Nouns plural in the genitive case they are practically no different from the forms singular: they perform similar syntactic functions, answer the same questions. This article discusses ways to form genitive plural forms, as well as the most difficult cases.
What is the genitive plural of nouns?
The genitive plural of nouns is represented by case forms nouns with endings -ov (-ev), -ey, -iy and zero ending. Like singular forms, they answer questions Whom? What?, perform the same syntactic functions and can express subjective, objective or attributive meaning in speech.
Examples of genitive plural forms of nouns: apples, roads, hopes, glasses, tables, corners, trees, leaves, logs, mothers, mice, cases.
Formation of genitive plural forms
The endings of plural nouns in the genitive case in different declensions are shown in the table with examples.
Difficult cases of form formation
When forming genitive plural forms, the 2nd declension often makes mistakes by choosing the wrong case ending.
The following nouns have a zero ending in the plural:
TOP 2 articleswho are reading along with this
- Denoting paired items (mainly clothes and shoes). Examples: hand, boot, boot, stocking, trouser leg(Butsocks, rails);
- Names of large military groups, military branches. Examples: in the meaning of a collective noun – (squad) soldier, hussar, lancer, cadet, partisan, midshipman; but in the meaning of individuals– (three) midshipmen, hussars, cadets;
- The names of some nationalities are mainly based on -n, -r. Examples: Gypsies, Ossetians, Turkmen, Bulgarians, Khazars and etc.;
- Names of some units of measurement. Examples: arshin, volt, watt, newton, hertz and etc. ( But carats - carat, grams - grams, ohms - ohms, microns - microns and etc.);
- Words based on -tsa. Examples: hearts, rings, saucers, tentacles.
Endings -ov(s) in R. p. plural. numbers have nouns:
oranges, tomatoes, apricots, tangerines, bananas, eggplants, tomatoes, jeans, canned food, comments, socks, rails
And also some names of nationalities.
As in other forms, in genitive plural of nouns in each type of declination you can find several variants of endings.
In general, during the formation of this form the following pattern applies.
If in the initial form (nominative singular) the word has null ending, then in the genitive plural the ending is usually non-zero:
a house - many houses, a horse - many horses, a steppe - no steppes.
If in the initial form the ending is non-zero, then in the genitive plural it will be zero:
land - no lands, loop - no loops, business - no business, place - no places, brand - no brands, apple - no apples.
Thus, the language seeks to get rid of the coincidence of the initial form and indirect forms of the noun.
note
Feminine and neuter nouns in -ya, -ye obey general rule and have a zero ending in the genitive plural form. The final -y in this form is not an ending, but is included in the base of the word: prophetic - no prophetic, hill - no hills, nest - no nesting, outback - no outback, spear - no spears, food - no food, housewarming - no housewarming, pancake - no pancakes, coast - no coast, potion - no potion.
However, in reality this pattern is not absolute. On the one hand, a number of masculine nouns with a hard consonant stem have a zero ending:
one soldier - several soldiers; one Georgian - several Georgians, one gypsy - several gypsies.
On the other hand, nouns with a non-zero ending in the initial form can also have a non-zero ending in the genitive case, for example:
words female: share - several shares, size - several points; neuter words: swamp - several swamps, upper reaches - no upper reaches, bottom of the vessel - no bottoms, shaft - no shafts, face - several faces, point - no points, dress - several dresses, mouth - several mouths, awl - several awls.
In living speech, especially in common speech, two opposing trends are now observed.
Firstly, the ending -ov/-ev, inherent primarily in masculine nouns of the second declension, quite consistently replaces other endings (zero, -ey).
For example: in common parlance - a lot of people instead of normative many people; no places instead of normative no places.
The latter tendency is strengthened by the fact that in the plural in other indirect cases all nouns have the same endings:
about songs, about people, about fields, about nights, about kilograms.
Secondly, in common parlance one encounters the use of forms with a zero ending in cases where the literary language allows only forms with a non-zero ending.
For example: plow 10 hectares of land instead of the literary version - 10 hectares of land.
