Nouns: Plural

The plural form of nouns depends on the gender and singular ending.
Note that some nouns have either no plural (like English "money, help, advice, heroism") or no singular (like English "glasses, trousers, thanks, shenanigans").
Examples include брюки очки железо молодëжь trousers, eyeglasses, iron, youth (young people)

Things to remember:

• those ending in ИЙ and adding Ы will spell it ИИ: герой - герои
• nouns ending in ИЯ really end in ИЙА, and thus take ИИ: армия - армии
• after the velars and most hushers (К Г Х Ж Ш Ч Щ, though not Ц) you can't write Ы, so nouns ending in those will have И

1. Most masculine and feminine nouns take Ы (or И as required by the Spelling Rules). They add it to the end of the word or replace the vowel:

школа школы
ракета ракеты
трактор тракторы
стол столы

собака собаки
чай чаи
герой герои
врач врачи

1a. Some masculine nouns take А as their ending. These include the same ones with the special locative  (У), but also others, including a small number of nouns denoting professions. In colloquial spoken Russian, other professions may also have the A ending.

лес лесa
край края
берег берегa
доктор докторa
учитель учителя

1b. Masculine and feminine nouns ending in Ь take И, replacing the soft sign (basically an application of regular spelling):

ночь ночи
дождь дожди
мышь мыши

3. Neuter nouns ending in O take A; those ending in E take Я.

письмо письма
лето лета
море моря
право права
поле поля
здание здания
окно окна

3. Fleeting (mobile or fugitive) vowels disappearing from masculine nouns:

отец отцы
день дни

4. A few nouns add an infix before the plural ending. In some nouns (like небо - небеса or сын - сыновья) this is only present in plural forms; in some (like мать - матери or имя - имени) it is in all but nominative singular.

4a. Regular patterns include all nouns ending in -анин (dweller in) or -ëнок (young/offspring):

англичанин англичане
гражданин граждане
ребëнок ребята
котëнок котята

5. Some few nouns have quite irregular plurals, like друг - друзья or лист - листья.

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Downloadable files:

• Plural nouns from Milovanova 
• Plural nouns from Pulkina

Listening resources

Here are some sites where you can listen to Russian spoken by native speakers. (More will be added)

Bite-sized Russian is a Facebook page, but you don't need a Facebook account to browse the page and listen to the short dialogs.

Russian Podcast has more than 200 short lessons available.

Everyday Russian has more than 300 lessons on line.

This page from Fluent U lists 12 websites offering free audio lessons.

Pronouns: Possessives

 Possessive pronouns are also called possessive adjectives. First and second person (my, our, your) will agree in number and gender with the noun possessed; so too will the special "one's own" possessive that eliminates the "John handed Jim his book" ambiguity existing in English. The singular possessives мой твой свой (my, singular your, one's own) decline alike; the plurals наш ваш (our, plural your) decline alike.

The third person do not change their forms at all, not for number, case, nor gender. They are его (his, its) еë (her) их (their) - remember that with genitives (which possessives are) the Г in masculine/neuter endings is pronounced like В (yevo).

Note that Russian has no special predicative form (my book v the book is mine); the same form is used for both.

Also note that they look somewhat like the so-called "mixed declension" adjectives; this is because of the spelling rules for Ш and Й.

So here is the chart for possessive declensions. Empty cells mark forms we haven't encountered yet and will be filled in as we go.

Nominative	Genitive	Accusative inanim. / anim.	Dative	Instrumental	Prepositional
МОЙ ТВОЙ СВОЙ
мой		мой / моего			моëм
моя		мою			моей
моë		моë / моего			моëм
мои		мои / моих			моих
НАШ ВАШ
наш		наш / нашего			нашем
наша		нашу			нашей
наше		наше / нашего			нашем
наши		наши / наших			наших

Adjectives: Accusative Case

Adjectives must agree in case with the nouns the modify.

The accusative case endings are fairly simple.

