Case endings for plural nouns. Declension of nouns in the plural. Features and Examples

Most masculine nouns of the 1st declension in the nominative plural are characterized by the main ending -ы/-и. This ending has:

1) nouns containing more than one syllable, of which the last one is stressed (in the nominative singular case): argument, boxer, vernissage, veteran, leader, debutant, defus, kurgan, motel, trainee, psychic, etc. The exceptions are two words: sleeve - sleeves and cuff - cuffs;

2) a considerable number of monosyllabic nouns with constant stress in case forms (singular): ball - balls, bass - basses, fight - boú, gol - goals, fat - fats, club - puffs (smoke), garden - gardens, soup - soups, cheese - cheeses; gene - genes, gram - grams, load - weights, probe - probes, club - clubs (association of people); varnish - varnishes, elevator - elevators, warehouse - warehouses, syllable - syllables, view - views, cake - cakes, toast - toasts, pound - pounds, chef - chefs and some. etc.

Note. A mistake, and a fairly common one, is the formation of the mopmá form.

The ending -ы also has the vast majority of borrowed words ending in -tor, -sor (such as vector, compressor, lecturer). The exceptions are the nouns director, doctor, professor, which form the nominative plural in -a: directorá, doctorá, professorá. A few words - the animate inspector, instructor, conductor (about a person), proofreader, editor, inanimate spotlight, sector, tractor (the rest of the inanimate -tor, -sor have the ending -s) have variant, stylistically equal forms: instructors and instructors, spotlights and spotlights, etc.

At the same time, a significant part of nouns is characterized by the form ending in -a as normative, i.e. the only one possible from the point of view of literary norms. Forms in -á/-я (percussive) have:

1) many monosyllabic nouns: side (but in phraseological units: hands on hips), century (but in phraseological units: live forever, forever, forever and ever), top (top in the meaning of 'lifting folding' carriage roof), eye, house, food, edge, forest, ravine, meadow, fur (in the meaning of 'cured skins' or 'products made from them'), horn, clan (in the meaning of 'species, type of army or weapon') , growth, snow, account (in the meaning of `money document`, `category of financial transaction`), current (in the meaning of `place of threshing`, `place of melting`), tone (in the meaning of `color, shade of color`), bread ( in the meaning of 'cereal'), stable, color (as the color of something), silk (silk in the meaning of 'product').

The ending -я (with an increasing suffix -j- or ovj-) has the nouns tooth, son-in-law, wedge, stake, lump, cry (in the meaning of “a device for carrying heavy loads”, “a point mounted on a pole”), godfather, husband ( in the meaning of 'a married man in relation to his wife');

2) many nouns with more than one syllable with constant stress on the first syllable (in singular forms): address (as a designation of place of residence), shore, bor (as part of a chimney), ber, buffer, fan, bill, monogram, skewer, evening, city, voice, doctor, hollow, huntsman, gutter, pearls (as products), millstone, zakrom, cutter, cover, clover (as “the crops of this culture”), bell, body (in all meanings except “torso”) and `typographic font`), dome, coachman, camp (in all meanings except `socio-political group`), ploughshare, master, number, image (in the meaning of `icon`), okorok, okrug, order (as a reward) , order (in the meaning of `document`), island, vacation, sail, passport, ash, cook, train, offal, cellar, belt, wire, pass (in the meaning of `document`), sugar (sugar - in special use in the meaning `varieties of this substance`), terem, grouse, poplar, torbas, tyes, cold (cold in the meaning of `cold weather period`), khutor, skull, best man, ramrod, cadencher (in the meaning of `graduate of a military school in pre-revolutionary Russia` and `volunteer non-commissioned officer` in the Russian army), anchor and some. etc.

Note. The forms found in written and oral speech in -a from the following words do not meet the literary norm: age, hair, choice, grazing, exit, admission, cone, lapel, lecturer, month, profile, sniper, rector, transport, coach, circle.

The ending -я (with the increasing suffix -j-) has the nouns ear, rim, rein (`belt for controlling a horse`).

Several dozen nouns have variant forms in -ы/-и and -á/-я. Some of these nouns are commonly used words, the variant forms of which are normative and stylistically equivalent. These include: bunker, heap, pennant, glider, jumper, asp, inspector, instructor, jacket, corrector, cruiser, pretzel (in phraseology only the -i form is used: to write out pretzel), shred, flap, lighter, seine, gadfly , whirlpool, order (as an architectural term), baker, clerk, pole, mine (the search form is preferable), bailiff, handwriting, searchlight, poodle, report (report form is preferable), editor, mouthpiece, sweater, sector, scooter, locksmith, sable (meaning `fur, fur products` only sable), sauce, slipway, report card, tenor, turner, tractor, tumbler, truffle, non-commissioned officer, paramedic, courier, wing, weather vane, workshop, skipper, schnitzel, stack, stamp , plug, storm, sharpie, hawk.

