This article briefly discusses the main issues of “declension of surnames and personal names in Russian literary language».
Attention is focused on the most controversial and complex cases of use. First and last names are considered separately.
1. Declension of surnames
1.1. The vast majority of Russian surnames have formal indicators - the suffixes -ov- (-ev-), -in-, -sk-: Zadornov, Turgenev, Putin, Malinovsky, Yamskoy. Such surnames are declined, forming two correlative systems of forms - feminine and masculine, naming female and male persons, respectively. A single system of plural forms is comparable to both systems.
Note. All this resembles the system of adjective forms (except for the absence of neuter forms). Since the ratio of male and female surnames is absolutely regular and has no anologies among common nouns, the following thought comes to mind: shouldn’t Russian surnames be considered a special type of “gender-changeable” nouns?
1.2. Surnames with the formal indicator -sk- are declined in the feminine and masculine gender and in the plural as adjectives: Malinovsky, Malinovsky, Malinovsky..., Dostoevskaya, Malinovskaya..., Malinovskie, Malinovskikh, etc.
There are relatively few Russian surnames that are inflected as adjectives and do not have the indicator -sk-. These include: Blagoy, Dikiy, Bronevoy, Tolstoy, Gladky, Borovoy, Beregovoy, Lanovoy, Poperechny, etc. (a list of such surnames can be found in the book “Modern Russian surnames.” Authors: A.V. Suslova, A. V. Superanskaya, 1981. pp. 120-122).
1.3. Surnames with the formal indicators -in- and -ov- have a special declension in the masculine gender, which is not found either among common nouns or among personal names. They combine the endings of adjectives such as fathers and second declension masculine nouns. The method of declension of surnames differs from the declension of possessive adjectives by the ending of the prepositional case (cf.: about Karamzin, about Griboyedov, - about mother’s, about fathers), from the declension of these nouns - by the end of the instrumental case (cf.: Nikitin -th, Koltsov-th, - jug-th, island-th).
Correlative female surnames are declined as possessive adjectives in the feminine form (cf. how Karenina and Mom's, Rostova and Father's are declined). The same must be said about the declension of surnames into -in and -ov in the plural (Rudins, Bazarovs are declined as father's, mother's).
1.4. All other male surnames that have a zero ending in the nominative case (when written they end with a consonant letter й or a soft sign) and stems with consonants, except for surnames with -i, -yh, are declined as masculine nouns of the second declension. Such surnames have the ending -em (-om) in the instrumental case: Gaidai, Vrubel, Herzen, Gogol, Levitan, Hemingway. Such surnames are perceived as foreign.
Correlative female surnames are not declined: with Anna Magdalena Bach, with Mary Hemingway, with Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela-Vrubel, Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok, Natalia Aleksandrovna Herzen, with Zoya Gaidai.
Note. To apply this rule, you need to know the gender of the bearer of the surname. The absence of such information puts the writer in a difficult position.
The form containing the last name indicates the gender of the person concerned. But if the writer (author) did not have necessary information, was careless or unsteady in applying Russian grammar, the reader receives false information.
Surnames of this type plurals are also declined as masculine nouns: wrote to the Hemingways, Bloks, visited the Gaidais, the Herzens, the Vrubels, etc.
Note. There are special rules for using such surnames in some cases in the indeclinable form, in others - in the indeclinable plural form. These rules relate less to morphology and more to syntax. They are described in some detail in the Handbook of Spelling and Literary Editing by D. E. Rosenthal (§149, paragraph 10, pp. 191-192). According to these rules, it is recommended: with father and son Oistrakh, but with father and daughter Gilels, with Thomas and Heinrich Mann, but with Robert and Clara Schumann. This article does not discuss this information in detail.
1.5. The simple rule described above for declension of surnames into consonants that do not have formal indicators -ov-, -in, is very difficult to apply for some rare surnames, for example, for those that are homonymous with geographical names or common nouns inflected by the third declension. Thus, the grammatical appendix to the “Directory of Personal Names of the Peoples of the RSFSR” talks about the difficulties that arise when it is necessary to decline such surnames as Astrakhan, Lyubov, Sadness.
The same manual says that for other surnames, only the formation of the plural is associated with difficulties (surnames Us, Son, Gey, Poloz, Palets, etc.).