All this requires special attention to the formation of the genitive plural form, especially since many of these options become an indicator of the level of a person’s speech culture. It is no coincidence that morphological errors in the formation of this form are used in language games, that is, intentionally - to create a comic effect ( How many people! Business! - in modern intelligentsia colloquial speech). Such errors are also played out in jokes, for example, in the dialogue between an illiterate passenger and an equally illiterate champion of correct speech:
- There are no seats on the tram.
- Not places, but places. You don't know the cases.
- It doesn’t matter to you that we don’t know cases.
When forming the genitive plural in difficult cases, several factors must be taken into account.
1. For second declension nouns, the endings -ov/-v, -ey are distributed as follows:
for masculine nouns with a base on a hard consonant, ts or th the main ending is -ov/-ev:
many drivers, fighters, geniuses;
For masculine and neuter nouns with a base on a soft consonant or hissing, the main ending is -е:
many inhabitants, fields, cases;
for nouns ending in -anin/-yanin (except for the word family man, which has no plural form at all), as well as for words master, boyar, master, Tatar- zero ending with cut-in:
many Slavs, Tatars, Bars, citizens.
2. In masculine nouns of the second declension with a hard consonant stem, the zero ending and the -ov ending tend to be distributed as follows:
A) the ending -ov usually has most names of fruits, vegetables, etc.:
five tomatoes, five oranges, five eggplants(permissible - five eggplants);
b) usually have a null ending:
names of paired items:
a pair of boots, a pair of felt boots, a pair of boots, a pair of stockings, But: a pair of boots, a pair of boots(permissible - couple bot ), no rails(permissible - no rail); noun sock in the genitive plural it has two literary variants - no knitted socks And socks;
names of nationalities with endings -н, -р:
no gypsies, no Romanians, no Ossetians, But: no Bedouins, no Bushmen, no Svans;
names of military personnel various groups and types of troops:
no soldiers (!), no partisans (!); But: no sappers, no miners, no hussars And hussars, no dragoons And dragoons, no grenadiers And grenadiers, no cuirassiers And cuirassiers, no lancers And Uhlans;
V) nouns naming units of measurement ( volt, hertz, ohm etc.), usually have two forms in the genitive plural - with the ending -ov and with a zero ending. The zero ending is used in the so-called counting form of units of measurement, that is, when indicating a specific quantity or number of something:
100 volts, 100 amps, 200 hertz, 200 ohms, 1000 roentgens etc.
In nouns gram, kilogram, milligram, carat etc. in countable form, both forms are allowed - with the ending -ov and with the zero ending:
10 grams And 10 grams; 10 kilograms And 10 kilograms; 5 carats And 5 carats
note
Forms with -s are perceived as more formal. Therefore, if both forms are accepted as acceptable in a literary language, then in written speech it is recommended to use variants ending in -ov. Not in countable form (not when indicating quantity), these nouns necessarily have the ending -ov.
Yes, on this collective farm they don’t count not only grams, but also kilograms of losses!
Not all names of units of measurement follow this pattern. The ending -ov is obligatory in any context for the following nouns:
acre (10 acres), hectare (10 hectares), inch (5 inches), liter (10 liters), meter (5 meters), kilometer (5 kilometers), millimeter (10 millimeters), centimeter (10 centimeters), pound ( 10 pounds), pound (10 pounds), foot (5 feet), yard (5 yards).
Masculine nouns with a base on a hard consonant, denoting monetary units, usually also have the ending -ov:
dollar (five dollars), dinar (five dinars) and etc.
3. For first declension nouns, nouns with an accent on the stem in the initial form usually have a zero ending:
a shoe is a pair of shoes, an apple tree is five apple trees, a heron is five herons, a wedding is five weddings, a town hall is several town halls, but: a share is five shares; uncle - no uncles and uncles; pin - five pins; handful - five handfuls and handfuls; baby - no baby, young man - five young men.