For masculine and neuter inanimate nouns, the ending is the same as the nominative, while the animate ending is either ОГО for regular hard (ЫЙ) or those with stems ending in К (КИЙ) and for end-stressed (ОЙ), or ЕГО for everything else except the третий type which takes ЬЕГО.

For feminines, it's either УЮ for all hard endings  or ЮЮ for soft ones, with ЬЮ for the третий type.


Using the nouns from the post on accusative in nouns, here are adjectives:

 1. The “accusative of time”

• Я здесь уже целую неделю = I've been here (for) a whole week.
• Раз в каждый год = Once every year

2. The “accusative of motion”

• Мы едем в красивую Москву. = We're going to beautiful Moscow.
• Мы идëм в большой музей. = We're going to a big museum.

 3. Other accusatives

• Мы идëм через тëмный лес. = We're walking through the dark woods.
• Мы идëм через широкую улыцу. = We're going across the wide street.
• Спасибо за любезное письмо. = Thanks for the kind letter.
• Cколько получает писатель за новую книгу? = How much does an author get for a new book?
• Я – за нашего Путина! = I'm for our Putin!

For adjectives modifying neuter nouns and inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative is the same as the nominative.

Я вижу красивый сад. = I see a beautiful garden.
Я вижу маленкий лес. = I see the small woods.
Я вижу Британский музей. = I see the British Museum.
Я вижу золотой рубль. = I see a golden ruble.
Я вижу открытое окно. = I see the open window.
Я вижу синее море. = I see the blue sea.
Я вижу собачий дом. = I see the dog house.


For adjectives modifying feminine and masculine nouns ending in A, Я, or Ь, the ending changes to УЮ or ЮЮ. Note: this is one way to mark nouns in Ь as accusative.


Я вижу длинную улыцу. = I see a long street.
Я вижу Красную армию. = I see the Red army.
Я вижу мою мать. = I see my mother.
Я вижу синюю книгу. = I see the blue book.
Я вижу лисью морду. = I see the fox's face.


For adjectives modifying animate masculine nouns, the ending changes to ОГО or ЕГO. 

Я вижу храброго героя. = I see a brave hero.
Я вижу твоего папу. = I see your dad.
Я вижу нашего Андрея. = I see our Andrey.
Я вижу белого коня. = I see a white horse.
Я вижу високого человека. = I see a tall person.
Я вижу побеждающего Путина. = I see the conquering Putin.
Я вижу третьего мальчика. = I see the third boy.
Я вижу маленького сироту. = I see the little orphan boy.

Adjectives: Prepositional Case

Adjectives must agree in case with the nouns the modify.

The prepositional case endings are very simple. For masculine and neuter nouns, the ending is either ОМ for regular hard (ЫЙ) or those with stems ending in К (КИЙ) and for end-stressed (ОЙ), or EМ for everything else except the третий type which takes ЬЕМ. For feminines, it's either ОЙ for all hard endings or ЕЙ for soft ones, with ЬЕЙ for the третий type.

Note:

• masculines ending in A take masculine adjectives though the nouns decline like feminines
• the special locative in У still takes the regular adjectival ending (ОМ or EM).

Here are examples of the adjectival endings.

1. Masculine and Neuter nouns

санаторий о хорошем санатории about the good clinic
брат о большом брате about the big brother
чай о сладком чае about sweet tea
сад o красивом садe about the beautiful garden
герой o храбром герое about a brave hero
день о жарком дне about the hot day
папa о нашем папу about our Dad
порт в американском порту in an American port
дом о собачьем доме about the dog house

здание о високом здании about the tall building
имя об мом имени about my name
окно об открытом окне about the open window
море о синем море about the blue sea
утро о ранем утре about the early morning
письмо о третьем письме about the third letter

2. Feminine nouns

ночь о тëмной ночи about the dark night
вода о холодной воде about the cold water
армия об Красной армии about the Red Army
мать о доброй матери about the good mother
улыцa о соседнем улыцу  about the neighboring street
морда о лисьей морде about the fox's face

Adjectives: Declensions

Adjectives modify nouns.