Declension of many surnames (both singular and plural) turns out to be difficult due to the uncertainty whether they need to maintain vowel fluency on the model of homonymous or similar externally common nouns (Zhuravel or Zhuravlya - from Zhuravel, Mazurok or Mazurka - from Mazurok, Kravets or Kravets - from Kravets, etc.). Such difficulties cannot be solved by the use of rules. In such cases, a surname dictionary is needed that defines recommendations for each surname.
1.6. Separate type characterizes Russian surnames in -yh(s), which come from the genitive (or prepositional) case of plural adjectives: Black, White, Kudrevatykh, Kruchenykh, Ryzhikh, Dolgikh. Considering the normativity of the Russian language, such names are not inclined: lectures by Chernykh, novel by Sedykh, creativity by Kruchenykh, etc.
Note. In non-literary (colloquial) speech there is a tendency to decline such surnames if they belong to men, the effect is stronger the closer the communication with the owner of this surname. In the no longer functioning Moscow City Pedagogical Institute named after. Potemkin students there in the forties and fifties attended Chernykh’s lectures, took Chernykh’s tests and exams, etc. (it just didn’t even occur to anyone to say otherwise). If this trend continued, surnames with -y, -i would not differ from other surnames with consonants, which were discussed in paragraph 13.1.4.
1.7. Sometimes, given the morphological structure of some surnames, their original form can be assessed ambiguously. This rarely happens, but these cases are linguistically very interesting from the point of view of the difficulties that can arise in their inflection. There are difficulties in determining “Russian” and “non-Russian” surnames with -ov and -in; the latter include, for example, Flotow (German composer), Gutzkow (German writer), Cronin (English writer), Darwin, Franklin, etc. From the point of view of morphology, “Russianness” or “non-Russianness” is determined by the selection or non-selection in the surname of the formal indicator (-ov- or -in-). The presence of such an indicator shows that the instrumental case contains the ending -om, and the corresponding female surname is declined (Fonvizin, Fonvizina), and if it is not distinguished, then the instrumental case is formed with the ending -om, and the female surname is not declined (with Anna Virkhov, Virkhov) . Wed. “Homonyms”: Hannah Chaplin, Charles Spencer Chaplin and Nikolai Pavlovich Chaplin, with Vera Chaplin.
Note. Taking into account the materials of L.P. Kalakutskaya, sometimes the corresponding male and female surnames are formed morphologically incongruously (the instrumental case Tseitlin can be combined with the indeclinable form Tseitlin of a woman’s surname). A settlement here can only be achieved by using a special dictionary of surnames, which contains grammatical rules. Therefore, the editor must be sure to monitor morphologically contradictory forms so that they do not occur at least within the same article.
There are non-Russian (preferably German) surnames with -ikh: Dietrich, Argerich, Ehrlich, Freundlich, etc. Such “foreign-language” surnames, in no case, should be mistaken for Russian surnames with -ih because in Russian surnames before the stem -they are almost never found soft consonants who have solid vapors. This is due to the fact that in Russian language there are very few adjectives with similar stems (i.e. adjectives like blue; and is there a surname called Blues).
But it happens that the final -ikh in the surname is preceded by a hissing or velar consonant; its belonging to the indeclinable type will be correct when correlated with the base of the adjective (for example, Walking, Gladkikh); if such a condition is absent, such surnames are perceived morphologically ambiguous (for example, Tovchikh, Khashachikh, Gritskikh). Although such cases are quite rare, it is still a real possibility to consider.
There is a possibility of perception of ambiguity of surnames, the original forms of which end in iot (in the letter й) with preceding vowels and or o. These are surnames such as Pobozhiy, Topchiy, Rudoy, Bokiy, they are sometimes perceived both as having the endings -й, -ой and, consequently, inflected as adjectives (Topchyu, Topchego, in the feminine form Topchey, Topchaya) and as containing a zero ending, inflected relatively sample nouns (Topchiyu, Topchiya, in the feminine form Topchiy does not change). To resolve such controversial issues, you need to again turn to the dictionary of surnames.
1.8. The declension of surnames ending in vowels in their original form does not depend on whether they are masculine or feminine.
Note. The material by L.P. Kalakutskaya shows that there is a tendency to extend the relationship that is natural for surnames to consonants to surnames with a final a, i.e. decline male surnames without declining female ones. Editors should do their best to eliminate this practice.
Let's look at surnames based on vowels, based on their letter appearance.
