The term “declension” in Russian refers to the change in nominal parts of speech (nouns, numerals, adjectives and pronouns) according to numbers and cases. To understand well what declension is, you need to familiarize yourself with all the types of declension existing in the Russian language. Let's look at some of them from the school curriculum as an example.

Declension of nouns

In the Russian language there are several groups of nouns that, when declined by case and number, have the same forms (endings). What is called the declension of nouns? These same groups, in which certain nouns are declined in the same way, will be the types of noun declension.

• I declension - have feminine and masculine nouns, which in the singular and nominative case have the ending -a, -ya (glade, army, cat, crybaby).
• II declension - have masculine nouns ending in -о, -е or a zero ending, as well as neuter nouns ending in -о or -е in the singular and in the nominative case (gorge, window, little house, lump, sea) .
• III declension - have only feminine nouns, which in the singular and in the nominative case have a zero ending (and a soft sign at the end). Examples: oven, laziness, daughter, leak. The third declension also includes nouns that are called heterodeclinable. Such words have different case endings, characteristic of different types of declension. These words are: path, udder, flame, banner, time, stirrup, tribe, seed, name, burden, crown.

Declension of adjectives

By declension of adjectives, we, first of all, mean changes in cases, gender and numbers. These characteristics depend on the noun on which the adjective depends (with which it agrees). The declension of adjectives includes changes in cases and numbers, and in singular. number also by birth. Short adjectives change only by gender and number.

There are three types of adjective declension:

• Solid. This is a declension of adjectives with a base on a hard consonant (white, red).
• Soft - declension of adjectives with a base on a soft consonant (blue, summer).
• Mixed. This declension includes adjectives with hard and soft stems “k”, “g”, “x”, as well as “sh” with a stressed ending and “ts”, “zh” (quiet, long, wide, handsome, good, scanty). Such adjectives in their declension have forms of both soft and hard declensions.

Declension of numerals

All numerals change by case. Collective and cardinal numbers are declined like nouns and adjectives.

1. Just like third declension nouns, the following numerals are declined: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, numerals by -twenty, numerals by -ten.
2. A separate group of declinations should include 200, 300, 400 and numerals starting with -hundreds.
3. The numerals 40, 90, 100 have only two forms in all cases. The first is this form in the nominative and accusative cases. The second is the form in indirect cases. Forms in oblique cases end with the letter "a". In the nominative and accusative cases, such numerals have an initial form.
4. The numeral “one and a half” has two forms in I. p.: one and a half (m. r. and middle r.) and one and a half (f. r.). The form of all other cases, except the accusative, is “one and a half”.
5. As adjectives, the following numerals are declined: 2, 3, 4, collective numerals, both, both, as much as, as much, as much.
6. In compound cardinal numbers, each word is declined: two thousand five hundred.
7. In compound ordinal numbers, only the last word is declined: in one thousand nine hundred and five.

We considered another issue from the field of the Russian language. What is declination, you now know and understand.

Declension of nouns in Russian

Declension is the change of nouns by case. Depending on the set of endings that are inherent in certain nouns, there are three main types of their declension. The nouns m.r. belong to the 1st declension. with a zero ending in the initial form, i.e. in I.p. units ( chemist, researcher analysis) and nouns s.r. with endings in -O, -e (substance, field). The words zh.r., m.r. belong to the 2nd declension. and general gender with endings -A, -I (hypothesis, drop, operation, young man, headman).

Nouns of the 1st and 2nd declension have two types of stems - hard, which includes nouns with a final consonant hard (plant, factory, factory; game, games, game), and soft with the final consonant soft ( writer, writer, writer; song, songs, song, song).

The words zh.r. belong to the 3rd declension of nouns. with a zero ending in the initial form, therefore having only the soft variety ( thaw, night). (In school practice, there is a different numbering of types of declension: the 1st declension of nouns includes what in scientific grammar is recognized as the 2nd, and vice versa.)

In addition to these three main types of declension, there is a separate declension of nouns formed from adjectives ( sick, worker etc.). In table 14 provides examples of the main types of noun declension and comments on them.

Comment. 1. In inanimate nouns, m.p. endings and I.p. coincide and V.p. units ( computer, dance). In animate nouns, m.r. ( contract soldier, representative, doctor) the endings in R.p. coincide. and V.p. units ( contract soldier, representative, doctor).