Nouns with stress on the last syllable in the initial form can have the ending -е:
candle - five candles, article - five articles, family - five families, tub - no tubs, melon - no melons, sheet - five sheets And five sheets, But: poker - five pokers, shaft - five shafts And shaft.
note to form the genitive plural form of nouns that have accentological variants in the initial form: barge And barge - no barges And barge, loop And loop - no loops.
4. For nouns used only in the plural, the most common ending is zero:
pasta - no pasta, money - no money, sawdust - no sawdust, ink - no ink.
At the same time, a number of such nouns will have a non-zero ending. In this case, the ending -ov/-ev is typical for nouns with a base on a hard consonant, g, k, x and vowel:
jeans - no jeans (!), clips - no clips, wallpaper - no wallpaper, bronchi - no bronchi.
The ending -еy is common among nouns with a soft consonant stem:
mangers - no mangers, gangways - no gangways, mangers - no mangers (!), curls - no curls, harps - no harps.
How peer options function: rake - no rake And no rakes, stilts - no stilts And no stilt, everyday life - no everyday life And Buden.
5. If the stem of a noun in its initial form ends in a combination of two consonants ( hollow, towel, song, doll), then when forming the genitive plural form with a zero ending, usually fluent vowels o and e appear between these consonants:
no dupe l, no towels, no songs, no dolls, no rose, no board (permissible - doso k), no villages, no sabel, no shoes, no kitchens, no twilight, there are no nozzles and nozzles, but: dachshund - no dachshund, morning - several mornings.
6. Pay attention to the formation of the genitive plural form in the following nouns:
Buryats - no Buryats and Buryats, son-in-law - no sons-in-law, comment - no comments, hoof - no hooves and hooves, adjustments - no adjustments, lower reaches - lower reaches and lower reaches, journeyman - no apprentices, e - no logs and towels, no Turks turk, ear - without ears, awl - no awls.
As in other forms, in genitive plural of nouns in each type of declination you can find several variants of endings.
In general, during the formation of this form the following pattern applies.
If in the initial form (nominative singular) a word has a zero ending, then in the genitive plural the ending is usually non-zero:
a house - many houses, a horse - many horses, a steppe - no steppes.
If in the initial form the ending is non-zero, then in the genitive plural it will be zero:
land - no lands, loop - no loops, business - no business, place - no places, brand - no brands, apple - no apples.
Thus, the language seeks to get rid of the coincidence of the initial form and indirect forms of the noun.
note
Feminine and neuter nouns in -я, -ь follow the general rule and have a zero ending in the genitive plural form. The final -y in this form is not an ending, but is included in the base of the word: prophetic - no prophetic, hill - no hills, nest - no nesting, outback - no outback, spear - no spears, food - no food, housewarming - no housewarming, pancake - no pancakes, coast - no coast, potion - no potion.
However, in reality this pattern is not absolute. On the one hand, a number of masculine nouns with a hard consonant stem have a zero ending:
one soldier - several soldiers; one Georgian - several Georgians, one gypsy - several gypsies.
On the other hand, nouns with a non-zero ending in the initial form can also have a non-zero ending in the genitive case, for example:
feminine words: share - several shares, size - several points; neuter words: swamp - several swamps, upper reaches - no upper reaches, bottom of the vessel - no bottoms, shaft - no shafts, face - several faces, point - no points, dress - several dresses, mouth - several mouths, awl - several awls.
In living speech, especially in common speech, two opposing trends are now observed.
Firstly, the ending -ov/-ev, inherent primarily in masculine nouns of the second declension, quite consistently replaces other endings (zero, -ey).
For example: in common parlance - a lot of people instead of normative many people; no places instead of normative no places.
The latter tendency is strengthened by the fact that in the plural in other indirect cases all nouns have the same endings:
about songs, about people, about fields, about nights, about kilograms.
Secondly, in common parlance one encounters the use of forms with a zero ending in cases where the literary language allows only forms with a non-zero ending.
For example: plow 10 hectares of land instead of the literary version - 10 hectares of land.
