Speaker A
Hello and welcome to my channel. Today we're going to talk to continue talking about the plural of nouns. It is lesson number five. Plural of nouns.
Lesson 5 of a Russian grammar course: forming plurals of neuter nouns (-о→-а, -е→-я endings), stress shifts, and common irregular plurals like дети, люди, друзья, братья, деревья.
Key Takeaways
- Neuter nouns in -о form plurals in -а and nouns in -е in -я, but stress often shifts and must be memorized.
- Many common nouns have irregular plurals (дети, люди, братья, друзья, сыновья) that must be learned individually.
- Correct stress placement and vowel reduction are crucial for accurate Russian pronunciation of plurals.
- Final voiced consonants devoice at the end of words, affecting pronunciation of plural forms.
What the video covers
- Recaps the previous lesson: plurals of masculine and feminine nouns and nouns that exist only in plural (e.g., деньги, очки, часы).
- Explains the basic rule for neuter nouns: ending -о is replaced by -а, and -е is replaced by -я in the plural.
- Shows that stress often moves to a different vowel in the plural (e.g., окно → окна, письмо → письма) and that these shifts must be memorized.
- Covers neuter nouns ending in -ие/-ие-type patterns such as здание → здания and село → сёла, where stress placement changes.
- Demonstrates vowel reduction in unstressed syllables and how to pronounce plural forms correctly (e.g., окна, письма, места).
- Discusses the word дело and its multiple meanings (business, matter, deal), showing how context determines meaning and plural form.
- Highlights the common student mistake of stressing the first syllable in вино and the correct stress on the final vowel.
- Introduces irregular plurals: дочь → дочери, сын → сыновья, брат → братья, друг → друзья, ребёнок → дети, человек → люди, учитель → учителя, сестра → сёстры.
- Explains devoicing of final consonants (e.g., друг pronounced with a final k sound, город, поезд, паспорт, адрес).
- Ends with additional plural examples such as комната, стул, сон, лес, остров, дерево, reinforcing stress and pronunciation practice.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction and Lesson Overview
- 00:38Recap of Masculine, Feminine, and Plural-Only Nouns
- 01:41Neuter Nouns in -о: Rule and Examples (окно, письмо)
- 03:24Neuter Nouns in -е and Stress Shifts (здание, село)
- 04:58The Word дело and Pronunciation Practice
- 06:48Irregular Plurals and Exceptions
- 09:42Pronunciation of Plural Forms and Devoicing
- 13:00Additional Examples and Closing Summary
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
Uh if you know this topic, if you know everything about plural, stay here with us and work on your pronunciation.
Speaker A
Try to pronounce all the words with me out loud. try to imitate my pronunciation also. In this C course I talk about pronunciation as well.
Speaker A
Uh so yesterday we talked about feminine and masculine how to make them plural. We talked about nouns that are only plural in Russian language. Three of them watch money eyeglasses. And today we're going to talk about neuter. How to make
Speaker A
neuter nouns plural and about exceptions. So neuter ano ano means eat it ano and let's make it plural ani they an here o will become a or will become a if a noun ends in no will be or will be
Speaker A
replaced by a un plural and If a noun ends in, it will be replaced by y in plural. Very easy, right?
Speaker A
Let's begin. Ao. Let's begin with the word ao. Ao. When o is not stressed, pronounce it as a. It will be reduced. We have to pronounce it as ao. So it ends in a.
Speaker A
Let's make it plural. Replace a with orna. Okna. And sometimes when we make a noun plural, the stress becomes meditas and moves to another vowel. Ao here it moved to a memorize it. There is no rule. So you
Speaker A
just have to memorize these words. Okna windows [clears throat] windows. Very good. Next. Pismo.
Speaker A
P. Ends in O or is stressed here. P. Sorry, sometimes I look at the microphone if it's working.
Speaker A
uh pismo letter ends in O. So we will replace O with a and it will be P. And again the stress moves to another vowel.
Speaker A
It moves to E. P letters. Memorize it. Another noun in neuter that ends in O.
Speaker A
Ma and of course o will be replaced by a mister mister and the stress goes to a mist will be pronounced as e because it's not stress so it will be mist.
Speaker A
Very good. Now let's talk about so miesta means place seat ma sits places great. Uh now let's talk about words that um ends in yeah ends in yeah will be replaced by yah in plural ya was replaced by y was replaced by y
Speaker A
building buildings Building buildings again ends in Oil. Let's make it plural. We are going to replace a by or by a and something else will happen here. You will see it now.
Speaker A
We can call it some kind of exception but still not real exception because O is replaced by a according to the rule.
Speaker A
But here yeah becomes Yola village villages village villages and y is always stressed. So it automatically the first syllable became stressed here.
Speaker A
Learn these words. Yeah. Not stressed will be pronounced as e village. Um good. Another word with or ending is deal.
Speaker A
dealer is um um dealer is um business uh task dealer. Yeah, business um uh um also it can mean um it can mean um uh thing thing to do. dealer. Um, deal. Just a moment to see what Google
Speaker A
case. Okay. It can be case, business, matter, deal. Mhm. Think. Yeah. Think, work. So many meanings will depend on the context.
Speaker A
Uh, for example, in the this very common version phrase, how are things going? How is the business?
Speaker A
Think business or will be replaced by a dealer. Da and the stress will go to a da da.
Speaker A
Here oi is not stressed so it will be pronounced as a da. And here y is not stressed so it will be pronounced as e.
