Declension of proper nouns. Declension of proper nouns Rules for declension of proper nouns in Russian

Declension of nouns

? Describe the main features of the declension system in modern Russian.

Exercise 8. Make sentences based on the diagrams. Determine the case in place of the questions.

1. (2 classes I.p. singular) ordered to speak in 8 (2 classes, R.p., plural) (2 classes, R.p., singular).

2. My (1st class, I.p.) lived in (1st class, P.p.) until her (2nd class, I.p.) went to work at (1st class, V.p. ., units).

3. (2 cl., I.p.) took the yellow one (2 cl., ? p.) and took it to (2 cl., ? p., singular).

4. According to (1st letter, D.p.) in (own, 1st letter, V.p.) we met (3rd letter, I.p.).

5. (3 col., I.p.) (3 col., D.p.) (1 bl., I.p.).

Declension of some names and surnames

Non-Russian surnames referring to two or more persons

Exercise 9. Read the sentences using the correct form of proper nouns.

Novels of Jules...Verne...are popular all over the world. 2. The theater staged a new play by Jean... -Paul... Sartre.... 3. Fairy tales of Hans... Christian... Andersen... are loved by children all over the world. 4. The views of philosophers turned to August... Schlegel.... 5. The artist performed the beautiful sonnets of Petrarch.... 6. We read the book by Heinrich and Thomas Mann…. 7. The Miller couple…. We visited an art gallery. 8. These fairy tales were written by the Brothers Grimm…. 9. Emma and Victor Reger... went on a trip to the Mediterranean.

Exercise 10. Compose the text using first and last names of foreign language origin. Pay attention to the correct choice of ending when declension of these proper names.

Genitive singular endings for masculine nouns -а (-я), -у(-у))

The ending -у, -ю is preserved mainly in the following cases

Exercise 11. Instead of periods, insert endings and motivate your choice.

a) Sugar production...has doubled compared to last year. He put a spoonful of sugar in the tea... Please pass me the sugar...

b) Excellent grapes were brought to the market... The hostess put a bunch of grapes on a dish...

c) It snowed overnight... Oh, snowball... if only it would happen now!

Exercise 12. Compose a dialogue using masculine material nouns, varying the placement of the case ending in accordance with the context.

Genitive plural endings

Exercise 13. Open the brackets, putting the nouns in the correct case form.

1. The mysterious time of Christmas (twilight) has arrived. 2. Growing (tomatoes) is a labor-intensive process. 3. The fireman Vasily had a whole set (pokers) with which he easily controlled in his fiery kingdom. 3. In the evening Anna brought home a whole net (tangerines), and the house smelled of New Year. 4. Cheerful children’s laughter could be heard from (the nursery). 5. At our university you can meet students (Buryats, Armenians, Georgians, Turkmens). 6. The store presented a varied assortment (shoes). 7. Buy me a pair (stockings) and two pairs (socks).

Formation of accusative case forms

! Animate nouns denote objects with the original meaning of “living being”, inanimate nouns - “non-living being”.

However, the grammatical concept of animate/inanimate does not always coincide with the distinction between living/inanimate in science:

Thus, in the Russian language, animate words can include words that denote inanimate objects, and inanimate words can include words that denote living objects (see table).

Note: In animate nouns there is variability in the form of V.p. in combination with numerals2, 3, 4 :

- if thisprime number , then V.p.=R.p. (catch four fish)

- if thiscompound numeral , then V.p.=I.p. (catch twenty-four fish).

Exercise 14. Select the desired case form. Give reasons for your answer.

1. The guys played (Cossacks-robbers - Cossacks-robbers). 2. In winter, the squirrel will pull the boletus out of the hollow and eat it. 3. In early spring, it is necessary to destroy (larvae – larvae) harmful insects. 4. Weather conditions did not allow us to observe (Mars - Mars) today. 5. The girl begged her mother to buy her (all these dolls - all these dolls). 6. The girl dressed (all these dolls - all these dolls). 7. We tried to find (addressee – addressee) of the letter. 8. Sergey opened (jack - jack - jack), and at that moment I saw (trump cards - trump cards) the opponent. 9. In ancient Rome they believed in (Mars - Mars). 10. I was amazed the first time I had to go to the morgue: there I saw (corpses - corpses), a lot of corpses. 11. It was interesting to look at (these creatures - these creatures). 12. Tourists ate with great pleasure (Far Eastern crabs - Far Eastern crabs). 13. The hippodrome acquired (four beautiful racehorses - four beautiful racehorses). 14. The jury awarded certificates (thirty-two participants - thirty-two participants) of the competition.

