Second declension nouns

Hard stems: default endings

These patterns apply to many nouns whose nominative singular ends in а. Most of these nouns are feminine, although many of them are masculine as well, especially nicknames made from male names.


	Inanimate		Animate
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	лампа	лампы	рыба	рыбы
Accusative	лампу	лампы	рыбу	рыб
Genitive	лампы	ламп	рыбы	рыб
Prepositional	лампе	лампах	рыбе	рыбах
Dative	лампе	лампам	рыбе	рыбам
Instrumental	лампой	лампами	рыбой	рыбами
The general rule for second declension nouns is that the accusative plural copies the genitive plural if the noun is animate, and the accusative plural copies the nominative plural if the nouns is inanimate. This applies only to the plural, not the singular. Notice also that for all second declension nouns, the dative singular is the same as the prepositional singular. Other inanimate nouns that work like this: минута, машина, платформа, виза, квартира. Other animate nouns that work like this: особа, дева, цикада, госпожа, акула.