Advanced Case Government: The Genitive
In Russian, the Genitive case isn't just for showing possession or absence. Certain verbs—especially those dealing with reaching a goal, losing something, or expressing concern—require their target to be in the Genitive case.
Striving and Achieving
The verb добиваться (imperfective) means to strive for or seek something, while добиться (perfective) means to successfully achieve it. The goal takes the Genitive case.
| Our manager strove for authority for a long time. | Наш менеджер долго добивался авторитета. |
| How to achieve independence in business? | Как добиться независимости в бизнесе? |
Deprivation and Loss
The verbs лишаться (imperfective) and лишиться (perfective) mean to be deprived of or to lose something intangible, like status or influence. The thing being lost also takes the Genitive.
| Because of a mistake, the director lost his status. | Из-за ошибки директор лишился статуса. |
| One must not lose influence in the company. | Нельзя лишаться влияния в компании. |
Concerning and Fearing
Two other common reflexive verbs follow this Genitive pattern in business contexts: касаться (to concern, to touch upon) and опасаться (to fear, to be wary of).
| This issue does not concern my authority. | Этот вопрос не касается моего авторитета. |
| They feared the independence of the new branch. | Они опасались независимости нового филиала. |
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