Common endings by gender and case — singular forms
Change endings based on role in sentence. Gender and animacy live here.
Match the noun's case, gender, and number. The noun is the source of truth.
Conjugate by person and number. No cases, no gender (except past tense). Aspect lives here only.
| Case | Singular ending | Example — солдат (soldier) |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativesubject / dictionary form | — -й -ь | солдат |
| Accusativedirect object / target | — (inanim) -а (anim) | солдата |
| Genitiveof / belongs to / absence | -а -я | солдата |
| Dativeto / for / recipient | -у -ю | солдату |
| Instrumentalwith / by means of | -ом -ем | солдатом |
| Prepositionalabout / at / in (after prep) | -е -и (soft) | солдате |
Soft stem variant (e.g. учитель): -я / -ю / -е / -ем / -е follows the same pattern, just softened.
| Case | Singular ending | Example — карта (map) |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativesubject / dictionary form | -а -я | карта |
| Accusativedirect object / target | -у -ю | карту |
| Genitiveof / belongs to / absence | -ы -и | карты |
| Dativeto / for / recipient | -е -и (soft/ь) | карте |
| Instrumentalwith / by means of | -ой -ей | картой |
| Prepositionalabout / at / in (after prep) | -е -и (soft/ь) | карте |
Feminine -ь nouns (e.g. ночь): genitive, dative, prepositional all take -и. Instrumental takes -ью.
| Case | Singular ending | Example — слово (word) |
|---|---|---|
| Nominativesubject / dictionary form | -о -е | слово |
| Accusativedirect object / target | -о / -е (= nominative always) | слово |
| Genitiveof / belongs to / absence | -а -я | слова |
| Dativeto / for / recipient | -у -ю | слову |
| Instrumentalwith / by means of | -ом -ем | словом |
| Prepositionalabout / at / in (after prep) | -е -и (soft) | слове |
Neuter accusative always equals nominative — animate/inanimate distinction does not apply.
Neuter accusative = nominative always. Masc/neuter dative and genitive share the same vowel (-а/-у hard, -я/-ю soft). Less unique information than the tables suggest.
After г к х ж ш щ ч, write и not ы. Looks irregular, is actually phonetic. Affects genitive and plural frequently.
Hard stems take -а, -у, -ом, -е. Soft stems take -я, -ю, -ем, -е. Same pattern, just one step softer. The stem tells you which column to use.
You don't memorize endings independently. You learn the gender once, then the ending is predictable. Gender = the key that unlocks the right row.
Whatever case, gender, and number the noun takes, the adjective matches. The noun decides, adjective agrees. Aspect lives on verbs only -- nouns never have it.
друг → друзья, человек → люди, ребёнок → дети. Small list, high frequency -- worth memorizing explicitly.