Common irregularities

Best fonts for printing/viewing this page

Irregular instrumental plurals

There are four nouns currently in common use in Russian that have irregular instrumental plurals. They are:

Nominative pluralInstrumental plural
Peopleлю́дилюдьми́
Childrenде́тидетьми́
Daughtersдо́черидочерьми́
Horsesло́шадилошадьми́

You will also find the instrumental plurals дочеря́ми and лошадя́ми. Gradually those forms will most likely become the dominant forms as the language continues to simplify.