Noun Stress Groups

Андрей Зализня́к tamed the Russian stress system into 10 patterns, a-f with 4 variants. In the singular, a, c, e have stem stress, b, d, f ending stress. For the plural, A, b share the singular’s, c, d switch, e, f stress the ending, except in nom. pl. Variants stress the sg. ending, except d’, f’ for acc. sg. and b’, f’’ for inst. sg.

Common words are more likely to change, but you can predict stresses from the nominative form for most nouns and “simply” memorize the few hundred exceptions (where a number of nouns is given below, instead of rules). e has 2/3 of all exceptions. c is half of the rest.

• neut. no e/f

  • c -мя, 20 nouns
  • b 2+ syllable nouns in -ство, -ко, -цо, -ие
  • d end stress not in the above + 7 nouns

• fem. no e/c

  • a most
  • b -ня́, some others (all end stressed)
  • d the rest in -а́, all -ота́, ина́ + 3 nouns
  • f 15 nouns

• masc. no d

  • c а́ plural, 60 1-sylb. nouns
  • e 30 nouns
  • f 3 nouns
  • b 100 nouns, -ец, ́-ч, -ёж, -аш, ́-рь, -у́н, most -ук, -ак, -ик

• neut

  • f плечо, крыльцо́
  • e о́ко, у́хо

C

sg. stem, pl. end

Neuter in -мя Masc. pl. in -а́

60 masc 1. syllable nouns

n.b. ряд, шаг, шар, час (and полоз) may have gen. sg. in -а́ with the numbers 2,3,4. This is the paucal case.

D

Sg. end stress, pl. stem stress

Fem - most 2-syllables with stressed -а́, all in - о́та, ина́ Neut - end stress not in -ство, ко, цо, ьё, ие (which are b)

F

end stress except nom. pl.

Variants

Variants’ sg. endings are stressed except their variant case.

d’, f’ are -а́, unstressed -у. b’, f’’ are -ь.

d'

sg. end, pl. stem, but acc sg. stem

f'

end, except pl. n. and sg. acc.

Some are no longer comprehensible to us moderns:

• furrow - trench for planting
• harrow - like a plow
• gall - blister/infection on a tree

b'

all end except sg. inst.

f''

all end, except n. pl. and sg. inst.

These cities or rivers: Русь, Тверь, Томь, Омь, Обь, Пермь

e

stem sgg. and n. pl., end for other pl. If unmarked, ь is fem.

N.b. words like пол, ход have different patterns for other meanings. Masc. and 2 neut.

fem