Questions & Answers about Вождь не помнил имени героя.
Why is the word for "name" spelled as имени instead of имя?
This is the Genitive case form of имя. As you are learning in this lesson, neuter nouns ending in -мя are special: they insert the suffix -ен- into the stem when they change case (except for the Accusative singular). Therefore, the Genitive of имя becomes имени.
"Name" is the direct object here. Why is it in the Genitive case (имени) instead of the Accusative case (имя)?
Because of the word не! The verb помнить (to remember) normally takes an Accusative direct object. However, when a verb is negated in Russian, its direct object is often pushed into the Genitive case. This is known as the "Genitive of Negation." Without the не, the sentence would use the Accusative: Вождь помнил имя героя.
Why does героя also take a Genitive case ending?
Here, the Genitive case is doing its most standard job: showing possession, which usually translates to "of" in English. Героя is the Genitive form of герой (hero), so имени героя means "the name of the hero".
The noun вождь (chief) ends in a soft sign (-ь). How do we know its gender here?
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