Question 1

Why is it сыру instead of the normal genitive сыра?

Accepted Answer

The word сыру is in the partitive genitive (often called the second genitive). Some masculine mass nouns, like сыр, чай, and сахар, can take an -у or -ю ending instead of -а or -я when talking about a specific quantity or a part of a whole (like a piece or a cup).

Question 2

Do I have to say сыру here, or is сыра okay too?

Accepted Answer

You can absolutely use the regular genitive сыра. In fact, in modern Russian, кусок сыра is more common. The -у partitive ending is slowly fading from the language and mostly survives in set phrases like чашка чаю (a cup of tea) or to add a slightly traditional flavor when talking about portions.

Question 3

Why does столовой look like an adjective instead of a normal noun?

Accepted Answer

Because столовая is an adjective that turned into a noun! It originally meant dining (from стол, table), as in a dining room, but now functions as the noun for cafeteria. Since it is structurally an adjective, it takes feminine adjective endings, which is why it becomes в столовой in the prepositional case.

Question 4

Why didn't большой кусок change its ending since it is the direct object of what was bought?

Accepted Answer

It actually is in the accusative case, but it looks identical to the nominative! For masculine inanimate nouns like кусок (piece) and their modifying adjectives like большой, the accusative form is exactly the same as their basic dictionary form.

В столовой я купил большой кусок сыру.

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