To talk about substituting one thing for another or making an exception, use the prepositions вместо (instead of) and кроме (except / besides). Both require the Genitive case.
Вместо (Instead of)
Use вместо to indicate a substitution or alternative plan.
| Instead of beef, we bought pork. | Вместо говядины мы купили свинину. |
Кроме (Except)
To point out an exception, use кроме. Masculine nouns ending in a soft sign, like алкоголь, change to -я in the Genitive.
| They drink everything except alcohol. | Они пьют всё, кроме алкоголя. |
Dietary Choices and Plurals
These prepositions are highly useful when discussing food preferences or an allergy (аллергия).
Pay attention to how different food nouns behave in the Genitive case:
- гречка (buckwheat) becomes гречки.
- фасоль (beans) is a feminine noun ending in a soft sign, so it becomes фасоли.
- макароны (pasta) is plural, and its Genitive plural form is макарон.
| I want to cook buckwheat instead of pasta. | Я хочу приготовить гречку вместо макарон. |
| We cooked beans instead of meat. | Мы приготовили фасоль вместо мяса. |
| The store has everything except buckwheat. | В магазине есть всё, кроме гречки. |
You can also use кроме with pronouns, such as кроме него (except him). In the following example, notice that the direct object орехи (nuts) is in the Accusative case, while both the reason (из-за) and the exception (кроме) take the Genitive.
| Because of the allergy, nobody orders nuts except him. | Из-за аллергии никто не заказывает орехи, кроме него. |
