Appendix:Russian stress patterns - nouns

According to the classification system of Andrey Zaliznyak (Андре́й Зализня́к) there are 6 stress patterns of Russian nouns’ declension, with 4 variants.

NOTE: Boldfaced cases differ from the other cases in the same number (singular or plural).

The accusative plural is like the nominative plural for inanimate nouns, and like the genitive plural for animate nouns.

Mnemonic:
 * 1) Patterns a/c/e (or odd-numbered) have stem stress in the singular. Patterns b/d/f and variants (or even-numbered) have ending stress in the singular.
 * 2) In a and b, plural is like singular. In c and d, it's opposite. In e and f, the plural has moving stress: ending stress, except the nominative plural with stem stress.
 * 3) The variant patterns (bʹ, dʹ, fʹ, fʺ) are all ending-stressed in the singular except for one case: accusative singular in dʹ and fʹ, instrumental singular in bʹ and fʺ. (Note however that the stress on the "stem" in a word like любо́вью is on the same syllable as the stress on the "ending" in любо́вь.) In nouns, patterns dʹ and fʹ occur only with feminines in -а and -я (the singular accusative endings -у and -ю are unstressed), and bʹ and fʺ occur only with feminines in -ь (the singular instrumental ending -ью is unstressed).

Masculine Nouns
The great majority of masculine nouns have stress always on the stem (accent pattern A). In particular: There are however, exceptions to these rules that are outlined below.
 * New borrowings from other languages (ex. )
 * Nouns with more than two syllables (ex. )
 * Nouns that are not stressed on the last syllable in the nominative singular (the dictionary form) (ex. )

Stress Pattern b
The masculine nouns with stress pattern b (end stressed) fall into a few groups:
 * Several common 1-syllable nouns:


 * In addition, to this stress pattern are the following groups of multi-syllable masculine nouns:
 * Those with a reducible stem that either:
 * Has stress on the final syllable (ex. )
 * Three nouns with stress on the penultimate syllable in the nominative singular:, and
 * Those in stressed (ex. )
 * Those in a stressed vowel + -ч (ex. )
 * Those ending in (ex. )
 * Two-syllable ending in stressed or  (ex., ), and
 * Those ending in a stressed vowel + -рь (ex. ) Exception:
 * Those ending in the suffixes, , or (, , and  after a syllabant) (ex. , , ) Exceptions: , , ,
 * Two-syllable nouns ending in, , and (ex. , , ) Exceptions: , , , , contractions with  (ex. ), ,
 * Those ending in or  (ex. ) Exceptions:
 * The following words:

Stress Pattern c
The masculine nouns with stress pattern c (end stressed in the plural) fall into a two groups:
 * Several 1-syllable nouns:


 * Masculine nouns with the nominative plural ( for nouns ending in й or ь) (ex.,  , ) Exception:
 * See Category:Russian nouns ending in a consonant with plural -а, Category:Russian nouns ending in -ь with plural -я, Category:Russian nouns ending in -й with plural -я

Stress Pattern e
To this stress pattern belong the following categories of masculine nouns:
 * Several 1-syllable nouns:, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
 * Some nouns of multiple syllables, especially those ending in soft sign:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
 * A few pluralia tantum:, , ,

Stress Pattern f
To this stress pattern belong the following masculine nouns:, , ,

Feminine Nouns
Most feminine nouns have fixed stem stress (accent pattern a), including all feminine-form nouns ending in unstressed -а or -я. For example, will have fixed stressed because the final -а is not stressed. There are only two exceptions to this rule: and

The following subsections will outline the stress patterns of nouns that govern feminine nouns that are stressed on the final -а or -я in the dictionary form.

Stress Pattern b
To this stress pattern belong the following groups of feminine form nouns:
 * Nouns ending in (ex. )
 * The following two-syllable nouns:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,, , , , ,
 * All feminine nouns of more than one syllable, with the stress on the last syllable (ex. ), except for those nouns listed in the sections below.

Stress Pattern d
To this stress pattern belongs the following groups of feminine form nouns:
 * Most two-syllable feminine form nouns with stress on the ending in the dictionary form. (ex., )
 * Feminine form nouns ending in stressed, (ex. , )
 * The following three-syllable nouns with stress on the final -a:, ,

Stress Pattern dʹ
To this stress pattern belongs the following groups of feminine form nouns:, , , , , , ,

Stress Pattern f
To this stress pattern belongs the following groups of feminine form nouns:
 * The following two-syllable feminine nouns:, , , , , , ,
 * The following three-syllable nouns with stress on the final syllable:, , ,

Stress Pattern fʹ
To this stress pattern belongs the following groups of feminine form nouns:
 * The following feminine nouns:, , , , , ,
 * The following three-syllable nouns with stress on the final syllable:, , , , ,

Neuter Nouns
Most neuter nouns have fixed stress, including those with the ending, , and.

Two neuter nouns have stress pattern E: (pl. ) and  (pl. )

Two neuter nouns have stress pattern F: ,

Stress Pattern b
Having the ending stress in all cases are the following groups of neuter nouns:
 * Words with two or more syllables ending with, , , , , or (ex. , ) Exceptions: , , , , , ,

Stress Pattern c
Having the end stress in the plural are the following groups of neuter nouns:
 * The following two-syllable nouns:, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
 * The following three-syllable nouns :, , ,
 * Neuter nouns ending in "-мя":, , , , and . Exception:

Stress Pattern d

 * Neuter nouns of two or more syllables with stress on the ending, not ending in, , , , , or (ex. , , )
 * The following: (pl. ),, , , , ,

Feminine Nouns Ending with ь
Feminine nouns ending in -ь usually have fixed stress, with the stress on the same syllable in all cases.

Five of these nouns have end stress in all forms except the instrumental singular (pattern bʹ):, , , , and.

In addition, the following proper nouns have end stress in all forms except the instrumental singular (pattern bʹ):, , , , , and.

The noun is end stressed in all cases except the instrumental singular and nominative/accusative plural (pattern f").

Stress Pattern e

 * 1) The following one-syllable nouns:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
 * 2) The following multi-syllable nouns:, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,.

Further Irregularities
The following have the stress shifted to the end in the genitive plural: (ко́льца – коле́ц),  (о́вцы – ове́ц),  (сви́ньи – свине́й),  (се́мьи – семе́й),  (сёстры – сестёр),  (су́дьи – суде́й),  (я́йца – яи́ц);  (зе́мли – земе́ль),  (хлопо́т)