Nominative plural of nouns online. Case endings for plural nouns. difference in meaning of words

18. Nominative plural of nouns. Ending options.

For most nouns male The 1st declension in the nominative plural is 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, goal - goals, fat - fats, club - clubs (smoke), garden – gardens, soup – soups, cheese – cheeses; gene - genes, gram - grams, load - loads, probe - probes, club - clubs (union of people); varnish - varnishes, elevator - elevators, warehouse - warehouses, syllable - syllables, view - views, cake - cakes, toast - toasts, pound - pounds, chef - chefs and some. etc.

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 with -a. 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 "dressed skins" or "products made from them"), horn, clan (in the meaning of "type, type of army or weapon") , growth, snow*, account (in the meaning of “monetary document”, “category of a financial transaction”), current (in the meaning of “place of threshing”, “place of wetting”), tone (in the meaning of “color, shade of color”), bread (meaning “cereal”), stable, color (as the color of something), silk (silk meaning “product”).
The ending -я (with an increasing suffix -j- or ovj-) has the nouns tooth, son-in-law, wedge, stake, lump, cry (meaning “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, carpet, clover (as “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”), shortcut, circle, order (as a reward) , order (in the meaning of "document"), island, vacation, sail, passport, quail, 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, tes, cold (cold in the meaning of "period of cold weather"), khutor, skull, best man, ramrod, yunker (meaning "pupil of a military school in pre-revolutionary Russia " and "volunteer non-commissioned officer" in the Russian army), anchor and nek. etc.

The ending -я (with the increasing suffix -j-) has the nouns ear, rim, rein (“a 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 phraseological units 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, outhouse, 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.).

19. Genitive plural of nouns and variants of genitive plural endings.

I. The main ending of masculine nouns is -ov/(-ov)-ev: mushrooms, cargo, directors, edges, museums, etc.
Some words have an -ey ending (residents, teachers, knives) and a zero ending (boots, townspeople).
1. The ending -ov/(-ёв)-ев is characteristic of those nouns whose final sound in the singular (nominative case) is a hard consonant (except zh and sh) or -j (in writing - the letter y): mushroom - mushrooms , cucumber - cucumbers, edge - edges, museum - museums, etc.
2. The ending -ey is characteristic of those masculine nouns whose final sound in the singular is a soft consonant (except -j) or zh, w: dove - doves, acorn - acorns, executioner - executioners, knife - knives, baby - kids.
The same ending has a number of words ending in -a, -ya, masculine and general: dad, uncle, dad, raja, Chukchi, young man; mumble, idle talker, (not) equal, quiet, as well as male informal names with a base on a soft consonant or hissing: Volodya - Volodya, Seryozha - Seryozhey.
3. The zero ending is inherent in nouns, which are the following names:
a) paired items: boots - boot, boots - bot, felt boots - felt boots, eyes - eyes, leggings - leggings, moccasins - mokasun, shoulder straps - shoulder straps, boots - boots, stockings - stockings, boots - booties, epaulettes - epaulettes, a also hair - hair, teeth - tooth.
Exceptions: aiguillettes - aiguillettes, boots - boots, golfs - golfs, pima - pimov, horns - horns (but in phraseological units - horn: God does not give a horn to a lively cow).
Some words of this semantic group have variant endings that are stylistically equivalent: kedy – kedov and ked; soskú – sock and sock, unty – unt and untov;
b) a number of nationalities, nationalities, tribes (including the names of disappeared peoples, as well as names used before), mainly with the final consonant -n or -r (singular): English - English, Armenians - Armenia n, Bashkurs - Bashkur, Balkars - Balkar, Bulgarians - Bulgarians, Gruzins - Gruzun, Imeretins - Imeretun, Lezguns - Lezgun, Magyars - Magyars, Moldovans - Moldovans, Ossetians - o Setun, Romanians – Romanians , Tatars - Tatars, Turks - Turks, Khazars - Khazars, Gypsies - Gypsies.
Some words of this group have variant stylistically equivalent endings: Avárs - Avars and Avárovs, Buryats - Buryats and Buryatovs, Karelians - Karelians and Karelians, Sarmatians - Sarmatians and Sarmatians, Turkmens - Turkmens and Turkmens, Uyghurs - Uighurs and Uighurs.
But: Aisors, Arabs, Berbers, Bushmen, Hungarians, Kazakhs, Mongols, Negroes and others. etc.;
c) people at the place of residence with -anin/-yanin (for whom this suffix is ​​replaced in plural suffix -an/-yan): city dweller - city dweller, alien - alien, Kievite - Kievite, villager - villager, yuzhanin - yuzhan, etc.;
d) cubs, non-adult creatures with the suffix -onok/-yonok (changing in the plural to the suffix -am/-yat): wolf cub - wolf cubs, kitten - kittens, chicken - chickens, etc. Wed. and slang salazhonok – salazhat; according to the same model, also an oil can - butter, honey mushroom - honey agaric,
Note Genitive case from imp, imp - imp, imp, imp.

