Russian noun sub-classes
From UniLang Wiki
Neuter nouns in -мя
The declension of these nouns is described in the main Noun declensions page in the Irregulars section.
-ёнок: young of animals
The young of many animals are denoted by the ending -ёнок, e.g. котёнок kitten (from кот cat). Note that the addition of this ending isn't completely regular - it may palatalize or otherwise change the original word, as in медведь bear → медвежёнок, or derive from a different stem, as телёнок calf.
In the plural, the -ёнок ending becomes (accented) -ята. These nouns decline as follows:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | котёнок | котята |
| Genitive | котёнка | котят |
| Dative | котёнку | котятам |
| Accusative | котёнка | котят |
| Instrumental | котёнком | котятами |
| Prepositional | котёнке | котятах |
Nouns in -нин
Nouns in -нин generally denote persons of a specific nationality or origin, as россиянин Russian (citizen), южанин southerner, крестьянин peasant.
In the plural, -нин is shortened to -н (hard stem!), but the nominative plural ending is -е:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | россиянин | россияне |
| Genitive | россиянина | россиян |
| Dative | россиянину | россиянам |
| Accusative | россиянина | россиян |
| Instrumental | россиянином | россиянами |
| Prepositional | россиянине | россиянах |
