Question 1

Why do both the first name Стивена and the surname Спилберга take endings here, even though they are foreign names?

Accepted Answer

Foreign male names and surnames that end in a consonant decline exactly like regular Russian masculine nouns. Because the director is the animate direct object of the verb видели, both the first and last name take the accusative animate ending -а, which looks identical to the genitive case.

Question 2

What would happen to the name endings if we were talking about a female director, like Kathryn Bigelow (Кэтрин Бигелоу)?

Accepted Answer

The name would not change at all. Foreign female names and surnames that end in a consonant (like Кэтрин) or in certain vowels (like -оу) never decline in Russian. They stay in their base form regardless of their grammatical role in the sentence.

Question 3

Why is the word for 'himself' written as самого here?

Accepted Answer

The pronoun сам (himself or in person) must agree in gender, case, and animacy with the noun it emphasizes, which is режиссёра. Since режиссёра is masculine and in the accusative animate case, сам takes the matching accusative animate form самого.

Question 4

Wait, doesn't самого also mean 'the most'? How do I know which meaning applies here?

Accepted Answer

You are thinking of the word самый (the most), which shares the exact same accusative animate form самого. You can tell them apart by context: самый is almost always used with an adjective (like самого известного режиссёра for 'the most famous director'). When it is placed directly before a noun without an adjective, it is a form of сам meaning 'himself' or 'the very'.

Мы видели самого режиссёра Стивена Спилберга.

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