Exercise 15. The distinction between the categories of animate/inanimate in the Russian language developed only in the 17th century. The period of its non-discrimination is fixed in some well-established expressions:

go out into the public, become a pilot, enroll as a student.

How should these phrases sound if they corresponded to the norms of the modern Russian language?

Nominative plural endings for masculine nouns -ы(-и) – -а(-я)

Exercise 16. Form the plural form of the following words. What makes them special?

Determine the meaning of the words received and make phrases with them.

Image, tone, belt, sable, bread, bill, husband, son, camp, tooth, root, order, body.

Control questions

What do grammatical rules regulate?

Name the basic principles for determining gender of indeclinable nouns of foreign language origin.

What are the rules for declension of foreign names and surnames?

What plural options are there for nouns?

What difficulties may arise when using case forms of nouns?

3.1.2 Forms of adjectives

Using full and short forms of adjectives

When choosing full or brief forms of adjectives, it is necessary to take into account the differences between them.

Grammatical nature brief adjectives determines their exceptional expressiveness in comparison with full adjectives, since short forms called not permanent, passive sign, A variable, changing, evolving over time.

Compare:Happy don't watch the clock(A. Griboyedov).

Ihappy because at times in the gloomy times I breathed and lived with thoughts alone(WITH. Yesenin).

! In ancient times brief the adjectives could be ordinary modifiers rather than part of a compound nominal predicate. In “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” we read: “ Cerna the ground under the hooves is sown with bones.” In this function, short adjectives are preserved in frozen phraseological expressions around the world, on barefoot, as well as in works of oral folk art, for example, in riddles, proverbs, sayings, epics.

Exercise 1. Find expressions in the “Phraseological Dictionary of the Russian Language”in the middle of the day , from small to large, boron cheese caught fire . Explain what they mean and when they should be used.

Determine what is the semantic and stylistic role of the short adjectives used in these sentences?

1. You are rich, I am very poor... You are as ruddy as a poppy, // I am like death, and skinny and pale (A. Pushkin). 2. How his gaze was quick and gentle, bashful and daring, and sometimes shone with an obedient tear (A. Pushkin). 3. How good the sky seemed, how blue, calm and deep (L. Tolstoy). 4. You are gray, and I, my friend, am gray, and I have known your wolf nature for a long time (I. Krylov). 5. Shvabrin was very intelligent. His conversation was witty and entertaining (A. Pushkin). 6. Werner was short and thin and weak as a child (M. Lermontov). 7. Half of the next day she (Bela) was quiet, silent and obedient (M. Lermontov).

Exercise 2. Explain the choice of full or short form of adjectives in the sentences below. Is it possible in them to synonymously replace the short form with the full form and vice versa?

1. You can’t even say a simple pun without anger. You are an evil person (A. Chekhov). 2. From the tent, // Surrounded by a crowd of favorites, // Peter comes out. // His eyes are shining. // His face is terrible. // Movements are fast. // He is beautiful, // He is all like God's thunderstorm (A. Pushkin). 3. Wild, sad, silent, // Like a forest deer, fearful, // She is in her own family // She seemed like a stranger’s girl ( A. Pushkin). 4. Quiet Ukrainian night. // The sky is transparent. // The stars are shining (A. Pushkin). 5. He was blind, completely blind from birth (M. Lermontov). 6. “Beauty is scary,” they will tell you (A. Blok). 7. His life is wonderful (A. Chekhov). 8. ...I’m offended that my mother, always so strict and beautiful, is now so ugly and funny (M. Gorky).

Exercise 3. Form short forms from the following adjectives. Please indicate possible options.

Immoral, painful, insensitive, identical, masculine, artificial, malignant, mysterious, natural, powerful, unique, related, slow, frank, frivolous, inactive, impeccable.

1. Nouns belong to one of three childbirth: male, female, average.

The gender of a noun can be determined by agreeing with it the possessive pronoun my:

my son, my governor, my curtain, my little house - masculine;
my wife, my wall, my night - feminine,
my window, my sky, my animal - neuter gender.

In addition, for most nouns denoting people, gender can be determined by gender - my apprentice, my grandfather(masculine); my mother, my sister(feminine gender).

2. Genus unchangeable nouns is defined as follows.

The gender of uninflected nouns that name people is determined by gender.

Brave hidalgo, refined lady.

Nouns denoting professions and occupations are masculine.

Military attaché, night porter.

Unchangeable nouns that name animals are masculine, although when referring to a female they can be used as feminine nouns.

Australian kangaroo, funny chimpanzee, little hummingbird.
The chimpanzee was feeding her babies.

