Difficult cases of declension of surnames in Russian. Declension of surnames of employees in documents and business correspondence

Often, secretaries and clerks, when drawing up protocols, are faced with the requirement of the head not to incline declined surnames. What surnames do not actually decline, we will tell in the article.

From the article you will learn:

What are the misconceptions about the declension of surnames

Most native speakers of the Russian language are absolutely unaware of the laws of declension of names and surnames. Despite the fact that there are a large number of reference books and manuals on this topic, the issue of declension of surnames remains complex and ambiguous.

In many respects, the solution of this issue is hindered by misconceptions about the rules for declension of surnames, which are widespread among native speakers of the Russian language. Let's consider some of them.

There is a widespread misconception that the declension of a surname depends on its linguistic origin. From this, the wrong conclusion is made that, for example, all Georgian, Polish or Armenian surnames do not decline.

Another misconception is that the declension of a surname depends on the gender of its bearer.

If the surname coincides with a common noun (Will, Freedom, Beetle), then it does not decline.

However, perhaps the most common misconception is that there are so many declension rules that it simply does not make sense to memorize them.

In order to refute these misconceptions, consider the basic rules for changing surnames by cases. We have formulated them in the form of step-by-step instructions, with which you can quickly conclude whether the surname changes in cases or not.

How to determine if a surname is inclined: step by step instructions

A. If the surname ends in -ov, -in, but it is foreign (For example, Chaplin or Darwin), then it will change in cases like a noun of the second declension (for example, table) - Chaplin, Darwin.

C. Female surnames in -ina (Smorodina, Zhemchuzhina) change depending on how the male version of the same surname changes. If the male version sounds like Smorodin or Zhemchuzhin, then the female surname in the instrumental case will sound like Smorodina or Zhemchuzhina, and if the male version matches the female surname - Zhemchuzhina or Currant, then the female surname will decline as a common noun - Zhemchuzhina or Smorodina.

Step #2

Non-standard surname

The main rule to follow is that the type of declension is primarily affected by what sound - a vowel or a consonant - the surname ends with. We note again that neither the gender of the carrier nor the origin affect the inclination or inclination of the surname.

Step #3

Groups of indeclinable surnames

All Russian surnames ending in -s, -ih (Sukhikh, Belykh), as well as surnames that end in vowels e, and, o, u, s, e, u, are not subject to change in cases.

For example, the performance of Loya, Gramigny, Ceausescu, Lykhna, Maigret and Liu.

Note. In everyday speech and in the language of literature, which depicts Speaking, sometimes you can find the declension of male surnames on -s or -ih. For example, Chernykh's report. Sometimes you can find the declension of Ukrainian surnames on - to - Chernenka or Shevchenko. The last variant of surname changes was common in the 19th century, but at present both the first variant and the second are undesirable.

Step #4

In the event that the surname has an ending in a consonant sound (except for -ih and -ih), then it will be inclined or not, depending on the gender of its owner.

Male surnames will decline to a consonant sound, but female ones will not. It is important to note that the linguistic origin of the surname is not decisive in this case.

If the surname ends in a consonant (except for surnames in -s, -ih, which were mentioned above), then here - and only here! - the gender of the bearer of the surname matters. All male surnames ending in a consonant are inclined - this is the law of Russian grammar. All female surnames ending in a consonant are not declined. In this case, the linguistic origin of the surname does not matter. Men's surnames are also declined, coinciding with common nouns.

For example, the reports of Krug, Shock, Semenyuk, Martirosyan (for male surnames) and the reports of Krug, Shock, Semenyuk and Martirosyan (for female surnames).

Note 1. There are male surnames of East Slavic origin, which can be inclined in two ways. We are talking about surnames that, when changing, have a fluent vowel - Zhuravl - Zhuravel or Zhuravl. Most reference books recommend keeping a fluent vowel (Zhuravel) when declining, since from a legal point of view it is important to preserve the integrity of the surname. However, the owner of the surname can insist on the option he has chosen. The main thing in this case is to adhere to the uniformity of changing the surname by case in all legal documents.

Note 2. The surnames beginning with th (Shakhrai) deserve special mention. Here we also encounter the possibility of a double change of surname. If the surname is perceived as an adjective, for example, Topchy, then it changes as Topchy, Topchy, etc. If the surname is perceived as a noun, then it changes as Topchia, Topchia. Such difficult cases concern only those surnames in which the consonant "y" is preceded by the vowels "o" or "i". In all other cases, the surname changes according to the general rules (Shakhrai, Shakhrai, etc.)

Step #5

If the surname ends in a vowel -я, which is preceded by another vowel (for example: Shengelaya, Lomaya, Rhea, Beria, Danelia), she declines.

Examples: notebook by Inna Shengelai, diploma issued to Nikolay Lomaya, meeting with Anna Rhea; crimes of Lavrenty Beria, meeting with George Danelia.

Step #6

If the surname ends in a vowel -a preceded by another vowel (eg: Galois, Morois, Delacroix, Moravia, Eria, Heredia, Gulia), it is not declined.

Examples: Nikolai Galua's notebook, diploma issued to Irina Eria, meeting with Igor Gulia.