First declension

2. Some inanimate nouns may have in R.p. units not just graduations -A (-I), but also -y (yu). For example, variant endings can receive:

• a) real nouns, when the quantity of something is indicated ( a ton of sugar — sugar, a lot of snow — snow) or the absence of a certain amount (neither grams of sugar — sugar, not a drop of soup- soup); this especially applies to material nouns with diminutive suffixes ( take the honey from the sugar bowl);
• b) abstract nouns in the same cases ( how much noise — noise; not a cry — scream, no noise — noise);
• c) words included in stable combinations (without year week, no laughing matter). Endings -y, -yu generally characteristic of colloquial speech: And this Marya root — she is so tall... She has the color of a bouquet... Christmastide crimson. Her from cancer drinking...(E. Yevtushenko); Shot down you with no use this teaching — so you wander around the world(V. Shukshin).

3. Nouns m.r. based on and, h, w, sch in T.p. units may have a stressed ending -ohm (doctor) and unstressed -eat (comrade).

4. Nouns m.r. based on ts in T.p. have a stressed ending -ohm (the end) and unstressed -eat (.finger), in R.p. plural have a stressed ending -s (after all) and unstressed -ev (dancing).

5. Nouns s.r. based on ts in I.p. etc. units have when accented on the ending, respectively -O (ring) And -ohm (ring), not at the end -e (Sun) And -eat (the sun).

6. Some inanimate nouns in pp. units with a pretext V when indicating being inside something and with a preposition on when indicating the presence of something on the surface, they can have endings -y (-yu) (in the forest, in service, on the shore). Endings -y (-yu) always drums.

Note. To the most common nouns m.r., having in P.p. units graduation -y (-yu) (there are only about 200 of them), include: shore, board(ship), forest, bridge, port, row, garden,corner (in the corner of the room, on the street corner), closet (in the closet, on the closet). If there are variant endings -e, -y some words (" vacation — on vacation, in the workshop- V workshop, in the cold — in the cold) the first is neutral in nature, the second is colloquial.

7. Nouns m.r. based on -th (sanatorium) in P.p. units have an ending -And (in a sanatorium, about genius).

8. Nouns m.r. on G, To, X in I.p. plural end with -And (mechanic, mechanics).

A number of nouns m.r. in I.p. plural has stressed endings - A (-I): side — sides, address — addresses, director — director. To the most common nouns that are consistently received in I.p. plural ending -A (-I) include: address, shore, side, camp, master, number, order, island, passport, train, professor, volume, color. There are cases of hesitation in the choice of variant endings: years — year, inspectors — inspector, spotlights — spotlights, sectors — sectors, locksmiths — locksmith, turners — turner, poplars — poplars, tractors — tractors, anchors — anchors If there are fluctuations in use -s (-And) — A (-I) the latter are more typical of everyday or professional speech. At the same time, you should not mix variant forms that differ in meaning: images(artistic and literary) and image(icons), teachers(ideological leaders) and teachers(teachers), flowers(plants) and colors(coloring), etc.

9. Some nouns have non-standard forms I.p. plural: Brother — brothers, Englishman — English, kitty — kittens, Human — People, child — children.

10. Some groups of nouns m.r. in R.p. plural have the form I.p. units (no ending). Such groups are made up of: 1) individual names of persons by nationality O Buryat, Georgian,Lezgin, Turk, Gypsy; But Arabs,Mongols); 2) individual names of persons associated with military service ( hussar, partisans, soldier; But captains, majors); 3) separate names of units of measurement when indicating their quantity ( ampere, watt, volt, hertz, ohm, x-ray).

In the case of hesitations of forms with zero endings and -s, the first is characteristic of colloquial speech, and the latter - strictly literary language ( hectare, -s; apricot, -s).

Second declension

Comment. For nouns in T.p. units endings vary -Ouch (-to her) And -oh (-by her) (hand, bird —hand, bird). The latter forms are usually found in poetry.

Third declension

Comment(all types of declination).

1. Inanimate nouns of all genders have the same endings in I.p. and V.p. plural ( computers, stars, discos, devices, biofields, nights). In inanimate nouns, m.p. and f.r. the endings in R.p. coincide and V.p. plural ( contract soldiers, representatives, doctors; young men; birds).

2. When used after transitive verbs of the perfect form, nouns in the form are not V.p., but R.p. indicates the use not of the entire item (product), but only of its part: buy sugar(all) - sugar(some part); take candy(All) - sweets(some of them).

3. When declension of nouns, alternations of sounds are observed. The most common of them include: a) alternating a vowel with a zero sound: O (e) — null ( forehead - forehead, forehead, forehead; ice - ice, ice, ice); e - null ( pepper - pepper, pepper, pepper; guy - guy, guy, guy); zero - o (e) (window - windows, glass - glass); zero - e (ring - rings, heart - hearts, friends - friends, land - lands, village - villages); b) alternation of consonant with consonant ( bitch - bitch, friend - friends).