1.9. Surnames that must be reflected in a written address ending with the letter: e, e, i, s, y, yu - are not declined. For example: Fourier, Goethe, Ordzhonikidze, Maigret, Rustaveli, Gandhi, Dzhusoity, Shaw, Camus, etc.
1.10. The same rule applies to surnames that end in “o” or “ko”, “enko”. Ending in “o” – Hugo, Picasso, Caruso. Or such surnames as: Gromyko, Semashko, Stepanenko, Makarenko, i.e. mostly having Ukrainian roots. And, if in the forties and fifties of the last century declensions of such surnames could be allowed, now this is not acceptable.
1.11. The declension of surnames ending with the letter “a” has a number of differences from the previous rule. In this case, the following signs matter: where the emphasis falls, as well as the origin of the surname. Surnames ending with the unstressed letter “a” and having vowels “i” and “u” in front of it are not declined. And also the ending “a” is stressed, these are mostly surnames of French origin.
For example, vowels before “a”: Galois, Delacroix, Moravia, Gulia. Or French surnames: Fermat, Dumas, Petipa, etc.
Surnames are declined if the ending “a” comes after a consonant, is not stressed, or is stressed, in accordance with the rules of morphology. These often include surnames of Slavic, Eastern origin.
Spinoza – Spinoza – Spinoza, Petrarch, Glinka, Okudzhava, etc.; Kvasha - Kvasha - Kvashe, Mitta, etc.
There are surnames that belong to a Russian or a foreign person. In such cases, it plays a role in how the male and female surname will be declined. The endings “ov”, “in”, belonging to people of Russian origin, are declined in the instrumental case, like “ym” - male gender and “oy” - female gender. With Nikolai Chaplin - the Russian version and Charles Chaplin - foreign, and feminine, with Vera Chaplin and Hannah Chaplin. In other words, surnames of non-Russian origin ending in “ov” and “in” are not declined in the feminine gender.
1.12. Surnames ending in “ya” are declined, except for the stressed ending and origin. Zola, Troyat - they don’t bow down. Golovnya, Danelia, Beria, Goya - bow, because the emphasis is not on the ending.
Not all Georgian surnames are inclined. It depends on the type of borrowing in Russian. Surnames ending in “ia” (Daneliya) are declined; those ending in “ia” are not declined (Gulia).
1.13. The question arises in which cases surnames are declined and in which they are not, and here everything depends on the above rules. But what if this is a plural surname? There is a directory of non-standard surnames, which says that regardless of whether a surname is declined or not, in the plural it must correspond to the original and not be declined. For example, in the singular - with Leonid Zoya, convey to Leonid Zoya, and in the plural - all members of the Zoya family. Although declensions of such surnames in the plural as Okudzhava, Deineka, Zozulya are not excluded. Was in the Okudzhava family or met with the Okudzhavas, Deineks, Zozuls.
At the same time, Mitta, Shulga and other surnames ending in “a” cannot be declined into the plural. In this case, both the author and the editor must rely on their knowledge and feelings of the language barrier. Contradictions that may arise with the inflection of foreign surnames should be avoided, at least in the same text.
2. Declension of personal names
2.1. There are no special morphological differences between personal names and common nouns. Their gender does not change (of course, Evgeniy and Evgeniya, Alexander and Alexandra are exceptions). Among personal names, there are no words with a special declension - pay attention to surnames ending in -in and -ov. However, personal names also have characteristic– among them there are no words of the neuter gender, however, the neuter gender is rare in animate nouns of the common form.
2.2. Personal names can contain a noun of the 3rd declension. This is what distinguishes them from surnames and morphologically brings them closer to common nouns. Using the 3rd declension you can declension such names as:
- Love (About love, Love);
- Giselle;
- Adele;
- Ruth;
- Rahir;
- Hagar;
- Yudf;
- Esther;
- Shulamith.
There are also names that sometimes decline, sometimes not (Cecile and Cecily, Ninel and Nineli, Assol and Assoli, Gazelle and Gazelle, Aigul and Aiguli). Such names have a variable declension.
NB! Female surnames that end in a soft consonant, like female surnames ending in a hard consonant, cannot be declined. In the Russian language, such a possibility remains unrealized as the parallel change of nouns ending in a soft consonant into 2 different declensions, which are used to express gender differences from a grammatical point of view. In theory, such relationships are possible as Vrubel, Vrubel, Vrubel (declension of a man’s surname) – Vrubel, Vrubeli (declension of a woman’s surname), trot, lynx, lynx (declension of the name of a male animal) – trot, lynx (declension of the name of a female animal) . However, the partial realization of this possibility can be traced in the well-known folklore Swans.