A. French surnames with an accent on the last syllable are not inclined: books by Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola and Anna Gavald, aphorisms by Jacques Derrida, goals by Diarra and Drogba.

B. Mostly Finnish surnames ending in -a are not inflected: meeting with Mauno Pekkala (although in a number of sources it is recommended to incline them too).

All other surnames (Slavic, Eastern and others; ending in stressed and unstressed -a, -ya) are inclined. Contrary to a common misconception, surnames that coincide with common nouns are also declined.

Examples: Irina Groza's notebook, Nikolai Mukha's diploma, Elena Kara-Murza's lecture, Bulat Okudzhava's songs, Igor Kvasha's roles, Akira Kurosawa's films.

Note. The declension of Japanese surnames used to fluctuate, but reference books note that such surnames have been consistently declined in recent times.

Why is it important to follow the rules of declension of surnames

The need to follow the rules for declension of surnames is due not only to decency, but to the fact that non-compliance with these rules can lead to all sorts of misunderstandings.

For example, consider this situation. You have received a letter signed as follows: "Vasily Groz's letter." Following the laws of Russian grammar, you most likely assume that the male surname, which in the genitive case ends in -a, will have a zero ending in the nominative case and conclude that the author of the letter is Vasily Groz. Such a misunderstanding would not have arisen if the letter had been signed correctly - "Vasily Groza's letter."

Another example. You have passed the article A. Pogrebnyak. It is natural to assume that the author of the article is a woman. If it later turns out that the author is a man Anatoly Pogrebnyak, then this can lead to a misunderstanding.

Results

The declension of any surname is determined by the rules of the modern Russian language.
The declension of a surname depends on what sound - a vowel or a consonant - it ends with.
The rule "male surnames change by case, but female surnames do not" applies only to surnames ending in a consonant sound.
If the surname coincides with a common noun (Nora, Bear or Hare), then this is not an obstacle to its declension.

When filling out documents, forms, title sheets of test papers, people often wonder how to decline surnames and whether they decline at all. It is necessary to dwell on this issue in more detail and figure out how to properly decline surnames.

The spelling of the endings of surnames and their declension mainly depend on the family affiliation. First, let's look at how to decline male surnames.

Russian male surnames

If the surname is of native Russian origin and ends in -ev, -ov, -in, then it is inclined according to the same principle as masculine second-declension nouns and possessive adjectives with suffixes -in, -ov. The only difference is that in the instrumental case of nouns the ending is -om, and in surnames -ym. Surnames also differ from adjectives in the prepositional case (in surnames the ending is -e, in adjectives -om).

For example:

I.p. Ivanov (fathers, island)
R.p. Ivanov (father, islands)
D.p. Ivanov (father, island)
V.p. Ivanova (father, island)
etc. Ivanov (father, island)
P.p. Ivanovo (father, island)

Surnames of foreign origin on -in, -ov are inclined according to the same principle, the only difference is in the end of the instrumental case, it will be -om (Kuzmin - Darwin). Women's surnames are also inclined.

For example:

I. p. Ivanova
R. p. Ivanova
D. p. Ivanova
V. p. Ivanov
T. p. Ivanova
P. p. Ivanova

The difference in the declension of female and male surnames

Female and male surnames of foreign origin with an unstressed ending -a (Globa, Shcherba, etc.) and Russian surnames with a stressed ending -a (Kvasha, Skovoroda, etc.) are declined. For example: Maria Globa - Pavel Globa, Svetlana Kvasha - Vladimir Kvasha.
French surnames with a stressed ending -а (-я) are not declined, whether masculine or feminine. For example: a novel by Emile Zola.
Both female and male surnames are not inclined to -ko of Ukrainian origin (Kovalenko, Lukashenko, Shevchenko, etc.). For example: I saw Yuri Kovalenko (Maria Kovalenko).
Foreign surnames on -o, -e, -i, -y, -y, both female and male, are not inclined. For example: poems by Yuri Zhivago (Antonina Zhivago).
Male surnames ending in a consonant (Rozembaum, Blok, Stirlitz, etc.) are declined, unlike female surnames similar to them. For example: poems by Alexander Blok, but Alexander is the husband of Lyubov Blok.
Both male and female surnames ending in –s (Kruchenykh, Chernykh, etc.) do not decline equally. For example: I talked with Alexander (Alexandra) Chernykh.
Russian-speaking surnames that have endings similar to the endings of full adjectives are declined, moreover, similarly to these same adjectives. It doesn't matter if the surname is male or female. For example: Evgeny Bely, Maria Belaya.

If you have any doubts about how to properly decline surnames, it is better to seek help from a spelling dictionary, in the application of which the basic rules of the Russian language are often written, including the norms for declension of surnames.

In Russian, full names in the genitive case change mainly in the same way as other proper nouns - depending on the declension to which they refer. Examples of surnames of patronymic names in the genitive case: the book of Ivanova Elena Sergeevna, the works of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, the apartment of Chernykh Maryam Alexandrovna.