e) people by belonging to certain branches of the military, to a military unit, to certain political parties: partisans, soldiers, cadets.
A number of names based on the type of military service (including the former) and rank have variant stylistically equivalent forms: hussars - hussars and hussars, grenadiers - grenadiers and grenadiers, dragyns - draguns and draguns, cuirassurs - cuirassurs and cuirassors, lancers - lancers and ulans, midshipmen - midshipmen and midshipmen. Compare, for example: “On November 22, Seslavin sent me to clear the left side of the Vilna road with a hundred Sumy hussars, a platoon of dragoons of the Tver regiment and a dozen Donets” (A. Marlinsky); “...a Frenchman in a blue overcoat fought off the hussars with a bayonet” (L.T.); “In the evening of the same day, the tsar sent regiments of guards and dragoons in pursuit” (Buganov V.I. Peter the Great and his time);
e) some units of measurement: ampere, watt (kilowatt, etc. with -watt), volt, roentgen (and Difficult words c -roentgen). For example, “...natural background radiation is usually 15–20 microroentgens per hour...” (Koms. pr. 1990. May 12).
In texts that are not strictly official, the zero ending (very common in living oral speech, in the author's speech fiction) can also have the nouns hectare, gram, kilogram. In texts that are not strictly official, the literary norm allows for a zero ending in words denoting some vegetables and fruits: (kilo) apricot, orange, eggplant, tangerine, tomato.
II. 1. For neuter nouns, the main one is the zero ending: vedro - veder, delo - delo, housing - housing, building - buildings, window - okon, gun - ruzhey (words like building, gun, i.e. words with a stem in - j, refer to those nouns in which a fluent vowel appears before the zero ending in the genitive plural: i-, if the stress does not fall on the ending, and -e-, if the ending is stressed).
2. Some neuter nouns in the genitive case have the ending -ov/-ev. These include:
a) nouns in the plural forms of which -j- appears before the ending: bottom → donya, donyev, link → links, links, wing → wings*, wings; log → logs, logs; b) nouns in -ko (except for army, ear**, apple, apple)***: drevoko - drevkov, wheel - wheels, cloud - clouds, ozerkó - ozerkov, ochkó - glasses, shoulder - shoulders; c) some nouns with a stem ending in -j (singular and plural); upper reaches - upper reaches, lower reaches - lower reaches (and lower reaches), tip - tips, dress - dresses, razvod - razdyov, mouth - mouths, as well as the word bolotse (marsh).