In Russian, adjectives agree in number, case, and gender with those nouns. This means there are masculine, feminine, neuter, and plural endings, which change for case. But there are not nearly as many different declensions. In fact, there are two basic ones and one small group, and even among those many of the case endings are the same. (Note that adjectives are listed in the dictionary in the masculine nominative forms.)

The first type is called hard adjectives, and there are two primary endings: ЫЙ (ИЙ is used after the letters К Г Х Ж Ш Ч Щ) and ОЙ, which is used for stressed endings. Feminine hard adjectives all end in АЯ and neuters in ОЕ or ЕЕ (per the spelling rules, see below). The oblique endings are ОМ (m/n) and ОЙ (f) for prepositional and ОГО (m/n) and УЮ (f) for accusative (see charts below for detailed examples).

The second is called soft and it is composed of a small group of adjectives mostly showing time and spatial or locational relationships (such as верхний upper, внешний external, cегодний today's, ранний early, зимний  winter, давний ancient, прежний former). There are four "random" soft adjectives: cиний blue; домашний home; domestic; лишний extra, superfluous; and искренний sincere (Some books list посторонний alien, strange as a fifth random, but it literally means "on the side" so it's a positional/locational word.) Note that they all end in ний; they are formed with a soft N (НЬ) which explains their declension pattern.

The declension pattern of soft adjectives is similar to hard, but uses the soft vowels to mark that soft N. So instead of ЫЙ ОЕ АЯ and oblique forms like ОМ ОГО ОЙ УЮ they use ИЙ ЯЯ and EE for nominative and ЕМ ЕГО ЕЙ ЮЮ for the oblique cases.

Many grammars talk about a "mixed declension", but what that really is is the regular hard declension with the spelling rules applied: while it may appear to be a mix of hard and soft endings, the "soft" ones like ЕГО result from the regular application of the rules (for example, куцый куцая but куцего куцей)

There is a third declension, found only in the adjective третий third and adjectives pertaining to animals, such as лисий fox's or собачий dog's. It is characterized by a soft final consonant and a mobile (disappearing) vowel in the masculine nominative. So, instead of ЫЙ АЯ ОЕ and oblique ЕГО УЮ ОМ ОЙ, these have ИЙ ЬЕ ЬЯ with oblique forms ЬЮ ЬЕГО ЬЕЙ ЬЕМ ЬЕЙ.

So far we have encountered

• Prepositional (which has the endings OM, EM, and ЬЕМ in masculine and neuter and OЙ, ЕЙ, and ЬЕЙ in feminine), and 
• Accusative (which has the endings ОГО, ЕГО, and ЬЕГО in masculine and neuter for animates and unchanged from nominative for inanimates, and УЮ, ЮЮ, and ЬЮ in feminine),
• Genitive (which has the endings ОГО, ЕГО, and ЬЕГО in masculine and neuter, and OЙ, ЕЙ, and ЬЕЙ in feminine (yes, those are the same endings as Prepositional).

Remember that even if a noun is indeclinable, its adjectives do decline: я вижу белого кенгуру I see a white kangaroo.

Here is a downloadable file with all the Adjective Declensions, including a list of soft adjectives.  Below are tables. Only the endings we have encountered so far are filled in. Accusative shows inanimate and animate where they differ.

Masculine Hard

Nom.	белый	красный	умный
Gen.	белого	красного	умного
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	белый / белого	красный / красного	умный / умного
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	белом	красном	умном

Masculine Hard - End-stressed

Nom.	большой	чужой	огневой
Gen.	большого	чужого	огневого
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	большой / большого	чужой / чужого	огневой / огневого
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	большой	чужой	огневой

Masculine Hard ending in K

Nom.	великий	маленький	британский
Gen.	великого	маленького	британского
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	великий / великого	маленький / маленького	британский / британского
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	великом	маленьком	британском

Masculine Hard ending in a Husher

Nom.	куцый	хороший	горячий
Gen.	куцего	хорошего	горячего
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	куцый / куцего	хороший / хорошего	горячий /горячего
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	куцем	хорошем	горячем