Declension of surnames in the genitive case

The main inflected types and examples of surnames in the genitive case are presented in the table:

masculine	Feminine gender	Plural
Surnames on - ov / ev, - in / yn, - sky / sky, - tsky / tsky	Petrov, Pshenitsyn, Chatsky, Borovsky	Petrovoy, Pshenitsynoy, Chatskoy, Borovskoy	Petrov, Pshenitsyn, Chatsky, Borovsky
Surnames consonant with adjectives	black, Crimean, thick, dashing	Black, Crimean, Thick, Dashing	Black, Crimean, Thick, Dashing
Surnames consonant with nouns	Miller, King, Raven	Miller, King, Raven	Miller, King, Raven
Fridays, Kafka, Earth	Fridays, Kafka, Earth	Friday, Kafka, Earth
Surnames with fluent vowels	Lion, Hare	Lion, Hare	Lion, Hare
Double surnames	Solovyov-Sedogo, Weaver-Preobrazhensky	Soloviev-Sedoy, Weaver-Preobrazhensky	Solovyov-Sedykh Weaver-Preobrazhensky

Declension of names in the genitive case

Examples of declension of names in the genitive case:

Please note: in the name Love in the genitive case, the root vowel “o” does not fall out.

Declension of patronymics in the genitive case

In the genitive case, patronymics are declined as follows:

Exceptions

Indeclinable nouns denoting surnames and given names in the genitive case are used in a form homonymous with their initial. These nouns include:

French surnames with a stressed ending - a; Surnames with a base on - ko, - e, - and, - y, - yu and consonant with the middle gender on - o; Surnames without grammatical gender with the basis on - their / s; Non-Russian female names with a base on a solid consonant and on - and; Names with endings - o, - y, - yu, - e, - s,.

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Names and titles

How to decline surnames (difficult cases)

A source:N. A. Eskova. Difficulties in inflection of nouns. Educational and methodological materials for practical exercises on the course "Language of Modern Press". USSR State Press Committee. All-Union Institute for Advanced Training of Press Workers. M., 1990.

13.0. The book by L. P. Kalakutskaya “Declination of surnames and personal names in the Russian literary language” is devoted to this issue. M., 1984. This is a fundamental study based on rich material. This section briefly discusses only the main issues, with attention focused on the most complex and controversial. Surnames and given names are considered separately.

13.1. Surname declension

13.1.1. The vast majority of Russian surnames have formal indicators - suffixes -ov- (-ev-), -in-, -sk-: Lermontov, Turgenev, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Kramskoy. All such surnames are inclined. At the same time, they form two correlative systems of forms - masculine and feminine, naming male and female persons, respectively. Both systems correspond to a single system of plural forms.

Note. All this - with the exception of the absence of neuter forms - resembles the system of adjectival forms. Absolute regularity in the ratio
of male and female surnames, which has no analogies among common nouns, suggests whether surnames should not be considered a special type of “genitive” nouns.

13.1.2. Surnames with a formal indicator -sk- are declined in the masculine and feminine and in the plural as adjectives: Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky..., Dostoevsky, Dostoevsky..., Dostoevsky, Dostoyevsky etc.

Russian surnames that decline as adjectives and do not have an indicator -sk-, relatively few; These include: Good, Tolstoy, Borovoy, Coastal, Lanovoy, Armored, Wild, Smooth, Transverse etc. (see the list of such surnames in the book: A. V. Superanskaya, A. V. Suslova. Modern Russian surnames. M., 1981. P. 120-122).

13.1.3. Surnames with indicators -ov- And -in- have a special declension in the masculine gender, which is not found either among personal names or among common nouns. It combines the endings of masculine second declension nouns and adjectives of the type fathers. From the declension of these nouns, the declension of surnames differs in the ending of the instrumental case (cf .: Koltsov-th, Nikitin-th - island-th, jug-th), from the declension of possessive adjectives - the end of the prepositional case (cf .: about Griboyedov, about Karamzin - about fathers, about mothers).

Correlative female surnames are declined as possessive adjectives in the feminine form (cf. how they decline Rostov And father, Karenina And mother's).

The same must be said about the declension of surnames on -ov And -in in plural (Bazarovs, Rudins lean like fathers, mothers).

13.1.4. All other masculine surnames that have consonant stems and a zero ending in the nominative case (in writing they end with a consonant letter, b or d), except for the names -oh, -them, are declined as nouns of the second declension of the masculine gender, that is, they have the ending in the instrumental case -om, (-em): Herzen, Levitan, Gogol, Vrubel, Hemingway, Gaidai. Such surnames are perceived as "non-Russian".

Correlative female surnames do not decline: Natalia Alexandrovna Herzen, Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok, with Anna Magdalina Bach, with Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela-Vrubel, about Mary Hemingway, about Zoya Gaidai.

Note. The application of this rule requires knowledge of the gender of the bearer of the surname. The absence of such information puts the writer in a difficult position.