Nouns that have case endings characteristic of different types of declension are called heterodeclinable. These include 10 nouns s.r. on -me (burden, time, udder, banner, Name, flame, tribe, seed, stirrup And crown) and the noun m.r. path, having in R.p., D.p. and P.p. units endings of 3rd declension nouns -And (no time, to the banner, in flames; on the way), and in T.p. - nouns m.r. type ship, sable (time, banner; by). Nouns on -me in R.p., D.p., T.p. and P.p. in units additionally receive a suffix -en- (-yon-) (banner — on the banner, on the banners), nouns seed, stirrup in R.p. plural - suffix -yan (seeds). Samples of declension of such nouns are given in table. 17.

Minor types of noun declension

The first declension includes feminine and masculine nouns with endings –а, –я in the nominative case. The endings of second declension nouns are presented in three tables. The set of all case forms in singular and plural is called the paradigm of a noun. Nouns of the 2nd declension ending in -i (ending -e): building, decision, being, consciousness, etc. – in the singular, prepositional case, have the ending -i, like nouns of the 3rd declension.

Nouns in Russian have three main types of declension, which are reflected in the table below. If you need numerals, you can read about declension of numerals in another article. There are six cases in the Russian language. Let's summarize the difference in declinations in the following table. This cake is sweeter than cake (sweeter than cake). The comparative degree can be simple or compound. Let's give him a bath in warmer water (definition).

Masculine (1st declension)

This house is the tallest in the area. In a sentence they are predicates. In this jacket you will (what?) be even hotter (predicate). At this time of year (what?) it’s dirtiest outside (predicate). In a sentence it refers to a verb and is used as an adverbial manner of action. He draws (how?) more beautifully than anyone else in school (circumstance).

1. Most nouns have two numbers - singular and plural. 2. Real, collective, abstract and some concrete nouns have only one form (singular or plural).

Instrumental singular 3rd declension(s)

For nouns that only have a plural form, not only the gender, but also the declension is not determined! All cases except the nominative are called indirect. The form I. p. usually has a subject, and such a noun does not depend on other members of the sentence, but is connected with the predicate.

4) A preposition can be separated from a noun by an adjective or pronoun. Note that a preposition is associated with a noun, not a noun-dependent modifier. Invariable nouns (coat, citro, metro, taxi, kangaroo, UN, traffic police) have no declension! Their number and case can be determined in phrases and sentences on the question. They continue to decline, just as adjectives and participles decline!

B) Number of a noun

This table will help all 4th grade students quickly remember the rules - how to determine the case of nouns. Excellent tables and much needed information! And those who write that it’s bullshit and crap are apparently not very smart. Forms with disyllabic endings (-оу, -ёь, -еу) have been almost completely replaced in modern language.

Nominative plural 1st declension

Masculine nouns can have both endings. Most neuter nouns take a zero ending. Indeclinable nouns include nouns in which all case-number forms are the same. Let's look at what properties Latin nouns have. There is no article in Latin! This is a significant difference from other Western European languages.

Also, dies can have two genders - in the masculine it means “day”, in the feminine it means “term”. As in Russian, some nouns have only a plural form: arma – weapon; nugae - trifles, nonsense, etc. In Russian they are: scissors, pants, glasses...

The last 2 are not used in relation to all nouns: vocativus to those that are called mainly by inspired persons, locativus - to those that name the area. There are 5 declensions in Latin. To determine which declension a certain noun is inclined to, you need to know its ending in the genitive case. Below is a table of declensions, which shows the endings of cases and declensions.

Declension patterns

Consonant: unequally syllabic words having gen. sg. one syllable more than in nom.sg. And also the following nouns: mater, matris; pater, patris; frater, fratris; juvenis, juvenis; canis, canis; parens, parentis. Sigmatic: adding the ending -s (Hence the name) to the stem of the word. This method is typical for words with stems ending in -b, -p, -d, -t, -g, -c, -m. Some of the nouns of the 3rd declension have certain features in their declension.

In fact, the third consonant is an athematic declension. Such nouns in Latin are called pluralia tantum. 2nd declension.

Nouns are very widely represented in the Russian language. They can act as main and secondary members of a sentence. By using noun cases, speakers and writers can relate these parts of speech to others in the context of a sentence. Another category of a noun is directly related to cases - its declension. By the way, the spelling correctness of what is written depends on the correct definition of which.