Masculine Soft

Nom.	синий	зимний	ранний
Gen.	синего	зимнего	раннего
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	синий / синего	зимний / зимнего	ранний /раннего
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	синем	зимнем	раннем

Masculine "Third" type

Nom.	третий	лисий	собачий
Gen.	третьего	лисьего	собачьего
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	третий / третьего	лисий / лисьего	собачий / собачьего
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	третьем	лисьем	собачьем

Feminine Hard

Nom.	белая	красная	умная
Gen.	белой	красной	красной
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	белую	красную	красную
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	белой	красной	умной

Feminine Hard - End-stressed

Nom.	большая	чужая	огневая
Gen.	большой	чужой	огневой
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	большую	чужую	огневую
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	большой	чужой	огневой

Feminine Hard ending in K

Nom.	великая	маленькая	британская
Gen.	великой	маленькой	британской
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	великую	маленькую	британскую
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	великой	маленькой	британской

Feminine Hard ending in a Husher

Nom.	куцая	хорошая	горячая
Gen.	куцей	хорошей	горячей
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	куцую	хорошую	горячую
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	куцей	хорошей	горячей

Feminine Soft

Nom.	синяя	зимняя	ранняя
Gen.	синей	зимней	ранней
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	синюю	зимнюю	раннюю
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	свежий	хороший	ранней

Feminine "Third"

Nom.	третья	лисья	собачья
Gen.	третьей	лисьей	собачьей
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	третью	лисью	собачью
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	третьей	лисьей	собачьей

Neuter Hard

Nom.	белое	красное	умное
Gen.	белого	красного	умного
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	белый / белого	красный / красного	умный / умного
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	белом	красном	умном

Neuter Hard - End-stressed

Nom.	большое	чужое	огневое
Gen.	большого	чужого	огневого
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	большое / большого	чужое / чужого	огневое / огневого
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	большой	чужой	огневой

Neuter Hard ending in K

Nom.	великое	маленькое	британское
Gen.	великого	маленького	британского
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	великое / великого	маленькое / маленького	британское / британского
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	великом	маленьком	британском

Neuter Hard ending in a Husher

Nom.	куцее	хорошее	горячее
Gen.	куцего	хорошего	горячего
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	куцее / куцего	хорошее / хорошего	горячее /горячего
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	куцем	хорошем	горячем

Neuter Soft

Nom.	синее	зимнее	раннее
Gen.	синего	зимнего	раннего
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	синее / синего	зимнее / зимнего	раннее /раннего
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	синем	зимнем	раннем

Neuter "Third" type

Nom.	третье	лисье	собачье
Gen.	третьего	лисьего	собачьего
Dat.	-	-	-
Acc.	третье / третьего	лисье / лисьего	собачье / собачьего
Inst.	-	-	-
Prep.	третьем	лисьем	собачьем

Noun Declension Types

Some Russian grammarians don't talk of "masculine declension" or "feminine declension", but rather of (like Latin) First, Second, and Third Declensions.

One advantage to this is that declension types are now more independent of gender.  All nouns ending in a hard consonant, Й, О or Е are in First Declension. All nouns ending in А or Я are in Second Declension. Only with nouns ending in Ь does gender matter; masculine ones are First and feminine are Third.

Also with this system, the handful of nouns that are truly odd (those neuters ending in МЯ and the nouns Мать, Дочь, Путь, and Дитя) are simply categorized by themselves.

Some learners prefer this system. If so, here are downloadable charts from I.M. Pulkina's A Short Russian Reference Grammar:

• First Declension
• First Declension nouns with У genitives - Rules for Use
• First Declension nouns with У locatives (special prepositional) - List of nouns
• Second and Third Declensions
• Peculiarities in the Plural
• Special Declensions (-МЯ, Мать, Дочь, Путь, and Дитя)

And here is a downloadable file with the Full Set of Declension from I.S. Milovanova's Russian Grammar. Note that she swaps the names First and Second.