| nom. | gen. | dat. | acc. | inst. | prep. |
Forming the dative singular wasn’t too much work and, fortunately, forming the dative plural is even easier – the ending, depending on the word’s ending, will either be ам or ям. You don’t even have to worry about gender here, which is, to say the least, thrilling! You just need to know whether a noun’s ending is hard or soft. Let’s take a look:
| Purpose |
To learn the purpose of this case, click here.
| Formation |
Forming this case, as mentioned above, is easy-peasy!
| Hard endings (-ам) |
| а, о or consonant | девушка [girl] мальчик [boy] улица [street] окно [window] место [place] | девушкам – мальчикам – улицам – окнам – местам – |
So, as you can see, if the word ends in a hard vowel such as а or о, or a consonant, the ending will be ам.
| Soft endings (-ям) |
| e, й, or a soft sign | постель (bed) море (sea) здание (building) родитель (parent) поле (field) | постелям – морям – зданиям – родителям – полям – |
So, as you can see, if the word ends in a soft vowel such as e, й, or a soft sign, the ending will be ям.
Please keep the spelling rules in mind!
| вещь (thing) | вещам – |
| солнце (sun) | солнцам – |
If a noun has an irregular plural in the nominative case, it maintains it in other plural forms.
| дом [дома] (house) лес [леса] (forest) … друг [друзья] (friend) брат [братья] (brother) … время [времена] (time) имя [имена] (name) … дочь [дочери] (daughter) мать [матери] (mother) | домам – лесам – … друзьям – братьям – … временам – именам – … дочерям – матерям – |
And there you have it! Another case-related post has been published. Hope you enjoyed it. See you soon!
| Last Edit: 12/21/2025. |
My Slavic Studies 