Case category

The case of nouns is a grammatical category that indicates the relationship of a given part of speech to other words in a sentence. These connections can be realized not only with the help of case forms - prepositions help in this, as well as intonation and even word order.

In modern Russian there are only 6 case forms.

Once upon a time in the Old Russian language there was another, seventh, vocative case. But it lost its significance during the development of linguistic culture. Echoes of the vocative case remain in common parlance. Previously, it was comparable to the nominative and denoted the address: father, man. At the present stage of development of the Russian language, it is realized in the following colloquial addresses: Sing, Vasya, Tan, etc.

The meaning and form of expression of cases. Nominative

In addition to grammatical meaning, the cases of nouns have a lexical meaning. Let's sort them out.

Nominative. This is the basic form of a noun. Used in academic literature (dictionary entries). In this case there is always a subject, as well as a word in them. p. can be an integral part of the predicate.

Example: The roses bloomed on time. Subject roses is in the nominative case.

Another example: This tree is birch. Subject tree(Name p., predicate birch- the nominal part of a compound nominal predicate, stands in Im. p.).

Meanings of the genitive case

Genitive. Can associate nouns with different parts of speech. So, if the genitive case connects two nouns, then it will mean:

• a substance whose measure is indicated: liter of kvass;
• affiliation: mom's shoes b;
• object of some action: boiling water;
• definition relations: beauty of the fields.

The genitive case is used for the comparative degree of adjectives: stronger than (who?) a bull. With a cardinal number: thousand (what?) rubles.

As for the verb and verb forms, this case is used in the following cases:

• denotes a specific object when associated with a transitive verb: write out a receipt;
• used after verbs such as to fear, to achieve, to lose me and others: seek (what?) permission.

The genitive case is used when reporting an exact date. For example: She was born on the sixth (what?) March one thousand nine hundred and eighty-two.

Meanings of the dative and accusative cases

Other cases of nouns are not so rich in lexical meanings and grammatical connections. Thus, the dative case is associated with verbs and some nouns (verbal). Has a side object value: help parents(compare: help around the house- direct object).

The accusative case indicates that we have a direct object: I'm writing a poem.

Instrumental and prepositional cases

A noun in the instrumental case will have the following meanings:

• weapon or method of action: punch (with what?)(way), hit (with what?) with a hammer(weapon);
• subject performing the action: written (by whom?) by mother; washed with (what?) a rag;
• is part of the nominal part of the predicate: she was (what?) a doctor.

The prepositional case is special, as is clear from its name. It always requires a preposition. May refer to:

• topic of conversation, thoughts, etc.: let's talk (about what?) about Goethe's work; I think (about whom?) about a beautiful stranger;
• temporal and geographical indicators: met (when?) last weekend; work (where?) in a cafe.
• used to indicate a date, but not a full date, but indicating the year: I was born (when?) in nineteen ninety.

Declension of nouns

To write spelling correctly, you need to know not only cases. The declension of nouns has a primary role. There are three types of declension in the Russian language, each of them requires certain endings. To determine whether nouns belong to one of them, case, gender must be known first.

Nouns like homeland, earth, frame, belong to the first declension. They are united by belonging to the feminine gender and endings -а/-я. Also included in these declensions are the few masculine nouns: Vitya, grandfather, dad. In addition to gender, they are united by the endings -a/-я.

The group of masculine nouns is much more extensive: son-in-law, wolf, sofa. They have a zero ending. Such words belong to the second declension. The same group includes neuter nouns with inflection -о/-е: sea, building, crime.

If you have a feminine noun ending in a soft sign (zero ending), it will belong to the third declension: rye, youth, daughter, brooch.

Nouns can have an adjectival declension, that is, they change by case like adjectives and participles. This includes those who have made the transition from these parts of speech to a noun: living room, greeting.

To determine which cases of nouns are used in a sentence, you need to find the word to which the noun refers and ask a question.

For example, let’s determine the cases and declensions of nouns in a sentence: The motorcyclist was riding on flat ground.

Subject motorcyclist does not refer to any other word, because it is the main member of the sentence, therefore, it is in the nominative case. We determine the declension: the zero ending and the masculine gender indicate that the word has 2 declensions. Noun with preposition by area depends on the word was driving. We ask a question: drove (where?) around the area. This is a matter of prepositional case. Terrain- feminine, ending in b, therefore the third declension.

Declension of singular nouns

To determine with what ending you need to write a noun, you must know gender, number, case and declension. Declension can be hard or soft: a word can end in a soft or hard consonant. For example: lamp- solid type; pot- soft.

Let's give examples of declension of singular nouns and pay attention to endings in some forms.