2.3 Women's names ending in a hard consonant are exclusively indeclinable and do not differ from women's surnames. These names include the following:
- Catherine;
- Irene;
- Elizabeth;
- Marlene;
And many others. Such common nouns exist, but in limited numbers. Plus they are almost never replenished (Madam, Fraulein, Mrs., Miss, Madam). At the same time, there are a huge number of personal names, the replenishment of which by borrowing has no restrictions.
2.4. Male names that end in a soft and hard consonant are declined like common nouns of the same external type - for example, Ernst, Robert, Makar, Konstantin, Igor, Amadeus, Emil. Sometimes these names are used as feminine names: for example, Michela, Michelle are masculine names, Michelle is a feminine name (it is not declined).
2.5. All of the above about the inclination and inclination of surnames into vowels also applies to personal names.
What names don't decline? These include Rene, Colombe, Roger, Atala, Honore, Nana, Jose, Francois, Ditte, Danko, Oze, Hugo, Pantalone, Bruno, Henri, Laszlo, Louis, Carlo, Lisi, Romeo, Betsy, Amadeo, Giovanni, Leo , Mary, Pierrot, Eteri, Givi and many others. Names such as Francoise, Jamila, Juliet, Ophelia, Suzanne, Emilia, Abdullah, Casta, Mirza and Musa can be inclined.
2.6. If necessary, you can form the plural from personal names that can be declined - Elena, Igori, Ivana. In this case, the morphological restrictions that arise are similar to those that appear for common nouns. Examples include the genitive plural of Mirza, Abdullah or Costa. To learn how the genitive plural is formed from names such as Seryozha, Valya or Petya, see the corresponding note.
3. Formation of indirect cases from some combinations of surnames and given names
The old tradition of the Russian language to use the surnames of famous figures in combination with given names has not been eradicated in our time: Jules Verne, Mine Reed, Conan Doyle, Romain Rolland. It is very rare to find the use of the above surnames without given names. Especially if we're talking about about monosyllabic ones, for example, Reed, Scott and others.
Some of us still don’t know how to properly incline such unity: Jules Verne, Walter Scott, Robin Hood, and so on. But often this unusual phrase needs to be declined not only orally, but also in writing. These words can be confirmed by the following well-known example:
Show yourself off like a wonderful beast,
He is now going to Petropol /…/
With Gizot's terrible book,
With a notebook of evil cartoons,
With the new novel by Walter Scott...
(Pushkin. Count Nulin)
... and gets up
Fenimore's country
and Main Reed.
(Mayakovsky. Mexico)
In the evenings the quick-eyed Chamois
Jules Verne reads to Vanya and Lyalya.
(Chukovsky. Crocodile)
Writing the first and last names with a hyphen only emphasizes the close intertwining of this phrase. If names are not declined in such remarks, then the meaning will be unclear. This decision is even condemned in various manuals, for example: D. E. Rosenthal says: “... the novels of Jules Verne (not: “Jules Verne”)...” (Op. cit. P. 189. §149, paragraph 2) . If you follow this recommendation, then the following may happen:
The wind whistled past Vova's ear
And he tore the sombrero off his head!
Wave-mountains run after each other,
They gallop like maned lions.
Here, with a hiss, one rolled -
And she picked up Jules Verne from the stern!
(Volgina T. Summer wanders along the paths. Kyiv. 1968. P. 38-39).
Naturally, such edits in poems are unacceptable. But you shouldn’t replace the text that conveys casual colloquial speech - Jules Verne, Mine Reed, Bret Harte, Conan Doyle, etc., with a normative combination, while inclining the forms of names. The editor in such cases should be more restrained.
Often in ordinary conversation, during a discussion of certain familiar people, we decline their last names, without really thinking about whether they decline at all. And if in a friendly conversation this is not so important, then, for example, in business documentation it is simply necessary to pay attention to such nuances. There are certain rules for declension of surnames in Russian.