The form in which the surname appears informs about the gender of the person concerned. But if the author of the text did not have the necessary information, was unsteady in applying the grammatical rule, or simply careless, the reader receives false information. Let's take one example. In the weekly “Moscow Speaks and Shows”, the following program appeared in the radio programs on 9.3.84: “E. Mathis sings. The program includes songs by W. Mozart, K. Schuman, I. Brahms, R. Strauss. Who is K. Schumann? It can be assumed that the initial is incorrectly indicated: K. Instead of R. But it turns out that songs were performed in the program Clara Schumann(wife of Robert Schumann, who was not only a pianist, but also a composer). So a grammatical error disorients the reader.

In the plural, the surnames of the type in question are also declined as masculine nouns: visited the Herzens, the Vrubels, the Gaidaevs, wrote to the Bloks, the Hemingways etc.

Note. There are, however, special rules for stating such surnames in some cases in the inflected form of the plural, in others in the indeclinable form. These rules, more related to syntax than to morphology, are developed in some detail by D. E. Rosenthal (see: Spelling and Literary Editing Handbook. M., 1989. S. 191-192, § 149, p. 10) . According to these rules, it is recommended: with Thomas and Heinrich Mann, but with Robert and Clara Schumann, with father and son Oistrakh, but father and daughter Gilels. This material is not considered here.

13.1.5. The simple rule laid down in the previous paragraph for declension of surnames into consonants that do not have formal indicators -in-, -ov-, turns out to be difficult to apply for some "outlandish" surnames, for example, for those that are homonymous with common nouns or geographical names inflected according to the third declension. So, in the grammatical appendix to the "Reference book of personal names of the peoples of the RSFSR" there are difficulties that arise when it is necessary to decline such surnames as Sadness, Love, Astrakhan.

The same manual states that for some surnames, only the formation of the plural is associated with difficulties (surnames Moustache, Gay, Finger, Runner, Sleep and etc.).

The declension of a number of surnames (both in the singular and in the plural) turns out to be difficult due to the ambiguity of whether they should retain vowel fluency according to the model of common nouns that are homonymous or similar in appearance (Kravets or Kravets - from Kravets, Zhuravel or Crane - from Zhuravel, Mazurok or Mazurka - from Mazurok etc.).

The resolution of such difficulties cannot be provided by rules; this requires a dictionary of surnames that gives normative recommendations for each word.

13.1.6. A special type are Russian surnames on -s (-s), giving out their origin from the form of the genitive (and prepositional) case of the plural of adjectives: White, Black, Twisted, Curly, Long, Red. According to the strict norms of the literary language, such surnames are not inclined: Chernykh's lectures, Sedykh's novel, Kruchenykh's work etc.

Note. In casual colloquial speech, there is a tendency to inflect such surnames when they belong to men, the stronger the closer the communication with the bearer of the surname is. So, in the now defunct Moscow City Pedagogical Institute. Potemkin students of the forties and fifties listened to lectures Chernykha, passed exams and tests Chernykh etc. (It never occurred to anyone to say otherwise). If this colloquial trend won, the surnames on -oh, -them would cease to differ from other surnames by consonants, which were mentioned in clause 13.1.4.

13.1.7. There are cases when the original form of the surname can be perceived ambiguously from the point of view of its morphological structure. These cases are not numerous, but they are interesting both linguistically and from the point of view of the practical difficulties that may be associated with them.

There is a problem of distinguishing between "Russian" and "non-Russian" surnames on -ov And -in; The latter include, for example, Fleets(German composer) Gutskov(German writer) Cronin(English writer) Darwin, Franklin etc. From a morphological point of view, “Russianness” or “non-Russianness” is expressed in whether a formal indicator is distinguished or not distinguished in the surname ( -ov- or -in-). If such an indicator stands out, then the instrumental case has an ending -th, and the correlative female surname is inclined (Fonvizin, Fonvizina), if it does not stand out, the instrumental case is formed with the ending -om, and the female surname does not decline (Virchow, with Anna Virchow). Wed "homonyms": Charles Spencer Chaplin, Hannah Chaplin And Nikolai Pavlovich Chaplin, with Vera Chaplina.

Note. As the material of L.P. Kalakutskaya shows, in some cases correlative male and female surnames are morphologically inconsistent (for example, instrumental case Zeitlin can be combined with indeclinable shape Zeitlin female surname). Full ordering here can only be achieved if there is a special dictionary of surnames containing grammatical indications. However, the editor must ensure that morphologically contradictory forms do not meet at least within the same text.

There are non-Russian (mostly German) surnames in -them: Argerich, Dietrich, Freundlich, Erlich etc. Regardless of the touch of “foreign language” characteristic of them, they cannot be mistaken for Russian surnames in -them because in Russian surnames before the element -them there are practically no soft consonants with hard pairs, since there are few adjectives in Russian with such stems (i.e. such adjectives as blue; and is there a surname blue and others like her?).

But if the end -them the surname is preceded by a hissing or back palate consonant, its belonging to the indeclinable type will be undeniable only if it is correlated with the basis of the adjective (for example, Walking., Smooth); in the absence of this condition, such surnames can be perceived morphologically ambiguously; these include, for example, Khakhachikh, Tovchikh, Gritsky. Despite the rarity of such cases, this fundamental possibility should be borne in mind.