First declension

Pay attention to the dative and prepositional cases. They require the ending -e. In a noun ending in -iya, on the contrary, in these cases the ending -i should be written.

Second declension

Here we pay attention to the prepositional case: it requires the ending -e. If a noun ends in -й/-и, then it is necessary to write -и in this case.

Third declension

We pay attention to the genitive, dative and prepositional cases: they require the ending -i. It should also be remembered that after sibilants in the singular in this declension it is necessary to write a soft sign. It is not needed in the plural.

Declension of plural nouns

Let's look at the cases of plural nouns.

Nouns in the dative, instrumental and prepositional cases have identical endings.

The endings -и/-ы or -а/-я have plural nouns. The first can be found in all three declensions, the second - in some nouns of the second declension: director, watchman, professor.

To distinguish the lexical meanings of plural nouns, different endings are used: sheet, But leaves (of a tree) And sheets (of a book).

Nouns like treaties, elections, engineers, officers, designers You only need to write with the ending -ы. A different inflection is a violation of the norm.

Indeclinable nouns

The Russian language has a unique group of nouns. When changing by case, they have endings of different declensions. The group includes those words that end in -my (for example, time, stirrup), as well as the word path.

Like nouns of the 3rd declension, these words in the singular, genitive, dative and prepositional cases require the ending -i.

Immutable nouns

Another special group of nouns is unchangeable. They are not put in number and case form. They always have the same form: without kimono(R.p.) - about kimono(P.p.); new kimono(units) - purchased kimonos(plural).

How to determine in this case how the noun is grammatically expressed? We look at the number and case according to the word to which it refers. Examples:

1. Pedestrians were hurrying along the new highway.

2. New highways have been built.

In the first sentence we determine the number and case of the adjective new(units, d.p.). In the second - also by adjective new(plural, im.p.).

Unchangeable nouns are, as a rule, foreign words, like common nouns ( citro, cafe), and own ( Baku, Hugo). Complex abbreviated words (abbreviations) are also unchangeable. For example: Computer, nuclear power plant.

Table 1 - Case endings of singular nouns

In singular case endings it is written:

1. letter e : in the dative and prepositional cases of nouns of the 1st declension and in the prepositional case of the 2nd declension (except for words in -and I , -th , -ies ), For example: to factories e, to factories e, to the ground e, about the battery e, to become e; to the factory e, to the machine e; about pestilence e; in the village e;
2. letter And :
   • in the genitive case of nouns of the first declension, for example: at the factories And, near the ground And, near the battery And, from becoming And;
   • in the prepositional case of nouns of the II declension on -ies , -th , For example: in the lecture hall And, in excitement And, about worldview And ;
   • in the genitive, dative and prepositional cases of nouns of the first declension in -and I , nouns of the third declension and heterodeclinable neuter nouns on -me , For example: from the collection And, to the collection And, in the collection And; from overcoats And, to the overcoat And, in an overcoat And; at the banners And, to the banners And, about the banner And.

It is necessary to distinguish between the forms of the prepositional case of neuter nouns on -ies And -ye , For example: be in thought And, be fully prepared And (end -And ); be in thought e, be on the coast e (end -e ).

Case endings in surnames and titles

In Russian surnames -in(-yn) and on -s(-s) in the instrumental case the singular is written -th (like adjectives), for example: with Vyacheslav Demin th, with Rostislav Sinitsyn th, with Kirill Kolosov th . The ending is written in foreign surnames -ohm , For example: Darwin ohm, Chaplin ohm .

In the names of settlements on -in(-yn) , -s(-s) , -ino(-ino) , -ovo(-evo) in the instrumental case the singular ending is written -ohm (as in nouns), for example: near the city of Kashin ohm, Borodin village ohm, the city of Dmitrov ohm .

Case endings for plural nouns

Table 2 - Case endings of plural nouns

1. In the genitive plural, after the sibilants, the letter b is not written, for example: solution tasks, repair dwellings.
2. In the genitive plural of nouns -ya And -ye in unstressed position it is written -th , under stress - -to her , For example: liar th(liar), delusion th(meditation), But stat to her(article), scam to her(bench). Exceptions: Rouge to her(gun), dress ev(dress), ust ev(mouth), upper reaches ev(upstream), downstream ev(lower reaches).
   Nouns have -and I , -ies in the genitive case it is always written -th , For example: lin th(line), built th(building).
3. If nouns in the genitive plural end in -en , then the soft sign is not written, for example: songs, cherries ( Wed apple trees, kitchens). After -en letter in the genitive case b written in words villages b, young ladies b .