In order not to get confused, it is worth remembering the Russian language school curriculum, which includes the study of cases. Let's take as an example the standard Russian surname Sidorov and decline it in both the masculine and feminine gender:
Nominative (who?) - Sidorov (m.b.), Sidorova (w.b.);
Genitive (whom?) - Sidorova (m.b.), Sidorova (w.b.);
Dative (to whom?) - Sidorov (m.b.), Sidorova (f.b.);
Accusative (of whom?) - Sidorova (m.b.), Sidorov (f.b.);
Creative (by whom?) - Sidorov (m.b.), Sidorova (f.b.);
Prepositional (about whom?) - about Sidorov (m.b.), about Sidorova (f.b.).
Surnames like the one mentioned above are the easiest to decline. But there are surnames that do not have a suffix, for example, Koshevoy, Lanovoy, Tolstoy, Bronevoy.
The rules for declension of surnames of this type are the same as for adjective names, that is, it would be correct to write like this: Lanovoy, Lanovoy, Lanovoy, Lanovoy, Lanovoy, about Lanovoy. In the feminine gender, the surname will sound like Lanovaya, Tolstaya, Bronevaya, etc. Like first names and surnames ending in -sky, -tsky, -skoy, -tskoy, -ev, -in, -yn, -ov.
If among your friends there is a person named Gladkikh, Cheremnykh, Malykh, etc., then remember that this is a surname of a frozen form that does not decline. The rules also prohibit inflecting surnames of foreign origin ending in -i, -i, -yh, -ey. Those that end in -yago, -ago also do not incline. To put it simply, typical surnames of Russian origin should be declined as adjectives, and atypical and foreign ones - as nouns.
However, there are surnames ending in -o. For example, Shevchenko, Prikhodko, Gusko, Makarenko. In this case, the rules for declension of male surnames, as well as female surnames with such an ending, state that such surnames are not declined in either singular or in. Also, female surnames ending in th, -ь or are not declined. This and such surnames can be declined , only if they belong to a man. For example: “Give this to Vladimir Vlasyuk” and “Give this to Natalya Vlasyuk”, or “Call Sergei Matskevich” and “Invite Veronica Matskevich”.
If a man's surname ends in -a or -ya (Skovoroda, Golovnya, Mayboroda), then the rules for declension of surnames allow you to change the endings. For example, Vasya Soroka, Vasya Soroki, Vasya Soroka, Vasya Soroka, etc. Foreign surnames that end in a vowel (Dumas, Hugo, Stradivarius, Rossini) cannot be declined. Also, the rules for declension of surnames do not allow changing them if they are dissonant, cause inappropriate associations, or are consonant with a geographical name or personal name. For example, surnames such as Varenik, Gordey, Donets, Gus, in any case remain unchanged, regardless of whether they belong to a man or a woman.
I repeat: it is characteristic of the Russian language declination of surnames in general, including foreign and foreign languages.
And not only last names...
Now let’s look at a completely different question, although it also concerns names and surnames.
Do foreign first and last names decline?
Usually they are declined if they refer to males and end in a consonant. We say: “a tragedy by William Shakespeare”, “a fable by Jean La Fontaine”, “a ballad by Friedrich Schiller”, “an opera by Richard Wagner”, etc. (And if we say “a novel by George Sand”, then this is because “George Sand " - pseudonym of the woman Aurora Dudevant.)
The same rule applies to contemporaries. Therefore - contrary to the opinion of some - one should say “Paul Robeson concert” (and not “Paul Robeson” and not “Paul Robeson”) and “Yves Montand’s songs” (and not “Yves Montand”).
Until now we have been talking about famous or well-known personalities. But what about ordinary citizens living among us? How, for example, should the address be written: “Karl Ivanovich Muller” or “Karl Ivanovich Muller”? (I'm not even talking about the completely illiterate “Karl Ivanovich Müller...”)
Of course, only in the first form - “Muller”. Only his wife, say, “Maria Robertovna Muller,” can write “Müller” in the dative case.
But what about foreign surnames that also belong to men, but end in a vowel?
They usually don't bow.
Indeed. We say: “a novel by Dumas”, “a poem by Goethe”, “an opera by Verdi”, “a drama by Hugo”, “a comedy by Sardou”, “a painting by Goya”, etc. It is absolutely impossible to say about the writer Dumas, the artist Degas, the architect Brenn “Dumas’ novel”, “Deguy’s” painting, “Brenna” architecture...
After writing this, I thought: why do we say “Petrarch’s sonnet”, “Casanova’s memoirs”, “Canova’s statue”? Yes, and about Goya’s painting you can say “Goya’s painting.”
