In today’s article, I want to focus on Russian irregular plural nouns – those little a-holes.
I’m sorry if I’m being inappropriate, but these nouns really used to bring out the worst in me. You need to learn them, remember them and also use them correctly in all Russian cases.
However, after having lived in Russia for almost 10 years, I think I have come up with a way to classify Russian irregular plural nouns in a way that they are easier to memorize.
And that’s just what I’m going to show you today! Of course, in the end, you can download the PDF chart of Russian irregular plurals.
- Russian irregular plural nouns that add '-ен'
- Plurals in '-ья'
- Russian masculine nouns ending in '-а' and '-я'
- Russian irregular plural nouns that take a '-ё'
- Plurals that drop a letter
- Russian irregular nouns with two plural forms
- Irregular nationalities
- The plurals of baby animals
- Russian irregular plural nouns PDF chart
Russian irregular plural nouns that add '-ен'
Let’s start with the nous that you’ll need only to pass the exams and are otherwise quite uncommon in everyday conversation (with some exceptions, of course).
These neutral nouns ending in “-я” all take “-ен” in their plural form in almost all cases. Here are the most frequent four:
| NOMINATIVE AND ACCUSATIVE | DATIVE | GENITIVE | INSTRUMENTAL | PREPOSITIONAL |
| Имя (name) / Имена (names) | Имени / Именам | Имени / Имён | Именем / Именами | Имени / Именах |
| Время (time) / Времена (times) | Времени / Временам | Времени / Времён | Временем / Временами | Времени / Временах |
| Племя (tribe) / Племена (tribes) | Племени / Племенам | Племени / Племён | Племенем / Племенами | Племени / Племенах |
| Семя (seed) / Семена (seeds) | Семени / Семенам | Семени / Семян | Семенем / Семенами | Семени / Семенах |
The same goes for the word “flame”, in Russian “пламя”, which works the same way but is never used in the plural form.
Just for the record, here are the other Russian irregular plural nouns that follow this model: знамя (banner), стремя (stirrup), бремя (burden), темя (vertex[part of the head]) and вымя (udder).
These all have the plural in “-ена” with the accent on the “a”, except the banner which changes the accent to “знамёна”.
Since I don’t know where to put them, I’ll show you here! Two feminine nouns add '-ер': мать – матери е дочь – дочери.
Plurals in '-ья'
In the previous nouns, the particle appears in almost all declensions, both singular and plural. However, some a-holes change only in the plural form.
This is the case of Russian irregular plural nouns in '-ья'.
Брат (brother), for example, turns into 'братья' (brothers) adding a soft sound that then affects all the endings of the plural cases.
| NOMINATIVO | ACCUSATIVE | DATIVE | GENITIVE | INSTRUMENTAL | PREPOSITIONAL |
| Брат (brother) / Братья (brothers) | Брата / Братьев | Брату / Братьям | Брата / Братьев | Братом / Братьями | Брате / Братьях |
| Дерево (tree) / Деревья (trees) | Дерево / Деревья | Дереву / Деревьям | Дерева / Деревьев | Деревом / Деревьями | Дереве / Деревьях |
| Стул (chair) / Стулья (chairs) | Стул / Стулья | Стулу / Стульям | Стула / Стульев | Стулом / Стульями | Стуле / Стульях |
| Зять (father in law) / Зятья (fathers in law) | Зятя / Зятьёв | Зятю / Зятьям | Зятя / Зятьёв | Зятем / Зятьями | Зяте / Зятьях |
| Перо (feather) / Перья (feathers) | Перо / Перья | Перy / Перьям | Пера / Перьев | Пером / Перьями | Пере / Перьях |
| Крыло (wing) / Крылья (wings) | Крыло / Крылья | Крылу / Крыльям | Крыла / Крыльев | Крылом / Крыльями | Крыле / Крыльях |
| Звено (chain ring) / Звенья (chain rings) | Звено / Звенья | Звену / Звеньям | Звена / Звеньев | Звеном / Звеньями | Звене / Звеньях |
Wait, there’s more!
| NOMINATIVE | ACCUSATIVE | DATIVE | GENITIVE | INSTRUMENTAL | PREPOSITIONAL |
| Друг (male friend) / Друзья (male friends) | Друга / Друзей | Другу / Друзьям | Друга / Друзей | Другом / Друзьями | Друге / Друзьях |
| Сын (son) / Сыновья (sons) | Сына / Сыновей | Сыну / Сыновей | Сына / Сыновей | Сыном / Сыновьями | Сыне / Сыновьях |
| Князь (Russian prince) / Князья (Russian princes) | Князя / Князей | Князю / Князьям | Князя / Князей | Князем / Князьями | Князе / Князьях |
| Муж (husband) / Мужья (husbands) | Мужа / Мужей | Мужу / Мужьям | Мужа / Мужей | Мужем / Мужьями | Муже / Мужьях |
What’s the difference between the two charts above? All of these plural forms are irregular and end in '-ья', but those in the second chart end in '-ей' without a soft sign “ь” in the accusative and genitive plural forms.