Exceptions: tsetse, iwasi- feminine gender.

Unchangeable inanimate nouns are neuter.

Night taxi, delicious stew, new blinds.

Exceptions: coffee, penalty, sirocco(masculine) avenue, salami(feminine gender).

3. A special group consists of nouns general kind, which can refer to both male and female people.

What a slob you are! What a slob you are!

Nouns of the general gender characterize a person, usually give an evaluative characteristic of a person, have the endings -а, -я and belong to the 1st declension.

A slob, a ringleader, a singer, a hard worker, a dirty guy, a dude, a drunkard, a sissy, a sleepyhead, a crybaby.

Note!

Some 2nd declension nouns with a zero ending, naming persons by profession ( doctor, professor, associate professor, driver etc.), although they can be used in relation to female persons, are still masculine nouns!

4. The gender of nouns is determined by the singular form. If a noun does not have a singular form, it cannot be classified into any of the three genders.

Manger, pasta, trousers, pitchforks.

B) Number of a noun

1. Most nouns have two numbers - the only thing And plural. In the singular form, a noun denotes one object; in the plural form, it denotes several objects.

Pencil - pencils; doctor - doctors.

2. Only one form(singular or plural) have real, collective, abstract and some concrete nouns.

Only the form singular have:

most material nouns;

Oil, cement, sugar, pearls, sour cream, milk.

most abstract nouns;

Joy, goodness, grief, fun, redness, running, gray hair.

most collective nouns;

Teaching, students, foliage, animals, crows, children.

most proper names.

Voronezh, Caucasus, Caspian Sea, Ural.

Note!

In some cases, nouns that have only a singular form can form plural forms. But such education is necessarily associated with a change in the meaning of the word:

1) at real

a) types, varieties of substance:

wine - dessert wines, oil - technical oils;

b) the value of the large space covered by this substance:

water - ocean waters, sand - Karakum sands;

2) at distracted of nouns the plural form has the meaning:

a) various manifestations of qualities, properties, states:

opportunity - new opportunities, joy - our joys;

b) duration, frequency and degree of manifestation of a sign, condition, action:

frost - prolonged frosts, pain - severe pain, scream - screams.

Only the form plural have:

some real nouns;

Ink, sawdust, cleaning.

some abstract nouns;

Name days, elections, attacks, intrigues, beatings.

• some collective nouns;

  Money, finance, wilds.

some proper names;

Karakum, Carpathians, novel “Demons”.

words denoting paired objects, that is, objects consisting of two parts;

Glasses, trousers, sleigh, gates, scissors, pliers.

some names of periods of time.

Twilight, day, weekdays, holidays.

Note!

For nouns that only have a plural form, not only the gender, but also the declension is not determined!

C) Case and declension of nouns

1. There are six in Russian cases:

All cases except the nominative are called indirect.

Note!

1) To correctly determine the case of a noun, you need to find the word on which the noun depends and ask a question about the noun from this word, and it is better to use both questions at the same time.

Wed: He trusted his friend: he believed[to whom? what?] friend - D. p.

The form I. p. usually has a subject, and such a noun does not depend on other members of the sentence, but is connected with the predicate.

Wed: I have[Who? what?] friend - I. p.

2) It is especially important to ask both questions if the noun is in the nominative, genitive or accusative case, since animate nouns have the same questions in the genitive and accusative cases (who?), and inanimate nouns have the same questions in the nominative and accusative cases (what?).

3) If a noun has a preposition, then the question must be asked using this preposition.

Wed: He looked at the book: he looked[in whom? into what?] in the book.

4) A preposition can be separated from a noun by an adjective or pronoun. Note that a preposition is associated with a noun, not a noun-dependent modifier.

Wed: He was quarreling with his friend: quarreling[with whom? with what?] with a friend.

2. Changing nouns by case and number is called declination.

Immutable nouns ( coat, citro, metro, taxi, kangaroo, UN, traffic police) have no declination! Their number and case can be determined in phrases and sentences on the question.

He was sitting[in whom? what?] V coat - singular, prepositional case; He came[without whom? without which?] without coat - singular, genitive case.

3. The declension of modified nouns is determined by the form nominative singular. Most singular nouns are divided into three types of declension.

The type of declension is determined by the initial form (singular, nominative case):

4. Ten neuter nouns ending in -мя (ending -я): time, burden, stirrup, tribe, flame, banner, crown, seed, name, udder, as well as nouns way, child refer to divergent(they have endings of different declensions).

5. The noun person has different roots in the singular and plural ( person people), therefore has different types of declension in singular and plural:

person (singular) - declined as a 2nd declension noun;
people (plural) - declined as a 3rd declension noun.