A significant group consists of words (commonly used and assigned to one or another terminology), in which variant forms in -а/-я characterize professional speech (mechanics, technicians, sailors, etc.). Such forms are actively used from nouns, which are the names of mechanisms (and their parts), various kinds of devices, tools, equipment, etc. (valve - valve, grader - grader, throttle - throttle, dowel - dowel, tanker - tanker, etc.), names of professions, specialties, positions (pilot - pilot, navigator - navigator, etc.).

The number of words whose variant forms are characteristic of poetic, sublime speech is insignificant. Such variant forms include snow, wind, thunder, leaves (plants), men, sons, poplars. Compare, for example: “Through these simple autumn clearings, wild winds are blowing” (R. Kaz.); “I love you, My swinging winds” (A. Prokofiev); “As if creeping up on a quiet horizon, A cloud spread out. Lightning. Thunder. On the field there is a spruce tree with its green umbrella, Beyond the field - somewhere far away - there are houses” (A. Reshetov); “Ask those soldiers who lie under the birch trees, and let their sons tell you whether the Russians want war” (Eut.); “And spring whistles and mutters. Poplars are flooded knee-deep. Maples are awakening from sleep, So that the leaves flutter like butterflies” (Sick.).

Note. Forms ending in -а/-я and -ы/-и are not stylistic variants if they refer to homonyms or different meanings of a word. For example: teeth (in a saw) and teeth (in a person, animal); roots (`roots and leaves used in lishu') and roots (part of a plant; mathematical term); husbands (`men in relation to wives`) and husbands (`statesmen`), etc.

Rakhmanova L.I., Suzdaltseva V.N. Modern Russian language. - M, 1997.

Nominative plural endings for nouns

Setting the correct ending for masculine nominative plural nouns often causes difficulty. Selecting ending type (-ы/-и or -а/-я ) is determined by the following factors:

- number of syllables in a word and stress location

a) Monosyllabic words more often form forms in -and I : snow - snow, house - houses, forest - forests, variety - varieties .

b) Monosyllabic words can also have endings - s/-s : court - courts, soup - soups, knife - knives, cat - cats . Frequent speech errors are caused by the word cake . The plural of this word is cakes .

c) Two-syllable words with stress on the 1st syllable usually have an ending -and I : evening - evenings, passport - passports, voice - voices, bill - bills.

d) Polysyllabic words with emphasis on the 2nd, 3rd, etc. syllables usually form forms on -s/-s : pharmacist - pharmacists, librarian - librarians, computer - computers, engineer - engineers.

Please note that the emphasis in these singular and plural forms is kept in the same place.

Exceptions: cuff - cuffs, sleeve - sleeves .

- origin of the word and its structural elements

a) Words with elements -er/-er have an ending - s/-s : actor - actors, driver - drivers, director - directors, conductor - conductors, etc. These are words of French origin.

b) Words of Latin origin with the element - torus – inanimate (objects) have the ending -ы: reflectors, detectors, refrigerators, capacitors .

c) Words with -tor animate (persons) have an ending -s : authors, lecturers, rectors, designers and ending -A : doctor, director, professor .

- difference in the meaning of words

In some cases the end -s And -A serve to distinguish the meaning of a word:

images (artistic) – image (icons);
farewell (upon departure) – wires (electric);
flowers (plants) - colors (color);
omissions (oversights) – passes (documentation);
belts (geographical) – belts (clothes), etc.

There are normative variant forms (i.e. both forms are correct):

bunkers – bunkers
years - years
instructors - instructors
valves – valves (technical term)
tunics - tunics
spotlights – spotlights
sectors – sectors
workshops - workshops

The most frequently used words with one and the other type of ending.

Forms on -i/-s

Forms on -and I

Genitive plural endings

When choosing an ending, you should be guided by the following rules:

Masculine

1. All names of paired items have a zero ending: shoe, boot, stocking, trousers, shoulder straps, scissors .

Exception: socks .

2. The names of nationalities are subject to the following rules:

a) words with a base on -n, -r have null endings: Englishmen, Armenians, Georgians, Lezgins, Ossetians, Romanians, Turkmens, Gypsies, Bashkirs, Bulgarians.