Among other things, 'муж' and 'сын' would also have another archaic declension, but forget about it.
I warned you: irregular plural nouns in Russian are terrible!
Russian masculine nouns ending in '-а' and '-я'
Let’s move on with the irregular plurals in Russian and tackle the most numerous group – masculine nouns with the plural form in “-а” and “-я”.
If you read my post about the Russian nominative case, you already know that this is a typical plural form for neuters. Some masculine nouns follow this pattern too.
This causes a lot of confusion because nominative plural and genitive singular are written the same, but have different pronunciations.
Here in bold are the stressed vowels.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | SINGULAR GENITIVE | SINGULAR | PLURAL | SINGULAR GENITIVE |
| Город (city) | Города | Города | Учитель (teacher) | Учителя | Учителя |
| Адрес (address) | Адреса | Адреса | Лагерь (summer camp) | Лагеря | Лагеря |
| Глаз (eye) | Глаза | Глаза | Голос (voice) | Голоса | Голоса |
| Дом (house) | Дома | Дома | Пояс (belt) | Пояса | Пояса |
| Доктор (doctor) | Доктора | Доктора | Повар (cook) | Повара | Повара |
| Лес (forest) | Леса | Леса | Век (century) | Века | Века |
| Номер (number, …) | Номера | Номера | Сорт (type) | Сорта | Сорта |
| Поезд (train) | Поезда | Поезда | Остров (island) | Острова | Острова |
| Паспорт (passport) | Паспорта | Паспорта | Мастер (master) | Мастера | Мастера |
And yes, there’s more of these! Gotta catch ’em all by yourself!
Russian irregular plural nouns that take a '-ё'
It’s only some feminine and neutral nouns that transform the “e” into a “ё” in their nominative and genitive plural forms.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | SINGULAR GENITIVE | PLURAL GENITIVE |
| Звезда (star) | Звёзды | Звезды | Звёзд |
| Пчела (bee) | Пчёлы | Пчелы | Пчёл |
| Сестра (sister) | Сёстры | Сестры | Сестёр |
| Ведро (bucket) | Вёдра | Ведра | Вёдр |
| Стекло (glass) | Стёкла | Стекла | Стёкол |
| Гнездо (nest) | Гнёзда | Гнезда | Гнёзд |
| Ребро (rib) | Рёбра | Ребра | Рёбер |
| Весло (oar) | Вмсла | Весла | Вёсел |
Plurals that drop a letter
These are mostly masculine nouns ending in '-ец', '-ень', '-ок', or '-ер'.
After they dropped the vowel, it doesn’t come back in the other cases declension.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| Отец (father) | Отцы | Замок (castle) | Замки |
| Певец (male singer) | Певцы | Носок (sock) | Носки |
| Хлебец (crispbread) | Хлебцы | Кружок (circle) | Кружки |
| Парень (boy) | Парни | Ветер (wind) | Ветра |
| Корень (root) | Корни | Бобёр (beaver) | Бобры |
Russian irregular nouns with two plural forms
Oh yes, that’s true.
Some irregular Russian nouns have two meanings and two different plural forms, one for each of them.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL 1 | PLURAL 2 |
| Лист | Листы (paper sheets) | Листья (leaves) |
| Повод | Поводы (reasons) | Поводья (bridles) |
| Пропуск | Пропуска (passes) | Пропуски (omissions) |
| Счёт | Счета (invoices) | Счёты (sums) |
| Тон | Тоны (musical tones) | Тона (hues of color) |
Irregular nationalities
Come on, we’re almost done!
These irregular plurals in Russian are the ones I personally have the hardest time remembering, I don’t know why.
Masculine singular nouns (they are NOT adjectives) that end in '-нин' have their plural form ending in '-не'.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| Гражданин (citizen) | Граждане | Датчанин (Danish male) | Датчане |
| Крестьянин (farmer) | Крестьяне | Славянин (Slavic male) | Славяне |
| Англичанин (English male) | Англичане | Мусульманин (Muslim male) | Мусульмане |
| Армянин (Armenian male) | Армяне | Христианин (Christian male) | Христиане |
The plurals of baby animals
Last but not least, the irregular plural forms that are the most feared by children all around Russia – baby animals.
We have two problems here. Not only the plural is irregular, but baby animals often are called a name that has nothing to do with that of the adult animal (just like in English).
To remember them, think about 'ребята'. Now it is a colloquial way to say “Hey guys”, but before that, it was plural of “ребёнок”, that is, “baby”.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| Цыплёнок (chick) | Цыплята | Ягнёнок (lamb) | Ягнята |
| Котёнок (kitten) | Котята | Зайчонок (leveret) | Зайчата |
| Телёнок (calf) | Телята | Мышонок (little mouse) | Мышата |
Russian irregular plural nouns PDF chart
As I promised at the beginning, here you can download a PDF chart of Russian irregular plural nouns.
Enter your name, your email and click on the button! The download link will appear below.
Have a look at these posts!
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