The Accusative case of plural nouns
In this lesson we will learn how to form the Accusative case of plural Russian nouns.
Animate nouns
The rules to form the Accusative case for animate plural nouns are the same as for the Genitive case:
Masculine nouns ending in …
… ж, ч, ш, щ -> add ей
… ь -> replace with ей
… й -> replace with ев/ёв
… ц -> add ев if not stressed, ов if stressed
… any other consonant -> add ов
ёж – еже́й (hedgehog)
конь – коне́й (horse)
змей – зме́ев (serpent)
за́яц – за́йцев (hare)
кот – кото́в (cat)
Feminine nouns ending in …
… а -> drop а
… a consonant + я -> replace я with ь
… a vowel + я -> replace я with й
… ь or ья -> replace with ей
м́ама – мам (mom)
ня́ня – нянь (nanny)
Анастаси́я – Анастаси́й (Anastasia)
ма́терь – матере́й (mother)
Neuter nouns ending in …
… a consonant + о/е -> drop о/е
… ое/ее -> replace ое/ее with ых/их
чу́дище – чу́дищ (monster)
существо́ – суще́ств (creature)
живо́тное – живо́тных (animal)
млекопита́ющее – млекопита́ющих (mammal)
Inanimate nouns
The plural inanimate nouns do not change in the Accusative case. The only thing you need to do is to make sure that the noun is plural.
Check out how to make plural in Russian here.
Examples
стол – столы́ (table)
зда́ние – зда́ния (building)
фотогра́фия – фотогра́фии (photography)
Practice today’s examples with the audio recording.
Accusative plural memo chart
| ending or description | how to change | examples |
|---|---|---|
| animate (same as the Genitive case) | ||
| masculine | ||
| ж, ч, ш, щ | +ей | ёж – еже́й |
| ь | -ь / +ей | конь – коне́й |
| й | -й / +ев (ёв) | змей – зме́ев |
| ц | +ев | заяц – за́йцев |
| other consonant | +ов | кот – кото́в |
| feminine | ||
| a | -а | м́ама – мам |
| a consonant + я | -я / +ь | ня́ня – нянь |
| a vowel + я | -я / +й | Анастаси́я – Анастаси́й |
| ь | -ь / +ей | ма́терь – матере́й |
| neuter | ||
| a consonant + е | -е | чу́дище – чу́дищ |
| a consonant + о | -о | существо́ – суще́ств |
| ое | -ое / -ых | живо́тное – живо́тных |
| ее | -ее / +их | млекопита́ющее – млекопита́ющих |
| inanimate | ||
| all nouns | use plural form in Nominative | стол - столы́ зда́ние - зда́ния |
The offline version of this lesson is available here
What about some neuter nouns which end in -мя, such as имя?
Hello Kai,
These nouns are rather exceptions, as there are no many ending in -мя. In the Accusative plural form, it will be имена́.
Thank you. You need more examples. At least one for every type of ending. It’s not practical to try to remember the rules and then apply them on word. No native speaker speaks like that. It’s much more natural to see some real examples and then justify new words based on these patterns.
You also need to show examples for -й +ев/ёв, end explain if there is some reason to prefer each one of them, or that it’s random.
Hello Kate,
Thank you for the suggestions, we agree with everything. We’ll be improving the lessons in some future and consider all of that then.