Some words ending in -tse have variant endings, one of which, as a rule, is more common than the second (the more common below is given first): tree → small trees and trees, ring → rings and rings, spindle → spindles and spindles, bucket , tse → kopytsev and kopytets, lace → lace and lace, shilse → shiltsev and shilets. Wed, for example; “[Meresyev] allowed himself to eat only ten spoons and a few fibers of white, soft chicken meat” (Polevoy B.N. The Tale of a Real Man) and: “With a decrease in the amount of twist, the connection of individual elementary fibers is disrupted” (Anuchin S.A. and etc. Construction and maintenance of twisting machines); “The bulk of the trees we sell are obtained through the barbaric destruction of already scarce forests” (Lit. gazette. 1966. December 31) and: “... when the crowns of individual trees merge into a common closed canopy and the trees begin to experience mutual lateral shading, then a struggle arises over the light" (Morozov G. Teaching about oneself), etc.
III. For nouns female The main ending of the 2nd declension is the zero ending: (with) roofs, pine trees, apple trees, (without) pokers, sisters, weddings, etc.
A small number of feminine nouns ending in -а/-я have the ending -е. It is received by words that have a group of consonants before the ending -gl-, -kl-, -hl-: (no) skittles, boucles, sakley, rokhlya, as well as the words share → doley, penya → peney, candle → candles (but in phraseology - candle: the game is not worth the candle).
A small number of words have variant endings: barzha - barzh and barzhey, karakulya - karakulya and karakul, song - songs and songs *, handful - handful and handful, sheet - sheet and sheet, procure - pimp and pimp, shutter - shutter and shutter, aunt - aunt and aunt.
The ending -ey is also characteristic of feminine nouns with a soft consonant and sibilants (3rd declension): role - roles, fabric - fabrics, night - nights. Only the word sazhen has two forms: sazhen and sazhen.
As for nouns used only in the plural form, there are difficulties with choosing correct form The genitive case refers mainly to proper names. Therefore, common nouns of this type are not considered here, and those interested in the genitive case forms of proper names can be referred to the “Dictionary of Stresses for Radio and Television Workers” by F.L. Ageenko and M.V. Zarvy

20. Declension of names and surnames. Declension of toponyms.

A. Declension of names and surnames
I. Russian surnames and names, surnames and names of residents of Slavic countries, as well as surnames and names of peoples living in the territory former USSR, in principle, they are inclined: “films of Eldar Ryazanov”, “poems of Andrei Bely”
At the same time, from this general rule there are a number of exceptions, and the surnames and names of some morphological types require additional comments.
They do not bow, according to the modern literary norm:
a) surnames starting with -o, -e, -i, -yh/-i, for example: “films of the film studio named after A.P. Dovzhenko”, “the story about A.I. Marinesko”
b) female surnames with a consonant: “to visit the famous artist N. Uzhviy”, “L.N. Tolstoy knew the eldest daughter of A.S. Pushkin Maria Hartung”;
c) the first part of a double surname, if it does not have the appearance of a traditional Russian surname or belongs to the morphological type of surnames that do not decline: “sculptures by Demut-Malinovsky,” “plays by Sukhovo-Kobylin,” “Miklouho-Maclay Street.”
Surnames that sound the same as common nouns may or may not be inflected (although the inflected version is preferable)
East Slavic male surnames in -ok, -ek, -ets, -yats, -en, -el (homonymous with a common noun or having final combinations similar to those common nouns that have a fluent vowel when inflected) are declined with both loss and without losing a vowel: “Romances by S. Rachmaninov performed by People’s Artist of the USSR Yu. Mazurok” (Moscow pr. 1982. April 16); “Perhaps the most remarkable thing in the new play staged by V. Pluchek...” (Vech. M. 1973. January 31);
It is also advisable to decline Polish, Czech and Slovak surnames and names in -ek, -ets, -el without losing the vowel, which makes it possible, while keeping the base unchanged, to accurately deduce the forms of all cases according to one of the available ones.