6. Substantive adjectives and participles (nouns formed by moving from one part of speech to another: ice cream, dining room, living room, maid etc.) do not belong to any of the three types of declension. They continue to decline, just as adjectives and participles decline!

D) Declension patterns for nouns

1st declension

Note!

Nouns of the 1st declension ending in -iya: army, aria, symphony, Maria and others - in the dative case and prepositional case of the singular they have the ending -i, like nouns of the 3rd declension.

Wed: to the army, about the aria, to the symphony, about the symphony, to Mary, about Mary.

For nouns ending in -ya: Marya, liar, cell

Wed: to Marya, oh Marya.

2nd declension. Masculine

Note!

Nouns of the 2nd declension ending in -iy (zero ending): cue, radium, proletarian, planetarium and others - in the single prepositional case they have the ending -i, like nouns of the 3rd declension.

Wed: about radium, about the planetarium.

For nouns ending in -ey, -ai (zero ending): edge, sparrow etc. - this rule does not apply (!).

Wed: about the edge, about the sparrow.

2nd declension. Neuter gender

Indeclinable nouns

Note!

In indirect cases, nouns ending in -mya have the suffix -en- ( time, seed, name).
Exception form the plural forms of the genitive case of nouns seed, stirrup - no seeds, no stirrups.

Names and titles

How to decline geographical names?

In the city of Moscow or in the city of Moscow? Names combined with a generic word

Geographical name used with generic names town, village, hamlet, hamlet, river etc., acting as an appendix, agrees with the word being defined, that is, it declines if the toponym is of Russian, Slavic origin or is a long-borrowed and adopted name.

Right: in the city of Moscow, in the city of St. Petersburg, from the city of Kyiv; to the village of Ivanovka, from the village of Olkhovka, in the village of Shushenskoye, near the Mikhailovsky farmstead;near the Volga River, valley of the Sukhoi stream.

Both parts of the name decline Moskva River: Moskva River, on the Moskva River etc. In colloquial speech there are cases of indeclinability of the first part: beyond the Moscow River, on the Moscow River etc. But such use does not correspond to strict literary norms.

Geographical names in combination with a generic word are usually not declined in the following cases:

when the external form of the name corresponds to the plural form. numbers: in the city of Velikiye Luki, in the city of Mytishchi;

when the gender of the generalizing common noun and the toponym do not coincide: on the Yenisei River, near the Khoper River, in the village of Parfyonok(however, this remark does not apply to combinations with the word city, so it's correct: in the city of Tula, from Moscow; about the appropriateness of using the word itself here city see below).

In addition, there is a tendency towards indeclinability in applications-place names of the neuter gender ending in -e, -o: between the villages of Molodechno and Dorozhno, in the city of Vidnoye(this name is not declined, because when declined it will be difficult to restore the original form: in the city of Vidnoye - This Vidny town or Vidnoye city?).

The “Dictionary of Geographical Names” by A.V. Superanskaya (M., 2013) states that toponyms are usually not declined in combination with the following geographical terms: swamp, bay, mountains, state, valley, bay, outpost, land village, key, well, kingdom, town, deposit, cape, region, lake, district, island, pass, plateau, plateau, dam, area, peninsula, village, province, strait, fishery, district(as an administrative-territorial unit), village, station, tract, ridge, state. The exception is when the name is expressed by an adjective: on Lake Ritsa, But: on Lake Onega, in the Bay of Kotor, But: in Sydney Harbour.

In the city of Stary Oskol or in the city of Stary Oskol? Compound names in combination with a generic word

Is it necessary to decline the compound names of cities and other settlements in combination with a generic word? Reference manuals answer this question in different ways. Everywhere it is indicated that such names are not declined if their external form corresponds to the plural form: in the city of Velikie Luki, from the city of Mineralnye Vody(see above). What if it corresponds to the singular form? Stary Oskol, Vyshny Volochek, Nizhny Novgorod, Krivoy Rog...

In the “Handbook of Spelling and Literary Editing” by D. E. Rosenthal, in the manual by Yu. A. Belchikov “Practical Stylistics of the Modern Russian Language”, as well as in the “Dictionary of Geographical Names” by A. V. Superanskaya it is indicated that such names are not declined in combination with a generic word: in the city of Stary Crimea, from the city of Veliky Ustyug, in the city of Stary Oskol, above the city of Lodeynoye Pole. At the same time, the “Dictionary of grammatical variants of the Russian language” by L.K. Graudina, V.A. Itskovich, L.P. Katlinskaya indicates that in toponyms expressed by combinations of words, parts of the name should be declined: in the city of Vyshny Volochyok, however, in colloquial and professional speech, an indeclinable version has spread and taken root: near the city of Vyshny Volochek, in the settlement of Dolgiy Most.

