Endings ы а. Spelling case endings of nouns

Pronunciation standards are not the easiest thing. Most often, questions arise in cases of use and spelling of words in the plural. If everything is more or less clear with feminine nouns, then masculine words (second declension) can cause serious difficulties. For example, how to say: contracts or agreements, directors or directors, outbuildings or outbuildings?

Confusion with endings -ы (-и) and -а (-я)

In the Old Russian language, for the masculine plural there were only forms ending in -ы (-и). Even M.V. Lomonosov identified only three exceptions to the rule, prescribing that one must say “eyes, sides, horns”, and in other cases pronounce -ы or -и at the end of nouns.

However, the form of words with -a at the end confidently gained popularity. In modern language it occurs often, especially in colloquial speech (contracts, proofreaders). While endings with -ы today often carry a connotation of “bookishness” and formality.

In modern Russian, some words in the masculine plural are used only with the ending -а (running), the other part is pronounced with -а only in colloquial speech, and when writing, the ending -ы (contracts) is necessarily used, and in the remaining cases the form with -а remained incorrect (authors). Because of such confusion with endings, questions constantly arise about how to correctly write and say this or that word.

Words ending in -a

Among the words with endings -а (-я), the spelling of which often causes difficulties, you can find the following words:

board, buffer, buer, fan, monogram, bill of exchange, director, doctor, huntsman, chute, millstone, boat, jacket, dome, bell, master, number, haystack, watchman, paramedic, farmstead, best man, stamp, sharpie.

Ending in -ы, but it is acceptable to use -а (contracts)

There are many cases when ending in -ы (-и) is a strict literary norm, but in conversation it is acceptable to use -а (-я). A striking example is the word “agreement”. “Agreements” are correctly used both in oral and written speech (emphasis on the third letter O), but in an informal setting you can also say “agreements” - this would not be a big mistake.

Here is a list of similar words where the ending -ы (-и) is required, but -а (-я) is allowed:

bunkers and bins, years and years, inspectors and inspectors, feed and feed, proofreaders and proofreaders, boxes and boxes, bodies and bodies, contracts and agreements, holidays and vacations, spotlights and spotlights, editors and editors, sectors and sectors, mechanics and mechanics, outbuildings and outbuildings, poplars and poplars, workshops and workshops.

The ending -ы or -а is used depending on the meaning

It happens that the answer to the question of how to use a word correctly depends entirely on the meaning of the noun.

If boars, then hogs. If it's chimneys, then it's a hog.
The bodies are referred to as bodies, and the buildings are referred to as bodies.
Political groups are camps, but the military and tourists have camps.
There are images of heroes in books, movies, and paintings. But images are written on icons.
If we are talking about the skin of animals, we need to say fur. If we are talking about bags for transporting liquids, then bellows.
Societies of knights or monks were called orders. Insignia are called orders.
When something happens due to oversight, these are omissions. But the documents for entry are passes.
While the animals are sable, they are written with -i. When they turn into skins, they are already sable.
You can listen to the tones in the heart, tune the tones on the guitar, but the tones in the paintings are different.
Obstacles are called brakes, and in equipment the brakes can fail.
School teachers are teachers, and the founders of some theories, inspirers, are teachers.
Standing cereals are bread. The store sells bread.

It can be concluded that pronunciation norms continue to change today. Forms in -a are confidently making their way and it is possible that someday, in 70 - 100 years, they will become the main ones.

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 vernacular 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 the 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 stress in the 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 stress on the 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 of Latin origin with the ending -tor/-sor usually have the ending -ы/-и ( computers, processors), although in animate nouns that are quite frequent and commonly used in speech, the ending -a/-я becomes 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 the largest number of variants in speech is observed.

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.

Table 1 - Case endings of singular nouns

Cases	I declension	II declension	III declension
I. p.	-and I wives A, earth I	, -o, -e horse, sat down O, floor e	night, horse
R. p.	*-s, -i* wives s, earth And	-and I con I, sat down A, floor I	-And night And, horses And
D. p.	-e wives e, earth e	*-u, -yu* con Yu, sat down at, floor Yu	-And night And, horses And
V. p.	-u, -yu wives at, earth Yu	, -a, -i, -o, -e con I, sat down O, floor e	night, horse
etc.	-oh (-oh), -ey (-her) wives Ouch, earth to her	-om, -eat con eat, sat down ohm, floor eat	-yu night yu, horses yu
P. p.	-e wives e, earth e	*-e, -i* con e, sat down e, floor e	*-And* night And, horses And

In singular case endings it is written:

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 factory e, to the machine e; about pestilence e; all L e;
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 (ending -And ); be in thought e, be on the coast e (ending -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) the ending is written in the instrumental case of the singular -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

Cases	I declension	II declension	III declension
I. p.	-s, -i wives s, earth And	*a, -i, -s, -i* con And, sat down A, floor I	*-And* night And, horses And
R. p.	wives, lands	*-ov, -ey,* con to her, sat down, floor to her	*-to her* night to her, horses to her
D. p.	*-am, -yam* wives am, earth yam	*-am, -yam* con yam, sat down am, floor yam	*-am, -yam* night am, horses yam
V. p.	-s, -i, wives, land And	-a, -i, -s, -i, her, -ov con to her, sat down A, floor I	-and, -ey night And, horses to her
etc.	-ami, -yami wives ami, earth yami	-ami, -yami con yami, sat down ami, floor yami	-ami, -yami night ami, horses yami
P. p.	-ah, -yah wives Oh, earth I	-ah, -yah con I, sat down Oh, floor I	-ah, -yah night Oh, horses I

In the genitive plural, after the sibilants, the letter b is not written, for example: solution tasks, repair dwellings.
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), pay 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).
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 .