LinguaTwo endings do almost all the work
Russian has no word for the or some: whether you mean one thing or many is written into the noun's own ending. Masculine and feminine nouns take -ы or -и; neuter nouns take -а or -я. Which of the two you write depends only on the last letter of the singular.
| Singular | Plural | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| стол | столы | consonant plus -ы |
| газета | газеты | -а → -ы |
| музей | музеи | -й → -и |
| словарь | словари | -ь → -и |
| неделя | недели | -я → -и |
| окно | окна | -о → -а |
| море | моря | -е → -я |
Seven letters that never take -ы
After к, г, х, ж, ч, ш, щ Russian writes -и, never -ы. This is a spelling rule of the whole language, not a rule about plurals, and you will meet it again in every chapter of the grammar. книга ends in -га, so its plural is книги and never книгы.
| Singular | Plural | Last letter |
|---|---|---|
| книга | книги | г |
| ручка | ручки | к |
| девушка | девушки | к |
| врач | врачи | ч |
| нож | ножи | ж |
| карандаш | карандаши | ш |
Это книги, а это карандаши.These are books, and these are pencils.
Words that go their own way
A short list refuses the pattern, and it is exactly the everyday words. Some masculine nouns take a stressed -а: дом becomes дома́. A few take -ья: друг becomes друзья. And the two commonest of all replace the word itself: человек becomes лю́ди, ребёнок becomes де́ти.
| Singular | Plural | Type |
|---|---|---|
| дом | дома | stressed -а |
| город | города | stressed -а |
| учитель | учителя | stressed -я |
| друг | друзья | -ья |
| брат | братья | -ья |
| человек | люди | a different word |
| ребёнок | дети | a different word |
Мой друг тут, а мои друзья там.My friend is here, and my friends are over there.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| столы | tables | Здесь столы, а там стулья. There are tables here and chairs over there. |
| книги | books | Мои книги тут. My books are here. |
| окна | windows | Вот окна, а вот двери. Here are the windows, and here are the doors. |
| дома | houses, buildings | Это дома, а это музей. These are houses, and this is a museum. |
| друзья | friends | Где мои друзья? Where are my friends? |
| люди | people | Тут люди, а там дети. There are grown-ups here and children over there. |
| дети | children | Дети тут, а учителя там. The children are here and the teachers are over there. |
| учителя | teachers | Это учителя, а это врачи. These are teachers, and these are doctors. |
| врачи | doctors | Где врачи? Where are the doctors? |
| города | cities | Москва и Казань – города. Moscow and Kazan are cities. |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 1
- translate the sentence: 2
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
Only one of these plural forms is spelled correctly. Which one?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.