From this we can conclude: the Russian language is characterized by declension of surnames in general, including foreign ones. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that some foreign surnames ending in one vowel are easily shortened to precisely this vowel, after which they are easily declined, that is, they are made convenient for declension.
Thus, the great Italian poet Dante has long sounded in Russian as “Dante”. Suffice it to recall Pushkin:
“The stern Dante did not despise the sonnet...”
The same thing happened with the surname of another famous Italian poet Tasso, who began to sound “Tass” in Russian. (I do not cite as an example the transformation of the Italian surname “Bonaparte” into “Bonaparte”: before it was thus “Russified”, it was “Frenchized” - and above all by Napoleon himself.)
The same phenomenon - the desire for declination - can be seen in the fact that sometimes French surnames that end in a vowel when pronounced and are therefore indeclinable (Guizot, Diderot, Beranger, etc.) in Russian are turned into inflected ones by using their French transcription and transforming unpronounceable letters into pronounced ones.
Let us recall how Pushkin’s Count Nulin travels from Paris “to Petropol”:
“With Gizot’s terrible book...”
"With Bérenger's last song..."
But Pushkin knew French perfectly.
Perhaps someone will object to me: “Well, this is poetic license, probably caused by the need to maintain size or find a suitable rhyme...” But here we open Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov” and read in the second chapter the words of Fyodor Pavlovich :
“Forgive me, I just made up the last thing about Diderot’s baptism myself...”
But what about Slavic surnames (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech) if they end in a vowel? Are they inclined or not?
Yes, as a rule, they do. But with some reservations.
Declining:
1. Male non-Russian surnames ending with a consonant (Schmidt, Remchuk, Mayer, etc.). In double foreign-language surnames, the last part is declined (Conan Doyle, Ter-Ghevondyan, etc.).
2. Non-Russian surnames with an unstressed vowel -а/-я
(Creations of Pablo Neruda, songs of Bulat Okudzhava).
Do not bow:
1. Female non-Russian surnames ending with a consonant (Schmidt, Remchuk, Mayer, etc.).
2. Non-Russian surnames ending in the stressed vowel -а/-я (novels by Dumas).
3. Foreign surnames ending in vowels (Massenet, Rustavelli, Verdi, Ananiashvili, Donizetti, Mascagni, Bul-Bul ogly, etc.).
4. Surnames starting with -ago, -yago, -yh, -ikh, -ovo, -ko (Dubyago, Sedykh, Dolgikh).
5. Male and female surnames that coincide with common nouns (Rooster, Lynx, Wolf, Rat, Salo, Shilo, Throat, etc.).
The surname is used in the plural:
- with two male names (Peter and Andrey Makarevich),
- with the words husband and wife (husband and wife of Birikha),
- with the words father and son (father and son Weinermans).
- with two female names(Svetlana and Nina Kim),
- with female and male names (Olga and Oleg Bauer),
- with the word wife (wife Schmidt),
- with the words brother and sister (brother and sister Wulf).
Morphological norms of the adjective name
Education of degrees of comparison
1. When forming the degree of comparison of an adjective, one should not allow the connection of simple and composite degrees comparisons (For example, the forms are erroneous: brighter, whitest).
2. Three adjectives form a simple comparative form in a suppletive way. Bad is worse, good is better, small is less.
3. The unproductive suffix -e is characteristic of adjectives with a base on g, x, d, t, st, which alternate to a comparative degree with zh, sh, ch, sh (tight - tighter, dry - drier, thick - thicker, young - younger , steep - steeper). The suffix -she is also unproductive; only a few forms are found with it: further, thinner, earlier, older, longer.
4. Simple form the comparative degree cannot be formed from adjectives with the suffix -sk-: friendly, comic, childish, tragic, suffering; from many adjectives with the suffix -l-: emaciated, faded, dilapidated; from some adjectives with the suffixes -n- and -k-: manual, bloody, cumbersome; from adjectives with the suffix -ov-: business, ordinary; from adjectives with the suffixes -enk- (-onk-), -ovat-: plump, thin, rude; from adjectives with prefixes of subjective assessment: cheerful, stupid, cunning. Many of these adjectives are relative in origin. In this case, the compound form of the comparative degree is used.
