Genitive Plural: Basic Rules

The table below represents basic endings of the genitive plural:

Gender	Endings
Masculine	-ов / -ев / -ей
Feminine	Ø* / -ей
Neuter	Ø* / -ей

These endings are added to the stem of nouns, which is formed by dropping the nominative singular endings.

The endings -ев (for masculine nouns) is used if the stem of the nouns ends in -й.

The endings -ей is used for the following groups of nouns:

• Masculine nouns ending in -ж, -ч, -щ, -ш
• Masculine and feminine soft stem nouns ending -ь (soft sign)
• Neuter nouns ending in a consonnat + e.

In feminine nouns ending in -ея, -ия and neuter nouns ending in -ие, the final letter is replaced by -й. They are considered to have zero ending (Ø).

In feminine nouns ending in a consonant+я, the final letter is replaced by -ь. They are considered to have zero ending (Ø).

Feminine or neuter nouns that have a zero ending (Ø) in the genitive plural and whose stem ends in two (or more) consonants, need a fleeting vowel (-o- or -e-) which inserted before the final consonant of the stem.