All this requires special attention to the formation of the genitive plural form, especially since many of these options become an indicator of the level of a person’s speech culture. It is no coincidence that morphological errors in the formation of this form are used in language games, that is, intentionally - to create a comic effect ( How many people! Business! - in modern intelligentsia colloquial speech). Such errors are also played out in jokes, for example, in the dialogue between an illiterate passenger and an equally illiterate champion of correct speech:
- There are no seats on the tram.
- Not places, but places. You don't know the cases.
- It doesn’t matter to you that we don’t know cases.
When forming the genitive plural in difficult cases, several factors must be taken into account.
1. For second declension nouns, the endings -ov/-v, -ey are distributed as follows:
for masculine nouns with a base on a hard consonant, ts or th the main ending is -ov/-ev:
many drivers, fighters, geniuses;
For masculine and neuter nouns with a base on a soft consonant or hissing, the main ending is -е:
many inhabitants, fields, cases;
for nouns ending in -anin/-yanin (except for the word family man, which has no plural form at all), as well as for words master, boyar, master, Tatar- zero ending with cut-in:
many Slavs, Tatars, Bars, citizens.
2. In masculine nouns of the second declension with a hard consonant stem, the zero ending and the -ov ending tend to be distributed as follows:
A) the ending -ov usually has most names of fruits, vegetables, etc.:
five tomatoes, five oranges, five eggplants(permissible - five eggplants);
b) usually have a null ending:
names of paired items:
a pair of boots, a pair of felt boots, a pair of boots, a pair of stockings, But: a pair of boots, a pair of boots(permissible - couple bot ), no rails(permissible - no rail); noun sock in the genitive plural it has two literary variants - no knitted socks And socks;
names of nationalities with endings -н, -р:
no gypsies, no Romanians, no Ossetians, But: no Bedouins, no Bushmen, no Svans;
names of military personnel of various groups and branches of the military:
no soldiers (!), no partisans (!); But: no sappers, no miners, no hussars And hussars, no dragoons And dragoons, no grenadiers And grenadiers, no cuirassiers And cuirassiers, no lancers And Uhlans;
V) nouns naming units of measurement ( volt, hertz, ohm etc.), usually have two forms in the genitive plural - with the ending -ov and with a zero ending. The zero ending is used in the so-called counting form of units of measurement, that is, when indicating a specific quantity or number of something:
100 volts, 100 amps, 200 hertz, 200 ohms, 1000 roentgens etc.
In nouns gram, kilogram, milligram, carat etc. in countable form, both forms are allowed - with the ending -ov and with the zero ending:
10 grams And 10 grams; 10 kilograms And 10 kilograms; 5 carats And 5 carats
note
Forms with -s are perceived as more formal. Therefore, if both forms are accepted as acceptable in a literary language, then in written speech it is recommended to use variants ending in -ov. Not in countable form (not when indicating quantity), these nouns necessarily have the ending -ov.
Yes, on this collective farm they don’t count not only grams, but also kilograms of losses!
Not all names of units of measurement follow this pattern. The ending -ov is obligatory in any context for the following nouns:
acre (10 acres), hectare (10 hectares), inch (5 inches), liter (10 liters), meter (5 meters), kilometer (5 kilometers), millimeter (10 millimeters), centimeter (10 centimeters), pound ( 10 pounds), pound (10 pounds), foot (5 feet), yard (5 yards).
Masculine nouns with a base on a hard consonant, denoting monetary units, usually also have the ending -ov:
dollar (five dollars), dinar (five dinars) and etc.
3. For first declension nouns, nouns with an accent on the stem in the initial form usually have a zero ending:
a shoe is a pair of shoes, an apple tree is five apple trees, a heron is five herons, a wedding is five weddings, a town hall is several town halls, but: a share is five shares; uncle - no uncles and uncles; pin - five pins; handful - five handfuls and handfuls; baby - no baby, young man - five young men.
Nouns with stress on the last syllable in the initial form can have the ending -е:
candle - five candles, article - five articles, family - five families, tub - no tubs, melon - no melons, sheet - five sheets And five sheets, But: poker - five pokers, shaft - five shafts And shaft.
note to form the genitive plural form of nouns that have accentological variants in the initial form: barge And barge - no barges And barge, loop And loop - no loops.