In very rare cases, surnames can be perceived ambiguously, the original forms of which end in iot (in the letter j) with preceding vowels And or about. For example, names like Topchy, Pobozhiy, Boky, Ore can be perceived as having endings -oh, -oh and hence inflected as adjectives (Topchy, Topchy..., in the feminine Topchaya, Topchaya) and as having a null ending with a noun-like declension (Topchia, Topchia..., feminine invariant form Topchy). To resolve such perplexities, again, a dictionary of surnames is needed.

13.1.8. The declension of surnames ending in vowels in the original form does not depend on whether they are male or female.

Note. The material of L. P. Kalakutskaya shows that there is a tendency to extend the ratio, which is natural for surnames to consonants, to surnames with a final but, i.e. incline male surnames without inclining female ones. Editors should do their best to eliminate this practice.

Consider surnames for vowels, based on their letter appearance.

13.1.9. Surnames spelled with e, e, i, s, u, u at the end, can only be indeclinable. These are the surnames: Daudet, Musset, Lansere, Fourier, Meillet, Chabrier, Goethe, Nobile, Caragiale, Tarle, Ordzhonikidze, Artmane, Maigret, Bossuet, Gretry, Lully, Debussy, Navoi, Modigliani, Gramsci, Galsworthy, Shelley, Rustaveli, Chabukiani, Gandhi, Jusoity, Neyedly, Lanu, Amadou, Shaw, Manzu, Nehru, Enescu, Camus, Cornu etc.

13.1.10. Surnames with final about also indestructible; these are the names Hugo, Clemenceau, La Rochefoucauld, Milhaud, Picasso, Marlo, Chamisso, Caruso, Leoncavallo, Longfellow, Craft, Dolivo, Durnovo, Khitrovo, Burago, Mertvago.

According to the strict norms of the literary language, this also applies to surnames of Ukrainian origin with the final -ko(of which there are many -enko): Korolenko, Makarenko, Franko, Kvitko, Shepitko, Bondarso, Semashko, Gorbatko, Gromyko.

Note. It is known that in the literary language of the last century, such surnames could be inclined according to the first declension: Korolenki, Korolenka, Korolenka. Now it is not considered normative.

13.1.11. The most complex picture is presented by surnames with the final but. In contrast to the previous cases, it is essential here whether but after a vowel or after a consonant, whether this vowel is stressed and (in certain cases) what is the origin of the surname.

All last names ending in but, preceded by vowels (most often at or And), indeclinable: Galois, Morua, Delacroix, Moravia, Eria, Heredia, Gulia.

All surnames ending in unstressed but after consonants, decline according to the first declension: Ribera - Ribera, Ribera, Ribera, Ribera, Seneca - Seneca etc.; also lean Kafka, Spinoza, Smetana, Petrarch, Kurosava, Glinka, Deineka, Gulyga, Olesha, Nagnibed, Okudzhava and others. All such surnames, regardless of origin, are morphologically segmented in Russian, i.e., the ending is distinguished in them -but.

Among surnames with stress á after consonants, there are both morphologically segmented and non-segmented, i.e., indeclinable.

Indeclinable surnames of French origin: Dumas, Thomas, Degas, Lucas, Farm, Gamarra, Petipa and etc.

Surnames of a different origin (Slavic, from Eastern languages) are inclined according to the first declension, i.e., the stressed ending is singled out in them -a: Mitta - Mitta, Mitte, Mittu, Mitta; these include: Frying pan, Poker, Kvasha, Tsadasa, Hamza and etc.

13.1.12. Declination-indeclination of surnames spelled with a letter I at the end, depends only on the place of stress and the origin of the surname.

Indeclinable surnames of French origin with an accent on the end: Zola, Troyat.

All other surnames I inclined; these are Smut, Zozulya, Syrokomlya, Gamaleya, Goya, Shengelaya, Danelia, Beria.

Note. Surnames with the final letter I preceded by a vowel, unlike such surnames on a, are divided into a stem ending in the consonant yot, and the ending -a (Gamaleya - Gamaleya "j-a).

Georgian surnames turn out to be inflected or indeclinable, depending on the form in which a particular surname is borrowed into Russian: surnames in -and I declinable (Danelia), on the -ia - inflexible (Gulia).

13.1.13. Of interest is the question of the formation of the plural from inflected surnames on -and I). In the grammatical appendix to the “Handbook of Personal Names of the Peoples of the RSFSR”, such surnames are qualified as non-standard and it is recommended for them to use the plural for all cases of a form that is consistent with the original. Surnames taken as samples Winter And Zoya. Recommended: Ivan Petrovich Zima, with Semyon Semenovich Zoya, Anna Ivanovna Zima, Elena Sergeevna Zoya etc., and for the plural - forms Winter, Zoya in all cases.

Imagine the declension in the plural of surnames Winter, Zoya really difficult. But what about other surnames that are inclined according to the first declension, for example, such as Glinka, Deineka, Gulyga, Okudzhava, Olesha, Zozulya, Gamaleya? Is there any certainty that for them it is necessary to recommend the use of the plural form in all cases, coinciding with the original one? How to say: to your beloved Glinka or to your beloved Glinkas?; met with Deineka or met with the Deineks?; remembered all Okudzhava or remembered all the Okudzhavas? The use of inflected forms in these cases is not excluded.