In Moscow or in the city of Moscow?

In the “Directory of the Publisher and Author” by A. E. Milchin and L. K. Cheltsova it is stated that “abbreviation G.(city), like the full word, is recommended to be used sparingly, mainly before the names of cities derived from surnames ( Kirov)».

Thus, it is commonly used: in Moscow. Options in Moscow, in the city of Moscow should be characterized as specifically clerical (i.e., used primarily in official business speech). Options in Moscow, in the city of Moscow do not correspond to the literary norm.

In Peredelkino or in Peredelkino?

Toponyms of Slavic origin ending in -ovo, -evo, -ino, -yno, do not decline in combination with a generic word: from the Lyublino district, towards the Strogino district, towards the Mitino district, in the city of Ivanovo, from the village of Prostokvashino, to the edge of Kosovo. If there is no generic word, then both options are possible, inflected and indeclinable: in Lublin And in Lyublino, towards Strogin And towards Strogino, in Ivanovo And to Ivanovo, from Prostokvashino And from Prostokvashino to Kosovo And to Kosovo, to Mitin And to Mitino, 8th microdistrict of Mitino and 8th microdistrict of Mitino. In this case, the inflected version corresponds to strict literary norms. The dictionary of L.K. Graudina, V.A. Itskovich, L.P. Katlinskaya “Grammatical correctness of Russian speech” indicates: “In an exemplary literary style (from the stage, from the television screen, in radio speech) these forms should be declined.”

Read more about titles at -ovo, -evo, -ino, -yno see in the section “Elemental truths”.

Pushkin or Pushkin?

Geographical names on -s (-ev), -ovo (-evo), -in, -ino (-yno) have an ending in the instrumental case -ohm, For example: Lvov - Lvov, Kanev - Kanev, Kryukovo - Kryukov, Kamyshin - Kamyshin, Maryino - Maryin, Golitsyno - Golitsyn.

Unlike the names of cities, Russian surnames are -in (-yn) and on -s (-ev) have the ending in the instrumental case -th, cf.: Pushkin(surname) - Pushkin And Pushkin(city) - Pushkin; Alexandrov(surname) - Alexandrov And Alexandrov(city) - Alexandrov.

In Kamen-Kashirskoye or in Kamen-Kashirskoye?

If a compound toponym is a Russian or long-acquired name, in indirect case forms its first part should be declined: from Kamnya-Kashirsky, in Pereslavl-Zalessky, in Mogilev-Podolsky, in Rostov-on-Don.

All place names in which the first part of the name has a morphological feature of the neuter gender are covered by a tendency towards immutability: from Likino-Duleva, to Sobolevo-on-Kamchatka.

How to decline foreign-language geographical names?

Names ending with -A

many borrowed geographical names mastered by the Russian language are declined according to the type of noun. wives sort of on -A, For example: Bukhara - in Bukhara, Ankara - to Ankara;

Toponyms of French origin ending in -A in the source language: Gras, Spa, Le Dora, Jura etc. However, names to which the ending was added in Russian -A, inclined: Toulouse, Geneva, Lausanne - in Toulouse, Geneva, Lausanne(cf.: Toulouse, Genève, Lausanne);

Japanese place names ending in are declined -A unstressed: Osaka - in Osaka, Fukushima - from Fukushima;

Estonian and Finnish names are not declined: from Jyväskylä, Saaremaa;

Abkhazian and Georgian toponyms ending in unstressed experience fluctuations in declination -A. However, many of these names tend to be: Ochamchira - in Ochamchira, Gudauta - to Gudauta, Pitsunda - from Pitsunda;

complex geographical names do not tend to - A unstressed, borrowed from Spanish and other Romance languages: to Bahia Blanca, to Bahia Laypa, from Jerez de la Frontera, to Santiago de Cuba, from Pola de Lena, from Santiago de Compostela;

complex Slavic names that are nouns in the presence of word-formation features of adjectives are declined, for example: Biała Podlaska – from Biała Podlaska, Banska Bystrica – to Banska Bystrica.

Names ending with -O And -e

Such names are not declined in the Russian literary language: in Oslo, Tokyo, Bordeaux, Mexico City, Santiago, Calais, Grodno, Vilna, Kovno.

Names ending with -and, -s

Toponyms have a greater tendency towards inclination -s: in Katowice, Thebes, Tatras, Cannes, Cheboksary.

