6.4 - Feminine nouns

As already mentioned, the endings of feminine nouns belonging to the first group are relatively straightforward, and it is easy to see the similarities in endings of the hard, soft and mixed types.

Notes and reminders

1. Inanimate nouns (i.e. not denoting humans or animals) in the accusative plural have the same form as in the nominative plural. In the above chart these are marked with an asterisk (*).
2. Nouns whose stems end in ж, ч, ш, щ belong to the mixed group, and, as the name suggests, have some hard and some soft endings.
3. Before an ending in і,
   
   к changes to ц: вчителька – вчительці, ріка – ріці, виставка – виставці
   
   х changes to с: муха – мусі, епоха – епосі
   
   г changes to з: допомога – допомозі, колега – колезі, увага – увазі.
4. In closed syllables (in feminine nouns this occurs in the genitive plural) о changes to і: школа – шкіл, нога – ніг.
5. Masculine nouns which have a feminine grammatical form decline like feminine nouns, e.g. Микола, Олекса, колега, п'яниця, папа (римський), etc.
6. Personal names which end in a consonant + я have the ending ю in the vocative, e.g. Оля – Олю!, Зеня – Зеню!, Ганнуся – Ганнусю!, Володя – Володю!

To practise identifying the cases of feminine nouns go to Exercise 6.4A and Exercise 6.4B.