Exception: blacks .

b) words with stems starting from other letters have endings -s : Kirghiz, Kalmyks, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Mongols, Yakuts.

Exception: Turk, Buryat .

3. The names of military groups and former branches of the military require the following endings:

a) without numerals they have a zero ending: partisan, soldier, grenadier, midshipman, hussar, dragoon, lancer;

b) the previous types of troops with numerals have endings -s : 10 hussars, 5 midshipmen, 6 hussars, 7 lancers.

4. The names of units of measurement vary:

A) ampere, watt, gram, kilogram, x-ray, coulomb ;

b) amperes, watts, grams, kilograms, roentgens, coulombs .

5. The names of the "vegetables - fruits" group have endings -s : oranges, tangerines, bananas, tomatoes, eggplants.

Feminine

1. Nouns on -lya, -nya have a null ending: waffles, roofs, gossip, nannies, cherries, apple trees .

2. Some nouns have an ending -to her : candles, rakes, sheets .

There are also variant forms: The game is worth the candle , But: There are no candles in the house . However, the word candle is used here in literal and figurative (phraseological) meanings (indicate which).

3. Nouns ending in -ia -th : auditoriums, academies, conservatories.

Neuter gender

1. A number of names have a zero ending: apples, shoulders, saucers of towels, mirrors .

Pay attention to the shape of the shoulders ( Dress with and without shoulders!)

2. Forms on -th : coasts, outbacks, drugs .

3. There are also forms on -ev : mouths, swamps, upper reaches, lower reaches .

Nouns that are always used only in the plural (without gender) form the genitive case using different types of endings:

zero: twilight; days ;

-s : frost ;

-to her : everyday life, nursery, sleigh .

Difficult plural forms of nouns

Among the forms of nouns, the formation of which may be associated with certain difficulties, include the plural forms of the nominative case ( directors or directors, valves or valve?) and the plural forms of the genitive case of some nouns ( five grams And five grams, five oranges or five orange?)

1. Plural forms of the nominative case of nouns: directors or directors?

The nominative plural form of nouns is checked in dictionary order (according to the dictionary). See section "Word Check" on our portal. Please note: searching for a word in dictionaries is carried out using the initial form (nominative case, singular)!

The dictionary entry is read as follows: if the entry does not specifically indicate the plural form (mark pl.), then to form the nominative plural, the ending is used -And or -s. If a different ending is required (or options are acceptable), then a note is placed: pl. -A. For example:

In the modern Russian literary language, variants fluctuate in the form named after. p.m. hours, number over 300 words. The center of the spread of inflexion -and I) are the areas of vernacular and professional language. In this regard, the forms on -and I) often have a colloquial or professional connotation: contract, mechanic, turner. The forms are on -s(s) more neutral and for most words meet the traditional norms of the literary language. However, in some cases the forms on -and I) have already replaced forms with -s(s).

In addition, you can remember a number of patterns that make it easier to choose the inflection (ending) of the nominative plural:

Declined neuter nouns, the initial form of which ends in -KO, have an unstressed plural inflection. h. them. P. -And (faces, feathers, apples). The exception is nouns with stressed plural endings. h.: troops And clouds.

The remaining neuter nouns are in the plural form. h. accept the ending -and I): swamps, fields, seas, windows.

Form on -and I for some words it may be the only or predominant: side - sides (sides only in phraseological combination hands on hips); century - centuries (eyelids only in phraseological combinations for once, forever and ever, forever and ever), eye - eyes, meadow - meadows, fur - furs, snow - snow, haystack - haystacks, silk - silk.

Shapes can have different meanings: tones(about color) and tones(about sound) of bread(about cereals) and breads(about baked bread) workshops And workshops(at the enterprise) and workshops(medieval organizations of artisans).

Forms of nouns can differ in stylistic coloring: sides and outdated sides; Houses and outdated houses; stern and outdated stern; horns and outdated and poet. horns; varieties and outdated varieties; volumes and outdated then we, and thunder and poet. thunder; coffins and poet. coffin

Finally, the forms of nouns can be equivalent and interchangeable: of the year And years(But: years of youth, severe hardships; nineties, zero years), workshops And workshops(at the enterprise), storms And storms.

To resolve the issue of the status of a “controversial” form of a word (non-normative, variant, stylistically colored, etc.), in any case, you need to consult a dictionary.

Non-standard plurals are formed for words child - children, person - people, bottom - donya and some others.

