Nonnative Russian speakers sometimes experience difficulties with using cases (ñêëîíåíèå ïàäåæåé) towards personal last names (surnames, family names). Some of them are changable, and some of them are not.

There are certain rules about endings in using cases with male’s and female’s last names. If the last name originated from Russian language, and has a common ending –ov (male), or –ova (female), then endings are changed just like in adjectives.

However, if the name does not look like pure Russian name, and/or in appearance reminds a noun, then only endings of male’s last names are changed just like nouns, and female’s names remained unchanged in every case. Here are a couple of examples:

èìåíèòåëüíûé — nominative: Ã-í Êóïåðìàí; Ã-æà Êóïåðìàí
ðîäèòåëüíûé — genitive: Ã-íà Êóïåðìàíà; Ã-æè Êóïåðìàí
äàòåëüíûé — dative: Ã-íó Êóïåðìàíó; Ã-æå Êóïåðìàí
âèíèòåëüíûé — accusative: Ã-íà Êóïåðìàíà; Ã-æó Êóïåðìàí
òâîðèòåëüíûé — instrumental: Ã-íîì Êóïåðìàíîì; Ã-æîé Êóïåðìàí
ðîäèòåëüíûé – ablative: î Ã-íå Êóïåðìàíå; î Ã-æå Êóïåðìàí

èìåíèòåëüíûé — nominative: Ã-í Êîïåéêà; Ã-æà Êîïåéêà
ðîäèòåëüíûé — genitive: Ã-íà Êîïåéêè; Ã-æè Êîïåéêà
äàòåëüíûé — dative: Ã-íó Êîïåéêå; Ã-æå Êîïåéêà
âèíèòåëüíûé — accusative: Ã-íà Êîïåéêè; Ã-æó Êîïåéêà
òâîðèòåëüíûé — instrumental: Ã-íîì Êîïåéêîé; Ã-æîé Êîïåéêà
ðîäèòåëüíûé – ablative: î Ã-íå Êîïåéêå; î Ã-æå Êîïåéêà