Russian Grammar: The Genitive of Plural Feminine and Neuter Nouns


Posted on May 25th, 2013

Last week we talked about the genitive case of plural masculine nouns, and today we will talk about the genitive plural of feminine and neuter nouns. There are quite a few endings that you will need to remember (as usually in Russian grammar).

A quick tip: I noticed that for me it’s always easier to learn when I make notes. Even if all of the material is already printed in front of me, I still make my own notes. I suggest that you watch the video and make notes and then compare your notes to the grammar rules that I usually publish below the video.

In my Russian grammar videos, due to the time constrains, I’ll only give you a few (usually 3) examples to help you practice the grammar rules you’ve just learned. However, on my site, I will add more examples to the exercise or will publish an extra exercise in the Let’s Practice! section to give you an opportunity for more practice. In today’s lesson’s exercise you will find 7 more nouns (10 in total) that you can use to practice forming genitive plural of Russian feminine and neuter nouns.

Have fun!

1. “Zero” Ending
Most feminine nouns in –a and neuter nouns ending in –o lose that ending to form plural:
Машина – машин
Яблоко – яблок

NOTE (this is true for all genders – masculine as well as feminine & neutral):

If the resulting genitive plural form has two consonants at the end, you will need to add the fill vowel -o or –e between these consonants, -e is usually added to avoid breaking a spelling rule, or if the last consonant is preceded by –й or –ь.
Дедушка – дедушек (masculine)
Бабушка- бабушек (feminine)
Письмо – писем (neuter)
Чайка – чаек (feminine)

-o is added in all other instances:
Окно – окон
Тарелка – тарелок

2. Ending –ь
If a feminine noun ends in a consonant plus –я, drop and add –ь
Нелеля – недель
Капля – капель

3. Ending -ей
If a feminine noun ends in –ь, drop the soft sign and add ending -ей
Дверь – дверей
Мышь – мышей

4. Endings –ий
If a noun ends in –ие, -ия, then you will need to drop –e or –я and add –ий
Здание – зданий
Лаборатория – лабораторий

Let’s Practice

Now, let’s practice. The words below are singular nouns, please make them plural in genitive case:

  • Газета
  • Кухня
  • Общежитие
  • Книга
  • Тётя
  • Знание
  • История
  • Зима
  • Ручка
  • Облако

This is all for today, I hope you enjoyed the lesson. If you have any questions or comments you can write them in the comment area below, I’m always happy to hear from you! And, if you’d like to receive weekly updates from Russian4real via email, then you can subscribe for a weekly newsletter.

Talk to you very soon!

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The courses of Russian as a foreign language with Russian4real take place online via Skype. The teacher works with adults individually since he is convinced that each person must receive maximum time for practice and professional attention while learning a foreign language.