a thing is located).
- **куда-то** means "somewhere" (the destination of a movement).

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### Когда-то: Once

Finally, adding **-то** to **когда** (when) gives you **когда-то**. This translates to "once," "formerly," or "at some time" in the past.

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Specific indefinite pronouns (-то)

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)

Professions in the instrumental case

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)

Non-specific indefinite pronouns (-нибудь)

Negative pronouns (никто / ничто)

Numbers 11 to 20

Tens to 100

Question	Answer
someone	кто-то
Someone opened the door.	Кто-то открыл дверь.
something	что-то
to happen	случиться
Something happened at night.	Что-то случилось ночью.
strange	странный
noise	шум
Did someone hear a strange noise?	Кто-то слышал странный шум?
for some reason	почему-то
For some reason, we had an argument.	Мы почему-то поссорились.
some kind of	какой-то
sound	звук
We heard some strange sound.	Мы слышали какой-то странный звук.
somewhere	где-то
The sound was somewhere nearby.	Звук был где-то недалеко.
somewhere (destination)	куда-то
He went somewhere.	Он куда-то пошёл.
This person was looking for something.	Этот человек что-то искал.
For some reason, it became cold.	Почему-то стало холодно.
once	когда-то
secret	тайна
Once, she had a secret.	Когда-то у неё была тайна.
He has some secret.	У него есть какая-то тайна.
I already saw him somewhere.	Я уже где-то его видел.
For some reason, he didn't answer.	Почему-то он не ответил.
Once there was a beautiful park here, and then something happened.	Когда-то здесь был красивый парк, а потом что-то случилось.
At night there was a noise, and my brother went somewhere.	Ночью был шум, и мой брат куда-то пошёл.
someone's (чей-то, чья-то, чьё-то, чьи-то)	чей-то
This is someone's bag.	Это чья-то сумка.
There is someone's telephone on the table.	На столе чей-то телефон.

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