As for surnames in -ets, they are used mainly with the loss of a vowel. Compare, for example, in the translation of the novel “The Adventures of the Good Soldier Schweik” by J. Hasek: “Schweik turned to Palivets”, “Schweik said to Palivets”, etc. The surname Martinec of the famous Czech hockey player was also given in the press: “Martinec’s blow”, “goal scored by Martinec”, etc. Wed. and: “Vladislav Nelyubin is winning only a second now against Vlastimil Moravec” (Pr. 1972. Oct. 16).
Note. Without losing the vowel e, surnames and names are inclined to -ek, -ok, -ets, -el, which are common in non-Slavic countries: “concerts that were organized by the famous American entrepreneur Sol Hurok.”
The name Lyubov is declined without losing the vowel o, like a 3rd declension noun (Lubov, Lyubov, etc.). Based on the model of this type of declension, a number of borrowed female names, long-acquired, change to a soft consonant (mostly of biblical origin), existing among people inhabiting the territory of the former USSR: “He lived with his sister Esther Alexandrovna” (Trifonov Yu.A. Glimpses of the fire) ; “The works of Esther Shub outlined the path to creating films of a new type” (Sadul J. History of cinema / Translated by M.K. Levina) (for female names with a soft consonant, see also below).
II. 1. Foreign-language male surnames and names are inclined to a consonant: “the opera “Porgy and Bass” by George Gershwin,” “the novels of Heinrich Böll,” “the mastery of Gerard Philippe.”
2. Male and female (foreign language) surnames and names ending in a unstressed without a preceding vowel and -iya are declined: “... turning the morning breakfast into a scene from the comedy of Lope de Vega” (Kav.); “There is the cinema of De Sica and the cinema of Hitchcock, Kurosawa and Rene Clair” (A. Kapler);
The following are not declined: a) male and female surnames and names ending in -o, -e, -i, -ы, -у, -yu, as well as in -a (with a preceding vowel) and -á, for example: " plays by Jean Cocteau", "Jawaharlal Nehru's anniversary", "novels by Andre Maurois", "Roman stories of Alberto Maravia", "films of Antonioni";

b) female surnames and names ending in a hard consonant, as well as surnames ending in a soft consonant: “Margaret Thatcher’s visit,” “Edith Piaf’s songs,” “Nicole Courcelle’s speech.”
As for female names with a soft consonant, the matter is more complicated. As mentioned above, female names of biblical origin are inclined - Hagar, Rachel, Ruth, Tamar, Judith. There is a strong tradition of inclining the name of the heroine of Adan’s ballet “Giselle”: “Chauvire is an expressive, subtle dancer, famous for her soulful performance of the role of Giselle” (Ballet of the National Opera House. Paris. M., 1958); “The role of Giselle was her long-time dream” (Theater 1972. No. 11); “Ten years ago, Bessmertnova and Lavrovsky made their debut in Giselle (Vech. M. 1973. March 15).
And one more feature of the declension of foreign-language surnames needs to be paid attention to: male surnames ending in -ov and -in have the ending -om in the instrumental case (unlike Russian surnames ending in -ov and -in): " roles played by Max von Sydow", "pictures shot by Charlie Chaplin" (but: "surgeon Vasily Chaplin"). Wed. also: “I was brought to the committee by the desire to talk with its chairman Peter Florin” (Pr. 1990. May 10).

B. Declension of toponyms
One-word toponyms - names settlements, rivers, lakes, etc. - decline, like common nouns. Compare, for example, toponyms in names literary works: “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (Radishch.), “House in Kolomna” (P.)
Toponyms also decline to -ovo/-evo, -ino/-yno. They always “behaved” as inclined people both in popular speech and in works of fiction: “The history of the village of Goryukhin” (P.); “He was from a poor house in Chesmenka... she was from the same one in Shatilovo” (Bun.); “I live in Aksenov, I drink kumys, and I’ve already gained 8 pounds.