It is more difficult to imagine the declension in the plural of surnames with a stressed ending -á - Shulga, Mitta, Hamza, especially in the genitive case (all * Shulg, * Mitt, * Hamz?). Here we run into a linguistic difficulty (see above, 7.6.). Since such facts are rare and not studied by linguists, in such cases it is advisable for the editor to minimally interfere with the author's text.

13.2. Declension of personal names

13.2.1. Personal names do not have significant morphological differences from common nouns. They are not "generic" (clearly, cases like Alexander And Alexandra, Eugene And Evgenia, Valery And Valeria not related to this event). Among personal names there are no words with a special declension (cf. what was said above about surnames in -ov And -in). The only feature of personal names is the absence of neuter words among them, but it should be noted that even among animate common nouns, the neuter gender is represented very little.

13.2.2. Among personal names there is a noun of the third declension. This is also a feature that brings them morphologically closer to common nouns and distinguishes them from surnames. According to the third declension, they steadily decline: Love(with forms love, about Love), Adele, Giselle and names of biblical origin Hagar, Rachel, Ruth, Shulamith, Esther, Judith. Other names of this type - Lucille, Cecile, Aigul, Gazelle(borrowings from different languages), Ninel(new formation of the Soviet era), Assol(made up name) - fluctuate between the third declension and indeclination (with Cecily And at Cecile's, with Ninel And with Ninel).

Note. Women's surnames in soft consonants (written in b) how clear from what has been said above (see 13.1.4), are just as indeclinable as female surnames into hard consonants. The fundamentally existing possibility of parallel change of nouns into soft consonants according to two different declensions for grammatical expression of gender differences remains unrealized in the Russian language. Wed theoretically possible ratios: Vrubel, Vrubel, Vrubel(declension of male surname) - * Vrubel, * Vrubel(declension of female surname), *trot, *trot, *trot(declension of male name) - lynx, trot(declension of the name of the female). However, in the famous folklore Swans this opportunity is partly realized!

13.2.3. Female names into solid consonants can only be indeclinable (not different from surnames of this kind). These include: Elisabeth, Irene, Catherine, Gretchen, Liv, Solveig, Marlene, Jacqueline etc. There are common nouns of this type, but they are few and practically non-replenishable. (Madame, Miss, Mrs., Mistress, Fraulein, Freken), there are many personal names and their replenishment (by borrowing) is not limited in any way.

13.2.4. Male names into hard and soft consonants (in writing into consonants, And And b), are declined as common nouns of the same appearance. These include Ivan, Konstantin, Makar, Arthur, Robert, Ernst, Claude, Richard, Andrei, Vasily, Julius, Amadeus, Igor, Emil, Charles etc. In rare cases of “homonymy” of male and female names, they are correlated (in terms of declension) as male and female surnames: Michelle, Michelle(male name), Michelle indeclinable (female name; there is a French violinist Michel Auclair).

13.2.5. Everything that has been said about the inclination-non-inclination of surnames into vowels also applies to personal names.

Names do not decline: Rene, Roger, Honore, Jose, Ditte, Oze, Pantaloon, Henri, Louis, Lisi, Betsy, Giovanni, Mary, Eteri, Givi, Pierrot, Leo, Amadeo, Romeo, Carlo, Laszlo, Bruno, Hugo, Danko, Francois, Nana, Atala, Colomba etc.

Names decline: Francoise, Juliet, Suzanne, Abdullah, Mirza, Musa, Caste, Emilia, Ophelia, Jamila etc.

13.2.6. The plural of inflected personal names is formed freely, if this: the need arises: Ivana, Igori, Emily, Helena, Emily etc. Morphological restrictions here arise in the same cases as for common nouns (for example, for the genitive plural from Abdullah, Mirza, Costa; cf. 7.6). On the variant formation of the genitive plural from type names Petya, Valya, Seryozha see 7.4.4 note.

13.3 Features of the formation of indirect, cases from some combinations of names and surnames

In the Russian language, a tradition has developed to use the names of a number of foreign figures (mainly writers) in combination with the names: Walter Scott, Jules Verne, Mine Reed, Conan Doyle, Bret Harte, Oscar Wilde, Romain Rolland; cf. also literary characters: Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes, Nat Pinkerton. The use of these surnames separately, without names, is not very common (this is especially true for monosyllabic surnames; it is unlikely that anyone read in childhood Verne, Reid, Doyle And Scott!).

The consequence of such a close unity of the name and surname is the declension in oblique cases of only the surname: Walter Scott, Jules Vernou, with Mine Reed, about Robin Hood etc. This phenomenon, which is characteristic of relaxed oral speech, is also reflected in writing, which can be confirmed by the following examples from fairly authoritative authors.

Show yourself like a wonderful beast,
He is now going to Petropolis /.../
With the terrible book of Gizot,
With a notebook of evil cartoons,
With a new novel Walter Scott...
(Pushkin. Count Nulin)

And gets up
alive
Fenimore country
Cooper
And Mine Reid.

