Russian may seem like a frustratingly exotic language, but in many ways it's actually quite similar to English. This lesson provides an overview of the subject in Russian, including subject nouns and pronouns of the nominative case.
In English, we don't exactly form cases. However, most languages do so, and learning them are of critical importance. The subject in Russian takes the nominative case, which makes things quite easy: in any dictionary, all nouns are found already in the nominative case, functioning as a “base case” from which all other cases are conjugated.
The only time you need to change anything in the subject is when the noun is in the plural:
For masculine nouns, if the word ends in either a consonant or а, simply add or replace ы respectively, and replace й or ь (i.e. any soft consonants) with и. Examples: стол => столы, карандаш => карандашй, мужчйна => мужчйны.
For feminine nouns, replace а with ы, or я or ь (again, any soft consonants) with и. Examples: кийга => кийгы, женщина => женщины
For neuter nouns, replace о with а, and those few neuter nouns that don't instead replace e with я. Examples: слово => слова, село => села, поле => поля
However, when pluralizing nouns, keep in mind some of the basic spelling rules of Russian. Also, keep in mind that some plurals are irregular, contradicting the above general rules, and just need to be memorized. Don't forget to decline any associated adjectives and conjugate any verbs to the correct pro/noun gender and number.
Russian subject pronouns differ a little from English, but if you are familiar with other languages such as French or German, then it will seem little different. Otherwise, they function almost precisely as they do in English in replacing a normal subject noun.
Я – I
Ты – You (informal)
Он – He, it (masculine)
Оиа – She, it (feminine)
Оио – It (neuter)
Мы – We
Вы – You (formal or plural)
Они – They
An example of each:
Я работаю - I work.
Ты работаешь – You (familiar) work.
Он/Она/Оно работает He/She/It works.
Мы работаем – We work.
Вы работаете – You (plural, formal) work.
Они работают – They work.
The “you plural” in particular is often difficult for speakers of English to grasp. Think of it like a “y'all”. The “you formal”, similarly, may be thought of like a “you sir” or “you ma'am”, for any situation that calls for non-casual use, like in talking to teachers or to acquaintances.
Also, many speakers of English get tripped up on all the ways to say “it”. Always make sure to use the correctly gendered pronoun. It may seem strange to refer to a house with the same pronoun that you refer to your Uncle Larry, but that's just how Russian and most other western languages work: proper and improper nouns alike share the same pronouns.