they do not always incline to -ovo/-evo, -ino/-yno, which contradicts the norms of the Russian language: “Not only the boys of Enakievo thought so” (Av. i kosm. 1968. No. 11); "Events in Kosovo" (Koms. pr. 1981.7 April); "In 1982, I met the national team at Sheremetyevo-2 Soviet Union in volleyball..." (Koms. pr. 1990. June 5). By the way, the same place names are often found in the same newspaper in the correct, inflected form: "Events in Kosovo" (Koms. pr. 1988 . November 23); “They didn’t fly abroad from Sheremetyevo-2” (Koms. pr. 1990. June 12). Wed, for example: "Winter in Prostokvashino."
According to the literary norm, those one-word place names that end in vowels -i (if this toponym is not perceived as a plural form), -e, -o (except for place names ending in -ovo/-evo, -ino/-yno) are not declined. “residents of Sochi (Tokyo, Tuapse, Tbilisi)”, “competitions on Medeo”, “travel along the Gobi”, “waters of Aragvi”.
As for non-single word place names, they are declined differently depending on whether they are syntactic combinations common to the Russian language or not. Firstly, all words are declined, more precisely, all words that are susceptible to declension corresponding to a given syntactic construction: “in Vyshny Volochyok (in New Orleans)”, “near Nizhny Tagil”, “on Far East", "in Frankfurt am Main", etc. Secondly, i.e. in those ambiguous names that are perceived as syntactically indecomposable, only the last element is declined (if it can be declined): "in Port Said (in New York)", "along the Sierra Nevada", "the foothills of the Kopet-Dag", "in Kamenets-Podolsky"
And one more feature of the declension of toponyms should be paid attention to. In the instrumental case, place names ending in -ov(o)/-ev(o), -in(o)/-yn(o): (under) Pskov, (beyond) Kamyshin, (above) Vnukovo, Sheremetyevo. Wed. also: “The battle of Golovchin was not a great success for the Swedes, but it contributed to the further blinding of the king” (Buganov).

It should be remembered that some nouns do not form a singular form and are used only in the plural form. These are the nouns everyday life, frosts, pasta, memoirs, supplies, searches, finances, chores and some others. There are also two groups of nouns in the Russian language that form the singular form, but are more often used in the plural form:

• 1) some nouns that name people by occupation or characteristic quality (elected - elected, present - present, workers - worker);
• 2) nouns naming a pair or set of persons or objects (twins - twin, boots - boot, troops - army, toast - toast, toast, initials - initial, quotes - quote, skates - skate, skis - ski, vegetables - vegetable, slippers - slipper).

The most important question related to the formation of the plural form of the nominative case is the question of the variable ending

-and I)-s(s). Classic, traditional Russian ending - ending -s, however, the ending that came into the language from the vernacular -A has become increasingly common in recent decades and is replacing the ending -s. In some cases, the use of the ending -A is unacceptable and is a violation of grammatical norms, a speech error.

From this point of view, nouns are divided into three groups:

• 1) nouns whose plural form is formed only with the help of the ending -s(s), such as accountant, age, goalkeeper, reprimand, issue, coat of arms, hospital, yard, dispatcher, contract, engineer, container, cream, lecturer, painter, broker, month, officer, queue, policy, handwriting, syllable, carpenter, turner, cake, front, driver-,
• 2) nouns whose plural form is formed only with the help of the ending -and I), such as address, shore, fan, director, doctor, boat, feed, dome, master, number, cloud, order, cuff, vacation, grade, watchman, passport, cook, professor, tom, poplar,
• 3) nouns, the plural form of which is formed variably, i.e. and using the ending -s(s), and using the ending -and I), such as heap, year, bunch, uncle, brother-in-law, inspector, instructor, cruiser, plinth, spotlight, poodle, pole, sector, mechanic, poplar, outbuilding, workshop, stack, stamp, storm, anchor.

Should be paid Special attention to words for which errors are often made when forming the plural form:

In modern Russian there is a tendency to expand the use of the ending -and I), Therefore, in case of any doubt, it is better to consult a dictionary. However, if this is not possible, choose the ending option based on the fact that the wrong option with the ending -s(s) will sound somewhat archaic and intelligent, and the incorrect version with the ending -and I) gives speech features of vernacular.

