Russian stems that end in sibilants have slightly different endings depending on whether they are end stressed or stem stressed because they are subject to a spelling rule:
Spelling rule 2: After ж, ч, ш, щ, and ц— never write an unstressed о, instead use е.
One cannot tell if a noun is end stressed or stem stressed simply by looking at the nominative singular. The stress patterns have to be memorized on a case by case basis. When in doubt, assume the noun is stem stressed, which is true for the vast majority of nouns. Many fonts do not display accents well, so for these pages to look their best, please download one of these fonts.
| Inanimate | Animate | ||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | ||
| Nominative | жили́ще | жили́ща | чудо́вище | чудо́вища | |
| Accusative | жили́ще | жили́ща | чудо́вища | чудо́вищ | |
| Genitive | жили́ща | жили́щ | чудо́вища | чудо́вищ | |
| Prepositional | жили́ще | жили́щах | чудо́вище | чудо́вищах | |
| Dative | жили́щу | жили́щам | чудо́вищу | чудо́вищам | |
| Instrumental | жили́щем | жили́щами | чудо́вищем | чудо́вищами | |
The author is unaware of any end-stressed second declension nouns with sibilant stems in common use.
| Inanimate | ||
| Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | со́лнце | со́лнца |
| Accusative | со́лнце | со́лнца |
| Genitive | со́лнца | со́лнц |
| Prepositional | со́лнце | со́лнцах |
| Dative | со́лнцу | со́лнцам |
| Instrumental | со́лнцем | со́лнцами |
|
There are no stem-stressed nouns of this pattern that are animate. |
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| Inanimate | |||||
| Singular | Plural | ||||
| Nominative | письмецо́ | письмеца́ | |||
| Accusative | письмецо́ | письмеца́ | |||
| Genitive | письмеца́ | письме́ц | |||
| Prepositional | письмеце́ | письмеца́х | |||
| Dative | письмецу́ | письмеца́м | |||
| Instrumental | письмецо́м | письмеца́ми | |||
|
The author is unaware of any end-stressed nouns |
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