There are 10 stress schemes, named a, b, c, d, e, f, f', d', d''. Scheme a is the fixed stress scheme, and it is the most common one. The d' and d'' are less common schemes, as well as the most irregular, but important words have this schemes.
The list uses some obvious abbreviations for case and number:
| Abbreviation | Meaning |
|---|---|
| N | Nominative |
| A | Accusative |
| G | Genitive |
| P | Prepositional |
| D | Dative |
| I | Instrumental |
| sg | singular |
| pl | plural |
The list is by no means complete and most probably it isn't completely accurate. If you have any suggestions, remarks or corrections, please send a mail to admin@russianstress.info.
Right now the list is only available with Spanish definitions. You are free to take the list and translate it to your own language.
You are free to take the list and do whatever you want with it. You don't even have to tell me. However, if you could drop a line just to let me know, that would be great, because I like to know who visits this site. It would also be great if you could mention where the list came from, or link back.
I make no claim of the suitability of this list for any purpose, etc.
This list has been compiled using all kind of dictionaries, online and offline. For a list of online dictionaries which show stress, go to the links section in the main page.
Although scheme a words are not irregularly stressed, some of them are identical to words of other schemes. Some words have been added simply to make note of their irregular declension (such as брат, Npl братья)
A typical scheme a word: машина (machine, car)
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | машина | машины |
| Accusative | машину | машины |
| Genitive | машины | машин |
| Prepositional | машине | машинах |
| Dative | машине | машинам |
| Instrumental | машиной | машинами |
Despite being pretty common, end-stressed words have been included. Most of them are masculine, which implies that it is not possible to suspect that they are end-stressed by just knowing the nominative singular. (The plural of жених, is it женихи or женихи?) Many end-stressed words end in к and/or have a fleeting vowel, for example: знаток (expert) whose plural is знатоки, without vowel loss, and значок (mark, badge), whose plural is значки.
As far as I know, all words ending in -ак/-як are end-stressed, except поля'к.
A typical scheme b word: игрок' (player)
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | игрок | игроки |
| Accusative | игрока | игроков |
| Genitive | игрока | игроков |
| Prepositional | игроке | игроках |
| Dative | игроку | игрокам |
| Instrumental | игроком | игроками |
Scheme c words keep the stressed fixed on the root in the singular, but are end stressed in the plural. Most words of this scheme are masculine. Exceptions are few but important: дело, дерево (Npl деревья), зеркало, масло, место, море, небо (Npl небеса), облако, озеро (Npl озёра), поле, право, сердце, слово, стадо, судно (Npl суда), тело, чудо (Npl чудеса). Some of these words (дерево, озеро) aren't exactly end-stressed in the plural, but do move their stress to the end of the world when compared with the singular.
Some scheme c words take the ending -а in the nominative plural. For example: адрес (Npl адреса), голос (Npl голоса).
Example of a scheme c word: учитель (teacher)
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | учитель | учителя |
| Accusative | учителя | учителей |
| Genitive | учителя | учителей |
| Prepositional | учителе | учителях |
| Dative | учителю | учителям |
| Instrumental | учителем | учителями |
Scheme d words are end-stressed in the singular and root-stressed in the plural. All words in this scheme vowel-ended (thus, they are femenine or neuter). Exceptions to this rule are "degenerate".
Because they are vowel-ended, the genitive singular is formed by omitting the final vowel. In this case, the stress goes to the last vowel of the resulting word, whichever it is.
Some d scheme words have a letter е in their root. In the plural, stress falls on this е, which in most cases turns out to be a ё. For example, ребро in the nominative plural is рёбра. The same happens with бедро, бревно, ведро, весло, весна, гнездо, десна, звезда, зерно, колесо, метла, пчела, ремесло, седло, село, and стекло. Some words where е doesn't turn out to be a ё: беда, змея, клеймо.
A easily identifiable familiy of scheme d words are those which name the degree of some quality. For example: величина, высота, глубина, длина, долгота, красота, толщина, широта.
Example of scheme d word: весна
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | весна | вёсны |
| Accusative | весну | вёсны |
| Genitive | весны | вёсен |
| Prepositional | весне | вёснах |
| Dative | весне | вёснам |
| Instrumental | весной | вёснами |
This seemingly odd, not very simmetrical scheme is actually very common and important. It looks like scheme c, save that the nominative plural is root-stressed. Many of the words which belong to this group end in a ь, which means that their gender can't be easily predicted in principle. However, most scheme e words ending in ь are femenine.
Some important words in this group: бог, волос, гость, дверь, деревня, дочь зуб, камень, корень, кровь, лошадь, мать, мышь, новость, ночь, область, овощ, очередь, парень, площадь, речь, тень, церковь, чёрт.
An example of scheme e word: бог (god, pronounced бох and not бок, believe it or not)
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | бог | боги |
| Accusative | бога | богов |
| Genitive | бога | богов |
| Prepositional | боге | богах |
| Dative | богу | богам |
| Instrumental | богом | богами |
Notice that бог is declined like an animate noun.
Most are femenine nouns. Some important words in this group are: волна, губа, плечо, свеча, слеза. Let's see the declension of слеза (tear):
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | слеза | слёзы |
| Accusative | слезу | слёзы |
| Genitive | слезы | слёз |
| Prepositional | слезе | слезах |
| Dative | слезе | слезам |
| Instrumental | слезой | слезами |
Notice the е, which actually is an ё.
Most are femenine nouns. Some important words in this group are: голова, гора, нога, пора, рука. I would say they are all important (except one or two). Let's see the declension of голова (head):
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | голова | головы |
| Accusative | голову | головы |
| Genitive | головы | голов |
| Prepositional | голове | головах |
| Dative | голове | головам |
| Instrumental | головой | головами |
Again, a lot of important femenine nouns in this small group. Let's see the declension of река (river):
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | река | реки |
| Accusative | реку | реки |
| Genitive | реки | рек |
| Prepositional | реке | реках |
| Dative | реке | рекам |
| Instrumental | рекой | реками |
Actually, река is a complicated word. Different people stress different syllables. The stress placement in the chart above is the one most dictionaries agree with, but I can't say much about how real people stress this word.
Do we need a scheme called d''? It seems a little too much. d'' words are vowel-ended words. Their genitive plural is formed by omitting the last vowel. However, this would have left an ugly consonant cluster at the end of the word. In this cases, Russians insert a vowel in order to make pronunciation easier. The only strange thing here is that the inserted vowel is - unexpectedly - stressed. Let's see the example: сестра (sister):
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | сестра | сёстры |
| Accusative | сестру | сестёр |
| Genitive | сестры | сестёр |
| Prepositional | сестре | сёстрах |
| Dative | сестре | сёстрам |
| Instrumental | сестрой | сёстрами |
Notice that the inserted vowel is ё - obviously stressed.
If a noun in the list can take the prepositional stressed -у ending, this is indicated in the list as "Psg2". However, not all nouns that take this ending have been included in the list. The same holds for nouns that take the stressed -у ending in the genitive.