Different forms of the nominative plural of nouns can be associated with different meanings of a word. For example, teeth of the beast - saw teeth, warring camps - youth camps, strange images - images in the church, teachers of life - school teachers, bread in the oven - bread in the field, great men of antiquity - the husbands of this woman, knee-deep in water - the tribes (generations) of Israel - bamboo knees.

Different forms of the nominative plural are also formed for homonyms: for example, sheet(tree) - leaves And sheet(papers) - sheets, fur(sable) - fur And bellows (blacksmith's) - bellows, kind(antique) - childbirth And genus(troops) - kind.

The nominative plural form can be formed using non-standard endings, but usually such cases do not cause difficulties for those who speak Russian as their native language. These are forms such as chicken - chickens, ant - ants, ear - ears, wing - wings, citizen - citizens, sky - heaven.

Nouns such as luggage, struggle, faith, air, east, heroism, friendship, breathing, painting, climate, space, love, shoes, defense, fatherland, midnight, repairs, realism, homeland, glory, justice, happiness, cottage cheese, technology, study, honor, echo, humor and others.

For some nouns, the plural form of the nominative case is formed, but differs from the singular form in lexical meaning. Similar forms are formed in three cases:

• 1) a plural noun denotes mass, volume, force of manifestation (pain, sand, snow, cold and etc.);
• 2) a plural noun names the types and types of substances denoted by singular material nouns (water, sausages, salts, coals, teas and etc.);
• 3) a plural noun names manifestations of qualities and properties denoted by abstract nouns in the singular (depth, beauty, tenderness, sadness, joy, noise and etc.).

For some nouns, the plural form of the nominative case is formed only in certain stable combinations, such as choose the lesser of two evils.

As noted earlier (see paragraph 2.2.1. Gender of nouns), in the form nominative plural(primarily masculine nouns) there is a large number of endings, which is associated with the history of the development of the system of declensions of Russian nouns.

1. Currently, among masculine nouns of the second declension, the two most common endings are: -s/-s And -and I, and in colloquial speech and in common parlance the ending is marked with particular productivity -and I. It partially replaces the ending -s/-s and in literary language.

Thus, in the 19th century forms were common houses, trains, and in the twentieth century - houses ́, trains ́. Already in recent decades, forms directors, professors became obsolete, and their place was taken by the versions of director ́, professor ́.

However, the process of replacing the ending -ы/- and the ending -а/-я in the literary language is much slower than in common speech precisely because forms with -а/-я are in many ways perceived as second-rate, reduced.

The use of either ending is determined by a number of factors:

A) nouns that denote paired concepts have the ending -а/-я:

eyes ́, sleeves ́, cuffs ́;

b) most monosyllabic words have a plural ending -s/-s (cakes, fleets, noises), but exceptions are possible (houses ́, varieties ́);

V) The ending -а/-я, as a rule, is the plural of two-syllable words with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Wed: kater - boats, ramrod - ramrod.

If the accent is in initial form falls on the second syllable, then the ending is common in the plural -s/-s: watermelon - watermelons;

G) in trisyllabic and polysyllabic words the ending is common -s/-s with emphasis on the middle of the word: pharmacists, contracts(form agreement although acceptable, it is still undesirable!);

d) foreign words (usually of French origin) with the final -er/-er and emphasis on last syllable usually have the ending -ы/-и:

officer - officers, kiosk - kioskers, driver - drivers (!);

note to the last form. Form used in common and professional speech driver supported by the colloquial singular form with emphasis on the first syllable - chauffeur. But this pronunciation is not literary (!).

e) words Latin origin with the final -tor/-sor usually have the ending -ы/-и ( computers, processors), although animate nouns, quite frequent and common in speech, the ending -а/-я is becoming common.