Speaker A
Da d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d d da. Practice with me out loud. It's very important. Try to imitate my pronunciation. Another word with Y ending because we have only one. Let's
Speaker A
add more here. Mor stress is very important in Russian language. So stress the correct vowel, the correct syllable.
Speaker A
Pronounce it a little bit longer. Emphasize it. Will be replaced by y. So it will be Maria Maria Cesar.
Speaker A
Sorry. Vo another word with O ending. Vo. Of course, there are many other examples, but in my courses and in this course, I use only common words that people use every day. [clears throat] Vo sorry, sorry. Vo vine. Vo wine. For some
Speaker A
reason, people make this. My students uh used to make this mistake. They stress the first syllable here. I I will not even pronounce it. It's incorrect. So do not stress e. Here o is stressed vo. And of course o will be replaced by a to
Speaker A
make it plural. Vina. And here the stress goes to e. Vina. Vina. And o will be replaced by a vina.
Speaker A
Yes. Wines. Wine. Wines. Vo. Vina. Vo. Vina, very good. Now, let's talk about exceptions.
Speaker A
Let's talk about exceptions. We have many exceptions in Russian language uh for plural. And these words are very common. The exceptions are very common. Exceptions like in English for example, child, children, person, people, something like that. We also have in Russian language. Let's
Speaker A
talk about it. Exceptions. Exceptions. We will write it here. First I will write it in singular and then in plural.
Speaker A
So singular and plural. Let's begin with um do daughter and plural will be [clears throat] do practice with me out loud. Try to imitate my pronunciation.
Speaker A
daughter daughters sin as well is an exception according to the rule we have to add here right and we have to add according to the rule to make it plural but it's an exception so it will be savia
Speaker A
savia sonia sister and in plural it will be [clears throat] your is always stressed sister you're not stressed we pronounce as e Sister sisters sisters same with brother it's an exception brat bratia bratia broad brother brothers brat bratia brother brother brothers
Speaker A
ri is an exception as well as in English Reb is always stressed. Reach child and plural children is reach.
Speaker A
What about pronunciation here? Two vowels will be reduced because they're not stressed. Yeah. Will be pronounced as e and o as a reion.
Speaker A
is always stressed in a word. You probably know this one, right? Dia friend here this G maybe you heard it can be will be pronounced as C D.
Speaker A
Why? Because voiced consonant located at the end of the word will become unvoiced. G at the end of the word will be pronounced as sk letter.
Speaker A
Next um v is evening in plural it will be v and the stress goes to a yes evening evenings Ver not stressed will be pronounced as e v and both yes here in this word in plural will be pronounced as e v.
Speaker A
Very good. The next word is do probably know this one too right? D means house.
Speaker A
In plural it will be dama and the stress goes to a. Here it was on o when we have only one a vowel that vowel is stressed.
Speaker A
Here it went to a dama and o became unstressed. So we pronounce it as a now.
Speaker A
Dama dama. Very good. Gorat city gorat and in plural gada gada gor gada or not stressed will be pronounced as a gor means city town [snorts] voiced consonant located at the end of the word will become unvoiced. So when we have
Speaker A
the located at the end of the word we will pronounce it as the gorat gat ga ga cities towns very good let's After we have is singular person, human plural ludy people.
Speaker A
Two different words, right? But they mean the the same thing. But this one is singular. This one is plural.
Speaker A
You're not stressed. We pronounces e and o s. Next. Do you know this word?
Speaker A
And [clears throat] plural will be and the stress goes to y teacher teachers teacher teachers.
Speaker A
Address. Address. Adrisa in plural. Adrisa in plural. And the stress goes to a to this one. Address. Add address. Of course, it means address. Adrisa.
Speaker A
And yeah, will be pronounced as e when it's not stressed. Adrisa. Address. Adrisa. Poest.
Speaker A
Train. poest. Po and in plural it will be po not po. So this is an exception [snorts] po.
Speaker A
So here as well in the as in the word gu voiced consonant located at the end of the word will become unvoiced. So there will be pronounced as the po passport passport passport passport passport passport passport passport passport.
Speaker A
passport or not stressed we pronounce as a passport and the stress goes here to a from the first syllable to the last syllable means number but also it means a hotel room is a hotel room plural is and the stress goes to the last syllable
Speaker A
to a r and this o will be pronounced as a because it's not stressed here in this in plural n and of course y is pronounced as e stool this one is interesting stool chair plural is stoolia stoolia
Speaker A
stool chair chairs dream many words right and these are these that I chosen are the most common ones dreams son Dream dreams leas leas forest Lisa Lisa and the stress will go to a this year will be pronounced as e because
Speaker A
it's not stressed leasa glass I glass in plural glass eyes voiced Consonant located at the end of the word will become unvoiced. Z will be pronounced as S. Glass glass I glass. Here already this Z is pronounced as Z because it's not located
Speaker A
at the end of the word anymore. Glass glaza glassa. Pronounce all the words with me out loud. Few more words and we are done.
Speaker A
Actually two ov island and plural arraa. Astraa o astraa islands. [snorts] Astraa or not stressed will be pronounced as a ostraa. And the last one is tree means tree and in plural [clears throat] it is.
Speaker A
That's all for today's. Thank you very much for watching. See you tomorrow. monkey.
Topics:Russian grammarplural nounsneuter nounsRussian pronunciationRussian stressirregular pluralsRussian for beginnersRussian language course
