Nouns in Russian Language - Part II (Declension of masculine nouns)

Here you will find the rules for transforming a noun to a certain case. With masculine nouns you must always bear in mind that accusative case for animate nouns(people, animals or other beings) is the same as genitive form. For other nouns it is same as Nominative form. Also, knowing the general guidelines can help in learning all the forms more easily. Rules are divided in rules for singular and rules for plural nouns.

Singular

In this table you can see endings for transforming a masculine noun to a certain case in singular.

case	endings	exceptions
N	-
G	-А	-Я
D	-У	-Ю
A	N or G
I	-ОМ	-EM
P	-Е

In instrumental case, if the nominative version of the noun ends on Ч, Ж, Ш, Щ or Ц the ending is -EM instead of -OM. If the ending has an accent, always us the default -OM.

Also, if the noun in nominative ends on soft sign Ь or it ends on Й, replace -А and -У in genitive and dative with -Я and -Ю. Also use -EM in instrumental.

See the table below as an illustration for the rules. First two columns are standard rules and the last three are before mentioned exceptions.

case	inanimate	animate	Ч, Ж, Ш, Щ, Ц	soft sign Ь	Й
N	МАГАЗИН	ПОВАР	МУЖ	УЧИТЕЛЬ	БОЙ
G	МАГАЗИНА	ПОВАРА	МУЖА	УЧИТЕЛЯ	БОЯ
D	МАГАЗИНУ	ПОВАРУ	МУЖУ	УЧИТЕЛЮ	БОЮ
A	МАГАЗИН	ПОВАРА	МУЖА	УЧИТЕЛЯ	БОЙ
I	МАГАЗИНОМ	ПОВАРОМ	МУЖЕМ	УЧИТЕЛЕМ	БОЕМ
P	МАГАЗИНЕ	ПОВАРЕ	МУЖЕ	УЧИТЕЛЕ	БОЕ

Plural

In this table you can see endings for transforming a masculine noun to a certain case in plural.

case	endings	exceptions
N	-Ы	-И/-Е
G	-ОВ	-ЕЙ/-ЕВ/ЁВ/-
D	-АМ	-ЯМ
A	N or G
I	-АМИ
P	-АХ

Plural is more complex than singular. That is because of Nominative and Genitive.

NOMINATIVE
Default ending for a noun in plural is -Ы, but there are exceptions.
- According to spelling rules, behind К, Г, Х, Ч, Ж, Ш and Щ you can never write Ы. In that case use -И.
- In case of the soft sign Ь or if the noun ends on Й, also use -И .
- In case of noun ending on НИН, replace ИН with -E.

GENITIVE
Default ending for a noun in plural is -ОВ, but there are exceptions.
- if the noun ends on Ч, Ж, Ш, Щ or soft sign Ь, use -ЕЙ
- if the noun ends on Ц, use -ЕВ, unless it is accented. Than use -ОВ.
- if the noun ends on ИЙ, use -ЕВ
- if the noun ends on ОЙ or ЕЙ, use -ЁВ
- if the noun ends on НИН, discard ИН.

See the table below as an illustration for the rules.

case	default	К, Г, Х	Ч, Ж, Ш, Щ, Ь	Ц, ИЙ	ОЙ, ЕЙ	ИН
N	МАГАЗИНЫ	ВОЛКИ	НОЖИ	МЕСЯЦЫ	БОИ	АНГЛИЧАНЕ
G	МАГАЗИНОВ	ВОЛКОВ	НОЖЕЙ	МЕСЯЦЕВ	БОЁВ	АНГЛИЧАН
D	МАГАЗИНАМ	ВОЛКАМ	НОЖАМ	МЕСЯЦАМ	БОЯМ	АНГЛИЧАНАМ
A	МАГАЗИНЫ	ВОЛКОВ	НОЖИ	МЕСЯЦЫ	БОИ	АНГЛИЧАН
I	МАГАЗИНАМИ	ВОЛКАМИ	НОЖАМИ	МЕСЯЦАМИ	БОЯМИ	АНГЛИЧАНАМИ
P	МАГАЗИНАХ	ВОЛКАХ	НОЖАХ	МЕСЯЦАХ	БОЯХ	АНГЛИЧАНАХ

Nouns II