Wed: commentators, lecturers, new authors - directors, doctors, professors;

and) ending -а/-я usually have two-syllable and three-syllable nouns with stress on the first syllable and with finals -л/-л and -р/-р:

shako - shako, tunic - tunic(permissible - tunics).

Sometimes the same noun is simultaneously subject to several mutually exclusive factors. It is among such words that we observe greatest number options in speech.

For example, words factor, vector disyllabic with stress on the first syllable, so in the plural they could have the ending -а/-я. At the same time, these are inanimate nouns of Latin origin with a final -tor, so they can have the ending -ы/-и. In literary language, the action of the second factor wins and the variants are normative vectors, factors.
Noun bunker disyllabic with stress on the first syllable, so it can have the ending -a. But as a word of German rather than French origin in -er, it can have the ending -ы. In literary language, both forms are equal: bunker And bunkers.

Sometimes the use of one or another ending is determined by the meaning and compatibility of the word:

• hog(horizontal parts of chimneys) and hogs(castrated male pigs);
• conductor/tram conductors And conductors in the machine(special devices in mechanisms);
• factory buildings, cadet corps And human or animal body;
• fur(tanned animal skins) and bellows;
• images in the novel And images of saints in the church;
• knightly orders And orders for exploits;
• reins for a horse And reasons(motivations);
• belts and robes And Time Zones(permissible - time zones);
• missing letters And factory passes;
• sable(fur) and sables(animals);
• bank accounts - office accounts;
• sons from first marriage And sons of the fatherland;
• electric currents And current in the field;
• tones in music And tones in painting;
• apply the brakes ́ - remove brakes during operation;
• spiritual teachers And school teachers;
• bread in the oven And bread in the field;
• colors(paints) and flowers(plants);
• cadets(large landowners in Germany) and cadet(pupils of military schools).

2. Neuter nouns of the second declension usually have a plural ending -а/-я: ring ́ - rings, porch ́ - porch.

This ending (unlike masculine nouns) is usually unstressed: villages, glass, buckets.

In the initial form the stress usually falls on the last syllable: village, glass, bucket.

But the stressed ending -а/-я is also possible - mirrors(in the initial form such nouns usually have a stress based on - mirror).

Much less often, neuter nouns have the ending -ы/-и: shoulder - shoulders.

Sometimes in speech there is an erroneous use of the ending -ы/-и in a number of neuter nouns instead of the normative ending -а/-я.

For example: mirrors instead of normative mirrors; spots instead of normative spots; eggs instead of normative eggs.

3. A number of nouns are characterized by non-standard formation of the nominative plural form:

Masculine nouns ending in -yonok in the plural have the suffix -yat- and the unstressed ending -a:

foal - foals, child - guys;

nouns ending in -anin/-yanin in the plural end in -ane/-yanin:

citizen - citizens, peasant - peasants, Armenian - Armenians (!);

note to plural forms of nouns: owner - owners(very bad mistake - owners!), bottom - donya, awl - shilya, chicken - chickens, ship - ships, child - children, person - people.

4. In addition, it should be remembered that not all nouns have two forms - singular and plural.

Collective, abstract nouns have only the singular form:

goodness, faith, youth, linen.

A number of concrete nouns do not have a singular form:

scissors, trousers.

The names of substances also usually have one form: either a singular form or a plural form.

Wed: sugar, coal, jam; ink, sawdust.

Therefore, it would be incorrect to use an abstract noun in the plural morality in a sentence: The word “morality” refers to generally accepted forms of morality protected by the state.

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 spheres 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 traditional norms 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.

Forms may have different meaning: 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. h. birth n. difficult; these are words dream, prayer, head. On the contrary, the words shchetz And firewood have no other forms except the plural form. h. birth case.

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

State linguistic culture V 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, in late XIX– at the 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 counter examples, in particular, accountants, trainers, 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 to the common man(for a non-philologist) it will be difficult 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