2. Plural forms of the genitive case of nouns: five grams or five grams?

For most masculine nouns ending in a hard consonant ( orange, tomato, fly agaric, computer, sock), the ending is typical -s in the genitive plural form: oranges, tomatoes, fly agarics, computers, socks etc. A wide range of exceptions can be identified from this rule - similar nouns, but having a zero ending in the genitive plural: one stocking - no stockings, one Ossetian - five Ossetians, one gram - five grams And five grams etc. Such words include:

Names of people by nationality and by belonging to military units, mainly used in the plural forms in the collective meaning: Magyars - Magyars, Turkmens - Turkmens, midshipmen - midshipmen and midshipmen, partisans - partisans, soldiers - soldiers; this also includes the form p. p.m. h. Human.

Names of paired items: boots - boots, eyes - eyes, cuffs - cuffs, shoulder straps - shoulder straps, stockings - stockings, epaulettes - epaulettes, boots - boots.

Names of measures and units of measurement: 220 volts, 1000 watts, 5 amps, 500 gigabytes. If such names are used outside the “measuring” context (in other words, the genitive case form is not countable), then the ending is used -s: live without excess kilograms, not enough gigabytes.

It should be noted that the names of fruits, fruits and vegetables, which are masculine nouns, ending in a hard consonant ( orange, eggplant, tomato, tangerine), in the genitive plural form. hours have an ending -s: five oranges, a kilogram of eggplants, New Year without tangerines, tomato salad.

For some nouns, plural forms are formed. Part gen. n. difficult; these are words dream, prayer, head. On the contrary, the words shchetz And firewood have no other forms except the plural form. Part gen. case.

See: "Russian Grammar", M., 1980.

A noun is a part of speech that carries the meaning of objectivity and has such grammatical categories as gender, number and case. These categories are closely interrelated, so knowledge of them is necessary for the correct use of nouns. Special attention should be paid to the declension of plural nouns.

Grammatical category of number

A grammatical category is a system of opposite sets of forms that have a homogeneous meaning. In Russian, the category of number has names and a verb. It is represented by the opposition of singularity and multiplicity. In the Old Russian language there was a three-member system of the category of number, in which singular, plural and

Expressing the grammatical meaning of a number

Currently in the Russian language there is only an opposition between singular and plural numbers. There are no separate forms for expressing only the category of number. Synthetic and analytical methods are used to express numbers. The first, main case involves the use of the internal resource of the word. These are, first of all, the ending (house - houses, cat - cats, road - roads), in some cases suffixes (calf - calves, honey fungus - honey mushrooms, sky - heaven) and sometimes stress (forest - forests) or alternation of consonants ( ear - ears, friend - friends). The analytical (syntactic) way of expressing a number is characterized by the use of agreement (old houses, white socks). This method allows you to express the number of indeclinable nouns (one coffee - three coffees). In some nouns, number can be expressed using another stem (person - people).

Number of nouns

A singular noun denotes a single object (cup, telephone, wire), while a plural noun denotes two or more objects (cups, telephones, wires). It is easiest to trace the differences between the plural and singular numbers of nouns using examples of words denoting objects that can be counted. For example, a ball - five balls, a table - two tables, an orange - three oranges. Such nouns are inflected by number, i.e. These nouns can be used in singular or plural. But there are quite large groups of words that do not vary in numbers.

Nouns that do not have a plural form

Such nouns include:

names of many similar objects or phenomena (children, foliage, humanity, linden, linen, junk);

the name of objects of material value (steel, wheat, rye, oats, gasoline, milk, cottage cheese, hay);

name of quality or attribute (blueness, power, anger, warmth, kindness);

name of the action or state (writing, reading, threshing, cutting);

proper names used to name individual objects (Novgorod, Don, Lenin, Stalin);

words like: time, udder.

Nouns that do not have a singular form

These nouns are:

names of paired or composite items (underpants, glasses, scissors, gates, sneakers, pliers);

names of materials or their waste (bran, sawdust, perfume, ink);

names of some periods of time (days, weekdays, holidays);

names of actions or states of nature (frosts, elections, troubles, shoots);

names of checkers, tag, chess, knocked out);

some names of geographical places (Alps, Athens, Carpathians, Sokolniki, Sochi, Gryazi, Luzhniki).

Features of the declension of plural nouns

Each of the three existing in the Russian language has its own forms when changing by case. To determine the type of declension, you must first determine the initial form of the word. For nouns, this form will be the nominative singular.

However, during the declension of a plural noun, there are almost no signs of differences between the types of declensions from each other. Therefore, it is worth talking separately about the declension of nouns in the plural form.

The endings of plural nouns in the dative, instrumental and prepositional cases always coincide, regardless of the type of declension. There are differences in the endings of nouns in the nominative, genitive and accusative cases.

