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Russian Plural Endings New Girl on the Bloc

How to Form Plural Nouns in Russian

So you’ve started learning about singular nouns and other parts of speech in Russian – now let’s kick it up a notch and learn how to form plural nouns in Russian! Well, you’ve come to the right place.

As you know from my previous article, Russian Nouns & Their Genders, you know the endings for singular nouns based on their gender (masculine, feminine, and neuter). The formation of plural nouns is also based on the noun’s gender (as determined by the last letter of the noun), so it is a relatively straightforward topic – that is for the regular plural nouns. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Let’s start with the regular endings for Russian plural nouns in the nominative case. If you’re not sure what the nominative case is, check out my article on the Russian Case System – that will give you a run down of the case system and why were are starting today with the Nominative Case.

Let’s begin!

Plural Nouns in Russian

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An Overview

Singular Plural
Adj. Noun Adj. Noun
Masc. -ый, -ой, -ий -consonant, -й, -ь -ые, ие -ы, -и
Fem. -ая, яя -а, -я, -ия, -ь -ые, -ие -ы, -и
Neut. -ое, -ее -о, -е, -ие, -мя -ые, -ие -а, -я, -ена
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Rules by Gender

MASCULINE

❖ If a masculine noun ends in a consonant, add –ы or –и

Ex.
1. студе́нт — студе́нты 
2. садо́вник — садо́вники
3. каранда́ш — карандаши́

❖ If a masculine noun ends in –й, replace it with –и

Ex. 
1. музе́й — музе́и
2. трамва́й — трамва́и
3. мавзоле́й — мавзоле́и

❖ If a masculine noun ends in –ь, replace it with –и

Ex. 
1. слова́рь — словари́ 
2. кора́бль — корабли́
3. календа́рь — календари́

FEMININE

❖ If a feminine noun ends in –a, replace it with –ы or –и

Ex. 
1. ма́ма — ма́мы 
2. кни́га — кни́ги
3. соба́ка — соба́ки 

❖ If a feminine noun ends in –я, replace it with –и

Ex. 
1. неде́ля — неде́ли 
2. ви́шня — ви́шни
3. ста́нция — ста́нции 

❖ If a feminine noun ends in  –ь, replace it with –и

Ex. 
1. мышь — мы́ши 
2. роль — ро́ли
3. ло́шадь — ло́шади

NEUTER

❖ If a neuter noun ends in –о, replace it with –а

Ex. 
1. письмо́ — письма́ 
2. зе́ркало — зе́ркала
3. окно́ — окна́ 

❖ If a neuter noun ends in –е, replace it with –я 

Ex. 
1. зда́ние — зда́ния 
2. мо́ре — моря́ 
3. пла́тье — пла́тья

❖ If a neuter noun ends in –мя, replace it with –ена 

Ex. 
1. и́мя — имена́ 
2. вре́мя — времена́

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Task - Plural Nouns in Russian

Practice

Practice forming Russian plural nouns by translating the words below. The singular form is given. Use the rules above to determine the correct plural ending.

/13
1 votes, 5 avg
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Plural Nouns in Russian

1 / 13

Deer – оле́нь (м.)

Deer – _____

2 / 13

University – университе́т (м.)

Universities – _____

3 / 13

Cat – кот (м.)

Cats – _____

4 / 13

Man – мужчи́на (м.)

Men – _____

5 / 13

Museum – музе́й (м.)

Museums – _____

6 / 13

Night – но́чь (ж.)

Nights – _____

7 / 13

Field – по́ле (ср.)

Fields – _____

8 / 13

Bed – крова́ть (ж.)

Beds – _____

9 / 13

Ocean – океа́н (м.)

Oceans – _____

10 / 13

Face – лицо́ (ср.)

Faces – _____

11 / 13

Letter – письмо́ (ср.)

Letters – _____

12 / 13

Woman – же́нщина (ж.)

Women – _____

13 / 13

Arm – рука́ (ж.)

Arms – _____

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Note:

(м.) – мужсого рода = masculine

(ж.) – женского рода = feminine

(ср.) – среднего рода = neuter

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