(Mayakovsky. Mexico)

In the evenings quick-eyed Chamois
Vanya and Lyalya reads Jules Verne.

(Chukovsky. Crocodile)

(Hyphenated spellings emphasize the close unity of the name and surname).

Non-declension of the name in such combinations is condemned by modern normative manuals. So, D. E. Rosenthal says: “... novels Jules Verne(not: "Jules Verne")..." (op. cit. p. 189. §149, n. 2).

The wind whistled in Vova's ear
And he took the sombrero off his head!
Waves-mountains run one after another,
Jump like maned lions.
Here with a hiss one rolled -
AND Jules Verne picked up from the stern!

(Volgina T. Summer wanders along the paths. Kyiv. 1968. S. 38-39).

Such editing in verse is, of course, completely unacceptable. But even in a prose text that conveys casual colloquial speech, there is no need to replace Jules Verne, Mine Reed, Bret Garth, Conan Doyle etc. strictly normative combinations with inflected forms of names. The editor should be flexible in such cases.

Instruction

All Russian surnames that include -ov- (-ev-), -in-, -sk- (Belov, Ignatieva, Baturin, Glinskaya) are inclined. In the plural, the forms of female and male surnames coincide (Belov, Glinsky). Surnames ending in -oy, -y, -y (Lanovoy, Wild, Zapashny) are declined in the same way as adjectives.

The rest, ending in consonants or the letters "b", "y" (except for surnames in -s, -ih), have an ending in the instrumental with -om, (-em): Gaidar, Babel. Female surnames in this case are not inclined: with Anna Kern, for Marina Golub. In the plural, surnames of this type are also declined as masculine: visited the Herzens.

Russian surnames ending in -s, -ih (Belykh, Dolgikh) are not declined.

When declining surnames ending in -a, it has which letter (vowel or consonant) comes before this -a, and also whether the final -a is stressed. If in the surname there is a vowel before the final -a, such a surname is not inclined (Morua).

Surnames ending in an unstressed -a after consonants are declined according to the first declension: Kafka (Kafka's novel), Okudzhava (Okudzhava's song).

If the final -а (or -я) is stressed, such surnames may or may not be inflected depending on . Surnames of French origin are not inclined (Dumas, Petipa, Zola). Surnames of a different origin (Slavic, from Eastern languages) are inclined according to the first declension, i.e., the stressed ending -a is singled out in them: Kvasha - Kvashi, Kvashe, Kvasha, Kvasha (here Golovnya, Shengelaya, Beria, etc.).

If the surname is composite, and the first part of the surname is not in itself as a surname (Demuth-Malinovsky), then only the second part of the surname is declined (sculpture by Demut-Malinovsky). If the first part of the surname is a surname in itself, in this case both parts are declined (Lebedeva-Kumach).

Useful advice

There are a number of surnames, the declension of which causes difficulties and is not regulated by general rules. To resolve such difficulties, a dictionary of surnames is needed, giving normative recommendations for each specific word.

Sources:

Surname declination. Reference and information portal GRAMOTA.RU
declension of masculine surnames
Declension of proper names

The Russian language has its own peculiarities of declension of surnames and personal names, which are so difficult for foreigners who study our language. However, sometimes these questions cause difficulties even for those for whom Russian is their native language. One of these questions is how to incline to - diy in Russian, we will now consider.

Instruction

According to the rules, and having an ending - diy, incline to - . Women's surnames do not bow, but men's surnames, in the nominative case ending in -й, are declined in the same way as nouns with a second masculine gender. By ear, they are often perceived as foreign.

Women's surnames with such an ending they are not declined either in the singular or in the plural. For example: Svetlana Kon diy, Svetlana Kon diy, Svetlana Kon diy, Svetlana Kon diy, Svetlana Kon diy, about Svetlana Kon diy. Likewise, and in the plural: the Cohn sisters diy, the Kohn sisters diy, sisters Kohn diy, the Kohn sisters diy, the Kohn sisters diy, about the Cohn sisters diy.

Men's surnames on the - diy decline in both singular and plural. Singular: Eugene Kon diy, Yevgeny Kondiya, Yevgeny Kondiya, Yevgeny Kondiya, Yevgeny Kondiy, about Yevgeny Kondiy. In the plural: brothers Kondiya, brothers Kondiev, brothers Kondiya, brothers Kondiev, brothers Kondiya, about brothers Kondiya.

Accordingly, in order to write such a surname, we must have information about the field of this. The absence of such information is capable of writing in a difficult position. Accordingly, in which the surname is indicated ending in - diy, carries information about the field.

There is another, rather syntactic nuance. When mentioning male and gender with a surname on - diy She doesn't lean either. For example: Victor and Elena Kan diy, Victor and Elena Kan diy, Victor and Elena Kon diy, Victor and Elena Cohn diy, Victor and Elena Cohn diy, about Victor and Elena Cohn diy.

Sources:

N. A. Eskova. Difficulties in inflection of nouns. Educational and methodological materials for practical exercises on the course "Language of Modern Press". USSR State Press Committee. All-Union Institute for Advanced Training of Press Workers. M., 1990.