Usually names are not inclined to -And: from Chile, Tbilisi, Nagasaki.

Names ending in a consonant

Foreign names ending in a consonant are usually not declined in application function: in the city of Louisville, in the city of Maubeuge, in the city of Niamet, in the province of Zyadin, near the city of Manston. (The exception is names long ago borrowed and adopted by the Russian language: in the city of Washington.)

If such names are not used in the application function, they tend to be: in the city of Mantasas, But 70 kilometers from Mantasas, near the city of Manston, But near Manston.

Latin American names depart from this group by - OS: to Fuentos.

Complex names of type are not declined Pere Lachaise, Mine Mill, Puerto Montt.

Compound names with the second part do not decline -street, -square, -park, -palace: Alvin Street, Union Square, Friedrich Stadt Palace, Enmore Park.

In Frankfurt am Main or in Frankfurt am Main?

The first part of complex foreign language toponyms, as a rule, is not declined: in Almaty, near Buenos Aires, from Yoshkar-Ola. The exception is the first part in the construction “place name on the river”: in Frankfurt am Main, to Schwedt an der Oder, from Stratford upon Avon.

If any foreign language compound name is used in an application function with common nouns like city, town, capital, port and so on, it is left unchanged in the second part: in the city of Santa Cruz, in the Bolivian capital La Paz(the exception is long-borrowed names mastered in Russian: in New York City).

QUESTION TO THE INFORMATION BUREAU

What to do with the combination municipal formation of the urban district of Usinsk?

I have the following question. Our municipality is officially called Municipal entity of the urban district "Usinsk". However, I have doubts about the correctness of using the phrase in this case urban district in the genitive case. In my opinion, according to the rules of the Russian language, the correct name should be used in the nominative case: Municipal formation urban district "Usinsk".

There is also a question about the placement of quotation marks: they should come before and after the word Usinsk or the expression must be quoted "Usinsk Urban District"?

Russian language help desk response

Combinations municipality And urban district must be consistent in case (in other words, used in the same case), since urban district from a syntax point of view, it is an application. Wed: oriole bird.

As for quotation marks and other characters. The following design options are possible here:

municipal formation - Usinsk urban district;

municipal formation "Usinsk City District".

Moreover, when using quotation marks, the part of the name enclosed in them will not be declined: Administration of the municipal formation "City District of Usinsk".

Sources:

Ageenko F. L. Dictionary of proper names of the Russian language. M., 2010.

Graudina L.K., Itskovich V.A., Katlinskaya L.P. Dictionary of grammatical variants of the Russian language. 3rd ed., erased. M., 2008.

Milchin A. E., Cheltsova L. K. Directory of publisher and author. M., 2003.

Rosenthal D. E. Handbook of spelling and literary editing. M., 2003.

Russian grammar / Ch. ed. N. Yu. Shvedova. In 2 vols. M., 1980.

Superanskaya A.V. Dictionary of geographical names. M., 2013.

Illustration.

It is no secret that Russian grammar is a very difficult subject, not only for foreign students of educational institutions and those studying the language on their own, but also for native speakers. One of the difficult topics that requires patience and perseverance, in this regard, is the declension of names in Russian, since there are many features and subtleties that are not so easy to guess and think out logically, as well as many exceptions that do not obey the general rule. I will try to cover all aspects of this issue in this article.

Declension. General concept and varieties

Even from the school curriculum, many remember that declension is a change in cases. There are only six cases in Russian:

• Nominative;
• Genitive;
• Dative;
• Accusative;
• Instrumental;
• Prepositional.

For each case you can ask a question:

• for the nominative it is “Who? What?";
• declining the name in the genitive case, they ask the question “Whom?” What?";
• in the dative - “To whom?” What for?";
• For the accusative, the questions “Whom?” What?";
• in the instrumental noun changes in accordance with the questions “By whom? How?",
• in the prepositional – “About whom? About what?".

When forming a question, to make the task easier, you can substitute a verb with a similar control:

Doesn't have anyone, what? Owed to whom, what? Thinking about who, what? Lives by whom, what?

responsible-a">

Also worthy of attention is the declension of masculine names that are double. Moreover, in names of Russian origin both parts change, but in nouns of foreign origin only the last part changes.

The second variety is masculine and feminine names ending in -a. All changes occur according to the first declension:

Foreign names ending in -a are declined similarly to the examples given:

The declension of masculine and feminine names with endings in the nominative case in -iya, -ya, -ya, -eya also occurs according to the first declension, regardless of their origin:

Pay attention to one important feature!