Plural nouns in the nominative case have the following endings:

feminine -i, -y (threads, mountains, mice, bees, arrows, mothers, daughters);

masculine -i, -y (houses, tables, tables, bananas, cartridges), sometimes -a, -ya (chairs, meadows, houses, sons), -e for words ending in -ana, -yan (earthlings, townspeople, northerners, Rostovites);

neuter -a, -ya (lakes, wings, villages), sometimes -i (ears, shoulders, eyelids).

In the genitive case, plural nouns end in:

Iy - nouns R. 1st sc., which end in -iya, -ya (series, cells, arias, armies), some nouns cf. rivers that end in -е (gorges, spears);

She - words with a stem that ends in a hissing or soft consonant sound (nights, seas, knives);

Ov, -ev - nouns. with a stem that ends in a hard consonant or -oi (ports, heroes), words for cucumbers, oranges, tomatoes, etc.

In the genitive case it appears in words ending in the nominative case in -ane, -yan, -ata, -yata (Armenians, townspeople, badgers, animals), as well as words like: eye, soldier, boot, stocking, etc.

b - if in the noun there is a vowel before the suffix -nya (deserts, ladies, apple trees).

When declension of plural nouns ending in the singular in -nya, a fluent vowel -e- appears in the genitive case, but ь is not written (cherries, towers). The exceptions in this case are the words: young ladies, villages, kitchens.

In plural nouns in the genitive case, ь is not written after sibilants, regardless of gender (groves, shoulders, hands, boots).

The forms of plural nouns in the accusative case are the same as the forms of plural nouns in the nominative or genitive case.

So, knowing the peculiarities of the declension of plural nouns will help you avoid mistakes both in oral and written speech. Being able to quickly identify singular and plural will be an important skill in determining the initial form of a word.

The state of linguistic culture in modern Russia leaves much to be desired. And the reason for this is not an orientation towards Western culture or a lack of desire for reading, as the media lament.

A wide range of dictionaries in which you can find different spellings of the same word, heated debates among linguists over the spelling of individual words, a huge flow of literature that has not been reviewed by a competent proofreader, the clogging of speech with inappropriate slang words - this is the true reason for the flourishing of illiteracy. Linguistic norms exist not for their own sake, but, first of all, so that people understand each other, avoid ambiguity and, finally, preserve the national linguistic wealth.

How often in offices can you hear ringing instead of ringing, catalog instead of catalogue, etc. Moreover, more and more often interlocutors are beginning to think about the pronunciation of words in the plural: director or directors, accountant or accountants, agreements or agreements? All this is slowly but surely shaking the traditional literary norms of the Russian language and leading to a general decline in culture.

In modern Russian there are approximately 300 words in which the nominative plural is “fluctuating”, with variations. Moreover, the norm of stress in some words has changed over time, reflecting the development of the system of declensions of Russian nouns. So, for example, at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century, directors were called directors, and professors were called professors. Over the past century, irreversible changes have occurred. Endings with -а (-я) began to reign in common speech and “professional” jargon, and forms with -ы (-и) turned out to be more neutral, more traditional for the literary language (editors, instructors, proofreaders). But do not forget that there are exceptions to all rules.

Directors, contracts, accountants - these are the norms that have become the ONLY POSSIBLE ones!

• The directors of large factories arrived, the directors gathered, we wrote a letter to the directors.
• Our company has concluded agreements.
• The accountants calculated the estimate, etc.

The spelling (ending and stress) of the words director, accountant, contract, etc. is subject to the rule “Endings of the nominative plural of masculine nouns -ы(-и) – -а(-я)”. This rule is quite complicated. If the ending -or/-er/-er is stressed, then it is often preserved in the plural form, i.e. gives -ers, -ors: contracts, drivers, gliders, engines, fences, engineers, gentlemen. In other cases, nouns, especially animate ones, with -or/-er in the plural have a strong tendency to shift the emphasis to the ending: doctor, cadet, boat, etc. But there are also a lot of opposite examples, in particular, accountants, coaches, etc. In addition, there are a number of factors that directly influence the spelling of one or another ending in a word. All this is described in detail (with numerous examples) in spelling reference books.

However, it will be difficult for an ordinary person (not a philologist) to form the plural form of the nominative case, guided by the points of the rules. Therefore, take my word for it - it’s better to just remember some words. Otherwise, you can easily “confuse” the desired rule. Better yet, at least occasionally, look into the dictionary.

A little humor

When memorizing, you can be guided by association rhymes:

• directorA – masterA
• contracts are thieves
• accountants - planners