4. For nouns used only in the plural, the most common ending is zero:
pasta - no pasta, money - no money, sawdust - no sawdust, ink - no ink.
At the same time, a number of such nouns will have a non-zero ending. In this case, the ending -ov/-ev is typical for nouns with a base on a hard consonant, g, k, x and vowel:
jeans - no jeans (!), clips - no clips, wallpaper - no wallpaper, bronchi - no bronchi.
The ending -еy is common among nouns with a soft consonant stem:
mangers - no mangers, gangways - no gangways, mangers - no mangers (!), curls - no curls, harps - no harps.
How peer options function: rake - no rake And no rakes, stilts - no stilts And no stilt, everyday life - no everyday life And Buden.
5. If the stem of a noun in its initial form ends in a combination of two consonants ( hollow, towel, song, doll), then when forming the genitive plural form with a zero ending, usually fluent vowels o and e appear between these consonants:
no dupe l, no towels, no songs, no dolls, no rose, no board (permissible - doso k), no villages, no sabel, no shoes, no kitchens, no twilight, there are no nozzles and nozzles, but: dachshund - no dachshund, morning - several mornings.
6. Pay attention to the formation of the genitive plural form in the following nouns:
Buryats - no Buryats and Buryats, son-in-law - no sons-in-law, comment - no comments, hoof - no hooves and hooves, adjustments - no adjustments, lower reaches - lower reaches and lower reaches, journeyman - no apprentices, e - no logs and towels, no Turks turk, ear - without ears, awl - no awls.
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. n.m. hours, number over 300 words. The center of the spread of inflexion -and I) are the areas 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 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. n.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.
1. Many masculine nouns with a non-derivative base on a hard consonant (except for sibilants) have a so-called zero ending in the plural genitive case. These include:
names of objects usually used in pairs: boot, felt boots, moccasin, boot(But: boots),stocking(But: socks);(without) shoulder strap, epaulette;
names of some nationalities, mainly based on n And R: Englishmen, Armenians, Balkars, Bashkirs, Bulgarians, Buryats, Georgians, Lezgins, Mordvins, Ossetians, Romanians, Saracens, Turkmen, Turks, Khazars, Gypsies; last of the mohicans; But: Bedouins, Berbers, Bushmen, Negroes, Svans, Kalmyks, Kirghiz, Mingrelians, Mongols, Oirots, Tajiks, Tungus, Uzbeks, Khakassians, Croats, Yakuts; fluctuations: Sarmatov – Sarmatian and some others;
names of military groups, previous branches of the military, etc.; (detachment) partisans, soldier; But: miners, midshipmen, sappers; with a collective meaning – company grenadier, midshipman, cadet; squadron of hussars, dragoons, lancers; cuirassier regiment, reitar; – (three) grenadiers, hussars, midshipmen, dragoons, cadets, cuirassiers, reiters, lancers;
some names of units of measurement, usually used with numerals (the so-called counting form): (quantity) ampere, watt, volt, newton, arshin, angstrom, hertz, grain, oersted; equal options: micron – micron; omov – om; roentgens – x-ray; grams - grams; kilograms – kilogram; karat – carat; pendant - pendant; ergov – erg; full forms: cable (from cables); Fractional numbers are used with singular nouns: 8.3 kilograms.
2. Many feminine nouns in the genitive plural have variant forms: barzh (from barzh) – bargey (from barzh); songs (from song) – song (from song). Modern literary usage is characterized by the first forms in each of the given pairs.
3. Genitive forms are normative waffles, domain, poker, roofs, rods, weddings, gossip, herons, nannies.
4. Genitive forms are normative outbacks, coasts, drugs.
5. Regulatory forms: mouths (also apprentices, m.r.), shoulders, apples, saucers, mirrors, towels, swamps, lacemakers (from the lacemaker) and lacemaker (from the lacemaker).