• Personal names that end in -iya receive the same ending “-ii” in three cases at once - these are the genitive, dative and prepositional cases.
• Names that end in -ya receive “-е” in the prepositional and dative cases, and “-ы” in the genitive case.

The declension of female names with a zero ending and a soft sign at the end is built according to the 3rd type.

Attention! Female names of foreign origin ending in a hard consonant and -i do not change by case, for example, Maryam, Elizabeth, Dolores, Carmen. There is a group of names that fit this rule, but fluctuate between indeclinability and the 3rd declension, these are Gazelle, Guzel, Lucille, Nicole, Aigul, Asel, Mirel, Babigul, Cecile. In colloquial speech they can change, but in official speech, as a rule, they remain unchanged.

Male and female names that end with a vowel, excluding -a and -ya, are classified as indeclinable names.

For example, Nellie, Sergo. Also, names of foreign origin with vowels at the end - Babbu, Bakke, Chamzy - do not change.

Sometimes the names of foreign writers and literary heroes are used in combination with a surname.

For example, Jules Verne, Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde, Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood. Often the speaker does this: he declines only the last name, leaving the first name unchanged, but this is not entirely true, because both must change: the legend of Robin Hood, the books of Oscar Wilde.

Please note that in colloquial speech it is permissible to inflect parts of the surname, but in written speech it is recommended to decline both parts.

So, we have looked at how to correctly decline names of Russian and foreign origin, what exceptions to the rules exist, what to do if a lexical unit is written with a hyphen, and whether there are indeclinable and controversial names.

In order to correctly change personal names by case, you must first familiarize yourself with the tables of declension of common nouns. This way the structure and cause-and-effect relationships will be most clear. So, the first type (feminine and masculine nouns ending in -a, -ya):

The second declension, which includes neuter nouns ending in -о, -е:

Third declension, which includes feminine nouns with a soft sign at the end:

• Declension of surnames and personal names in the Russian literary language, L.P. Kalutskaya;
• Difficulties in inflecting nouns. N. A. Eskova;
• Dictionary of difficulties of the Russian language, edited by D.E. Rosenthal;
• Etymological and morphological analysis of the declension of surnames of the pre-revolutionary era and the transformations of communist-Soviet power. A. N. Pogrebnoy-Alexandrov;
• Academic "Russian Grammar" 1980.

1. First and last names of Russian and foreign origin, ending in a consonant and belonging to males, are declined: For example: Meet Boris, Albert; meet with Borisov, Neumann; But meet Helen, Nicole; to meet with Lynn Jones, hear Edith Piaf(undeclination of the surname indicates that it belongs to a woman).

In official texts, and only if the gender of the bearer of the surname is indicated by other means, it is permissible not to change Russian surnames that sound the same as the names of animals or inanimate objects. For example: Express gratitude to student Nikolai Dub; Confirm Sergei Vasilyevich Lev as chief director.

2. The norm corresponds to the declension of both the first name, patronymic, and last name: see Pyotr Ivanovich, stories. Jules Verna. The exception is complex male names like Jean-Paul,Pierre-Marie-Joseph, when used in oblique forms, only the last part changes: works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

3. Russian and foreign surnames (except Finnish) ending in unstressed are usually declined PO Box: speeches by Nikolai Saturday, works by N.F. Gamaleya. However, if the final and I preceded by a vowel sound, then these surnames are not declined: Gulia's poems, works Luria. 4. In modern texts, surnames ending in ago/ Iago, ovo, s/their: For example: Lessons Petryago, lectures by Professor Durnovo, seminar by P. Ya. Chernykh.

5. In modern texts, Ukrainian surnames are usually not inclined to -ToO/-enko: performance Peschanko, Petrenko's record.

6. Surnames of foreign origin are usually not used in the plural form and are not declined if they are used in combination with words spouses, brothers, sisters, brother and sister, and also in combination with two female names or male and female names at the same time: For example: Visit the spouses Mikaelyan, brothers' success Peterson, greet sisters Irina and Olga Richter, write to Nikolai and Elena Wolf.

In combination with two male names, the plural form is used: Thomas and Heinrich Mann; forms of oblique plural cases of such surnames are used quite rarely.

Rules for declension of proper names

The rules for declination of a surname cannot depend on the desire or unwillingness of the bearer of the surname.

The following rules for declension of proper names are formulated based on the following sources:

Rosenthal D.E., Telenkova M.A., “Dictionary of difficulties of the Russian language”, 3rd ed., additional. M., Russian language, 1984;

"Russian Grammar" vol. I, ed. USSR Academy of Sciences, 1982;

Pekhlivanova K.I., Lebedeva M.N., “Grammar of the Russian language in illustrations (for foreigners learning the Russian language)”, M., Russian language, 1989.