Declension of adjectives is carried out according to cases, gender and numbers. There are also indeclinable adjectives in Russian, but they are in the minority.

Instruction

There are two types of declension: adjective and mixed. According to the first type, most adjectives are inclined. The adjective declension is subdivided into the declension of adjectives with the ending -oy adjectives with the endings -й and -й.

The declension of adjectives ending in -oi is also divided into subtypes according to the final sound of the stem. This sound can be posterior, hard hissing or steamy.

The declension of adjectives with the endings -y and -y has more varieties according to the final sound of the stem. The ending can be after iota, after q, after hard sibilants, after posterior palatine, after soft paired consonants, after hard paired consonants.

The mixed type of declension is subdivided into the first pronominal, the second pronominal and the possessive. According to the first pronominal, possessive adjectives with stems on -y and on -in are declined, as well as the countable adjective third. All other possessive adjectives are declined according to the possessive subtype.

The declension of adjectives with a stem into a pair-solid consonant occurs as follows. In the masculine and singular, the case endings are as follows: -ы/-ой in the nominative and accusative, -ою in the genitive, -оmu in the dative, -ы in the instrumental, -ой in the prepositional. In the neuter gender and singular, the endings are similar, except for the ending -oe in the nominative and accusative cases.

In the feminine and singular, the endings are as follows: -oy in the nominative, -oy in the genitive and dative, -oy in the accusative, -oy/-oy in the instrumental, -oy in the prepositional. The plural of adjectives with a base on a solid paired consonant is inclined as follows: -s in the nominative and accusative, -s in the genitive and prepositional, -s in the dative, -s in the instrumental.

When based on a soft-paired consonant, the masculine singular has the following endings: -i in the nominative and accusative, -iu in the genitive, -iu in the dative and accusative, -ii in the instrumental, -iu in the prepositional. Singular neuter: -ee in the nominative and accusative, -his in the genitive, -him in the dative, -im in the instrumental, -em in the prepositional. Singular feminine: -ya in the nominative, -ey in the genitive and dative, -yu in the accusative, -ey/-eyu in the instrumental, -ey in the prepositional.

The plural of this variety of adjectives declines as follows: -i in the nominative and accusative, -ii in the genitive and prepositional, -im in the dative and instrumental.

Adjectives with a masculine and singular sibilant stem change by case as follows: -iy/-oy in the nominative, -iy in the genitive, -yi in the dative, -y/-oi and –iy/-oi in the accusative, - im in the instrumental, -em in the prepositional. In the neuter singular: -ee/-th in the nominative and accusative, -th in the genitive, -om in the dative, -im in the instrumental, -th in the accusative. Feminine singular: -oy in the nominative, -ey/-oy in the genitive and dative, -oy in the accusative, -ey/-ey and -oy/-oy in the instrumental, -ey/-oy in the prepositional.

Adjectives with a sibilant stem in the plural are declined according to the scheme: -ie in the nominative, -ih in the genitive and prepositional, -im in the dative, -i/-iu in the accusative, -ii in the instrumental.

If the adjective has a basis in the sound g/k/x, in the masculine and singular it has the following endings. In the nominative case -y/-oy, in the genitive -oy, in the dative -oy, in the accusative -y/-oy/-oy, in the instrumental -im, in the prepositional -oy. In the neuter gender singular: -oe in the nominative and accusative, the rest as in the masculine gender.

Feminine singular: -oy in the nominative, -oy in the genitive and dative, -oy in the accusative, -oy/-oy in the instrumental, -oy in the prepositional. Plural: -i in the nominative, -ii in the genitive and instrumental, -ii in the dative, -i/-ii in the accusative, -ii in the instrumental.

Romanovs

The ancestors of this old boyar family were the ancestors who at different times bore nicknames: Kobyla, Koshka Kobylin, Koshkins. The son of Zakhary Ivanovich Koshkin, Yuri Zakharovich, was already called both by his father and by his nickname - Zakharyin-Koshkin. In turn, his son, Roman Yuryevich, bore the surname Zakhariev-Yuriev. The Zakharyins were also the children of Roman Yuryevich, but from the grandchildren (Fyodor Nikitich - Patriarch Filaret), the family continued under the name of the Romanovs. With the surname Romanov, Mikhail Fedorovich was elected to the royal throne.

Last name as identification

The establishment by Peter I in 1719 of passports for the convenience of collecting the poll tax and the implementation of the recruitment gave rise to the spread of surnames for men of all classes, including peasants. At first, along with the name, the patronymic and / or nickname were entered, which then became the owner's surname.

The formation of Russian surnames on -ov / -ev, -in

The most common Russian surnames are formed from personal names. As a rule, this is the name of the father, but more often the grandfather. That is, the surname was fixed in the third generation. At the same time, the personal name of the ancestor passed into the category of possessive adjectives formed from the name with the help of the suffixes -ov / -ev, -in and answering the question “whose?”
Whose Ivan? - Petrov.

In the same way, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, Russian officials formed and recorded the names of the inhabitants of the Russian Transcaucasus and Central Asia.