Russian grammar: noun declensions
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Check the Russian grammar: cases page to brush up on what the cases are used for.
Words found in a dictionary are always given in the Nominative Case, the base form. From this form you can tell the gender of a Russian noun thusly:
- Nouns ending in a consonant, or a й are always Masculine.
- Nouns ending in а or я are always Feminine.
- Nouns ending in soft sign ь can be either Masculine or Feminine.
- Nouns ending in o or e are always Neuter.
Animate and Inanimate Objects:
- Masculine Nouns have 2 forms of endings in the Accusative Singular. One for Animate objects, and another for Inanimate objects.
- Masculine and Feminine Plurals also differentiate between Animate and Inanimate objects in the Accusative.
- The Animate Accusative endings are simply the normal Genitive endings.
The Plural endings are pretty much identical, except for the Genitives and the Animate / Inanimate aspects.
The Masculine and Neuter endings are pretty much the same, except for the Nominatives and Accusatives.
Notice that in the Feminine Plural Genitive, Animate Accusative and Genitive, and Neuter Plural Genitive , a "zero" ending is the Noun's stem without the a of the Base form (Nominative Singular.)
"Umbrella" refers to the umbrella spelling rule found in the Russian alphabet page.
"Zero" refers no ending added to the stem.
Don't let the charts overwhelm you :)
The formation of Genitive Plural in Russian is complicated. More details can be found here.
There are also several groups of nouns with their own declension peculiarities (mainly in the formation of the plurals). These are described here.
Nouns
Masculine Singular
| "table" | "boy" | "museum" | "piano" | ||
| Case | Basic ending | regular | Umbrella | -й | -ь |
| Nominative | zero | стол | мальчик | музей | портфель |
| Accusative Inan. | zero | стол | музей | портфель | |
| Accusative Anim. | -а | мальчика | |||
| Genitive | -а | стола | мальчика | музея | портфеля |
| Prepositional | -е | столе | мальчике | музее | портфеле |
| Dative | -у | столу | мальчику | музею | портфелю |
| Instrumental | -ом | столом | мальчиком | музеем | портфелем |
Masculine Plural
| "tables" | "boys" | "museums" | "pianos" | ||
| Case | Basic ending | regular | Umbrella | -й | -ь |
| Nominative | -ы | столы | мальчики | музеи | портфели |
| Accusative Inan. | -ы | столы | музеи | портфели | |
| Accusative Anim. | -ов | мальчиков | |||
| Genitive | -ов | столов | мальчиков | музеев | портфелей |
| Prepositional | -ах | столах | мальчиках | музеях | портфелях |
| Dative | -ам | столам | мальчикам | музеям | портфелям |
| Instrumental | -ами | столами | мальчиками | музеями | портфелями |
Feminine Singular
| "newspaper" | "colleague" | "week" | "lecture" | "thing" | ||
| Case | Basic ending | regular | Umbrella | -я | -ия | -ь |
| Nominative | -а | газета | коллега | неделя | лекция | вещь |
| Accusative | -у | газету | коллегу | неделю | лекцию | вещь |
| Genitive | -ы | газеты | коллеги | недели | лекции | вещи |
| Prepositional | -е | газете | коллеге | неделе | лекции | вещи |
| Dative | -е | газете | коллеге | неделе | лекции | вещи |
| Instrumental | -ой | газетой | коллегой | неделей | лекцией | вещью |
Feminine Plural
| "newspapers" | "colleagues" | "weeks" | "lectures" | "things" | ||
| Case | Basic ending | regular | Umbrella | -я | -ия | -ь |
| Nominative | -ы | газеты | коллеги | недели | лекции | вещи |
| Accusative Inan. | -ы | газеты | недели | лекции | вещи | |
| Accusative Anim. | -zero | коллег | ||||
| Genitive | -zero | газет | коллег | недель | лекций | вещей |
| Prepositional | -ах | газетах | коллегах | неделях | лекциях | вещах |
| Dative | -ам | газетам | коллегам | неделям | лекциям | вещам |
| Instrumental | -ами | газетами | коллегами | неделями | лекциями | вещами |
Neuter Singular
| "window" | "sea" | "building" | ||
| Case | Basic ending | hard | -e | -ие |
| Nominative | -о | окно | море | здание |
| Accusative | -о | окно | море | здание |
| Genitive | -а | окна | моря | здания |
| Prepositional | -е | окне | море | здании |
| Dative | -у | окну | морю | зданию |
| Instrumental | -ом | окном | морем | зданием |
Neuter Plural
| "windows" | "seas" | "buildings" | ||
| Case | Basic ending | hard | -e | -ие |
| Nominative | -а | окна | моря | здания |
| Accusative | -а | окна | моря | здания |
| Genitive | zero | окон | морей | зданий |
| Prepositional | -ах | окнах | морях | зданиях |
| Dative | -ам | окнам | морям | зданиям |
| Instrumental | -ами | окнами | морями | зданиями |
Irregular Nouns singular
| "way/ journey" | "mother" | "daughter" | "name" | "time" | |
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Feminine | Neuter | Neuter |
| Nominative | путь | мать | дочь | имя | время |
| Accusative | путь | мать | дочь | имя | время |
| Genitive | пути | матери | дочери | имени | времени |
| Prepositional | пути | матери | дочери | имени | времени |
| Dative | пути | матери | дочери | имени | времени |
| Instrumental | путём | матерью | дочерью | именем | временем |
Irregular Nouns plural
| "ways/ journeys" | "mothers" | "daughters" | "names" | "times" | |
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Feminine | Neuter | Neuter |
| Nominative | пути | матери | дочери | имена | времена |
| Accusative | пути | матерей | дочерей | имена | времена |
| Genitive | путей | матерей | дочерей | имён | времён |
| Prepositional | путях | матерях | дочерях | именях | временях |
| Dative | путям | матерям | дочерям | именам | временам |
| Instrumental | путями | матерями | дочерями ( or дочерьми) |
именами | временами |
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