Do not bow:

Female surnames, ending in a consonant and a soft sign (for Anna Zhuk, family of Maria Mitskevich, appoint Lyudmila Koval).

Anna Bug

Lyudmila Koval

Female names ending in a consonant (Carmen, Gyulcetay, Dolores, Helen, Suok, Edith, Elizabeth).

Carmen Ivanova

Foreign language surnames ending in a vowel sound, excluding unstressed -a, -ya (Hugo, Bizet, Rossini, Shaw, Nehru, Goethe, Bruno, Dumas, Zola).

Male and female names, ending in a vowel sound, excluding -a, -ya (Sergo, Nelly).

Nelly Maximova

Sergo Petina

Surnames on -a, -ya with a preceding vowel -i (sonnets by Heredia, poems by Garcia, stories by Gulia)

Petru Gulia

I don't Gulia

Russian surnames, which are frozen forms of the genitive singular with endings: -ovo, -ago, -yago (Durnovo, Sukhovo, Zhivago, Shambinago, Debyago, Khitrovo) and plural with endings: -ikh, -yh (Kruchenykh, Ostrovsky, Polish , Dolgikh, Sedykh). In colloquial speech, surnames may be inclined to -i, -y.

Sergei Zhivago Irina Zhivago

Galina Polish Victor Polish

Ukrainian surnames in origin with stressed and unstressed -ko (Golovko, Lyashko, Franko, Yanko, Shevchenko’s anniversary, Makarenko’s activities, Korolenko’s works).

Olga Golovko

Alexandru Korolenko

The first part of a double surname, if it itself is not used as a surname (in the role of Skvoznyak-Dmukhanovsky, research by Grun-Grizhimailo, sculpture by Demut-Malinovsky).

Vyacheslav Skvoznyak-Dmukhanovsky

Declining:

Male surnames and names ending with a consonant and a soft sign. (Institute named after S.Ya. Zhuk, poems by Adam Mickiewicz, meet Igor Koval).

Igor Koval

Female names ending with a soft sign.

(Love, Judith).

Lyubov Perova

As a rule, surnames tend to be unstressed -a, -ya (mainly Slavic, Romanesque and some others) (article by V.M. Ptitsa, works by Jan Neruda, songs performed by Rosita Quintana, conversation with A. Vaida, poems by Okudzhava) . Fluctuations are observed in the use of Georgian and Japanese surnames, where cases of inclination and indeclinability occur:

game nar. USSR artist Kharava; 100th anniversary of the birth of Saint Katayama, films of Kurosawa;

works by A.S. Chikobava (and Chikobava); creativity of Pshavela; minister in Ikeda's cabinet;

Hatoyama's performance; films by Vittorio de Sica (not de Sica).

Pavel Neruda

Olga Neruda

Slavic surnames with accents -a, -ya (for the writer Mayboroda, with the philosopher Skovoroda, for the director Golovnya).

Vladimir Golovna

Tatiana Skovoroda

When declension of foreign surnames and names, forms of Russian declension are used and the peculiarities of declension of words in the original language are not preserved. (Karel Capek - Karela Capek [not Karla Capek]). Also Polish names (in Vladek, in Edek, in Janek [not: in Vladek, in Edk, in Jank]).

Polish female surnames starting with -a are inclined according to the model of Russian surnames starting with -aya (Bandrowska-Turska - tours of Bandrovska-Turska, Czerni-Stefanska - concerts of Czerni-Stefanska). At the same time, it is possible to design such surnames according to the Russian model and in the nominative case (Opulskaya-Danetskaya, Modzelevskaya). The same is appropriate for Czech surnames ending in -a (Babitska - Babitskaya, Babitskaya).

It is advisable to incline Slavic male surnames with -i, -y on the model of Russian surnames with -i, -y (Bobrovski - Bobrovsky, Pokorny - Pokorny). At the same time, it is possible to design such surnames according to the Russian model and in the nominative case (Bobrovsky, Pokorny, Ler-Splavinsky).

Features of the declination to –a:

If there is a consonant before –a, then the endings of the cases will be: -a, -ы, -e, -u, -oi, -e.

If before –a there is one of the letters (g, k, x) or a soft sibilant (ch, sch) or zh, then the ending of the gender. there will be – and.

If before -a there is a hissing (ch, sch, ts, sh) or zh, then the ending tv.p. when stressed at the end of a word it will be –ой, and –ей when stressed at the beginning or middle of a word.