5. Limitations in the formation of a simple comparative degree may also be due to the peculiarities of the semantics of adjectives. Among them are:
- adjectives denoting animal colors: dun, black, bay;
- adjectives of relative origin denoting colors: apricot, pomegranate, peach, cherry;
- words whose lexical meaning contains an element of comparison: equal, identical, analogous, identical, similar;
- adjectives whose lexical meaning does not allow an element of comparison: barefoot, blind, dumb, dead, deaf.
7. The simple form of the comparative degree can be complicated by the prefix po-, which enhances the degree of predominance of quality in one of the objects being compared: this room is larger; These threads are shorter. Such forms are typical for colloquial speech.
8. In the literary language, the following forms of the comparative degree of adjectives are accepted: more brisk, louder, more agile, sweeter, more trenchant, etc. (and not more active, more sonorous, more agile, sweeter, more trenchant).
9. In the form of a comparative degree (darker), the subject of comparison (darker than ...) must be indicated or an intensifying word must be added.
More on topic VI. Declension of surnames:
- 20. Normative and stylistic characteristics of case forms of nouns and number forms. Declensions of first and last names.
Male surnames ending with stressed and unstressed sounds - o, - e, - e, - c, - u, - yu, as well as ending with a sound - a, with a vowel in front - do not decline, for example: the work of Daniel Defoe , literature review S.S. Kurnogo, Gastello street.
Russian male surnames that end in syllables - them, - yh, for example: under the leadership of Sedykh, practiced with Kovchikh, said P.P. Novoslobodskikh, are not inclined. In Russian and fiction it is permissible to declension of male surnames ending in the syllables - them, - ы, for example: in Repnykh’s work, Zelemnykh’s lecture. The majority, one might even say the overwhelming majority, of Russian male surnames have the suffixes - ev - (- ov -), - sk -, - in -: Zolotov, Kulenev, Mushkin, Zalessky, Primorsky, Kostolevsky, Kramskoy, Volonskoy. Absolutely all such male surnames are inclined.
There are very few Russian male surnames that decline according to the principle of adjectives and do not have an indicator; these include such surnames as: Stolbovoy, Tolstoy, Beregovoy, Lanovoy, Tenevoy, Sladky, Zarechny, Poperechny, Kolomny, Bely, Grozny, etc...
Declension of male surnames (based on the principle of adjectives)
I. p.: Andrey Bely, Sergey Sladky, Ivan Lanovoy, Alexey Zarechny.
R. p.: Andrey Bely, Sergei Sladky, Ivan Lanovoy, Alexey Zarechny.
D.p.: Andrey Bely, Sergei Sladky, Ivan Lanovoy, Alexey Zarechny.
V. p.: Andrey Bely, Sergei Sladky, Ivan Lanovoy, Alexey Zarechny.
T.p.: with Andrey Bely, with Sergei Sladky, with Ivan Lanov, with Alexey Zarechny.
P. p.: about Andrei Bely, about Sergei Sladky, about Ivan Lanov, about Alexei Zarechny.
Male surnames with endings - in - and - ov - have a special declension that is not found among common nouns and personal names. Here we see a combination of the endings of adjectives and nouns of the second declension of the masculine gender and divisions such as fathers, forefathers. The declension of male surnames differs from the declension of similar nouns mainly in the ending of the instrumental case, for example: Sizov-ym, Akunin-ym - Borov-ym, Ston-om, Kalugin - ym, Suvorov - ym from the declension based on the principle of possessive adjectives, the ending of the prepositional is different case, for example: about Sazonov, about Kulibin - about forefathers, about mother's. The same applies to the declension of male surnames ending in - ov and - in in the plural (Sizovs, Akunins are declined as forefathers, mothers). To declension of such male surnames, it is advisable to refer to the directory of declension of first and last names.
Russian male surnames with endings in the syllables: - ovo, - ago, - yago, having their origin in the image of frozen forms of the genitive case in the singular: (Burnovo, Slukhovo, Zhivago, Sharbinago, Deryago, Khitrovo), and with endings in syllables: - them, - х - plural (Kruchenykh, Kostrovsky, Dolsky, Dovgikh, Chernykh), where some of them are declined in common parlance (Durnovo - Durnovovo).
It is imperative to decline male surnames ending in a soft sign and a consonant by gender and case. (Institute named after S. Ya. Zhuk, poetry of Adam Mickiewicz, conduct Igor Koval).
If at the end of the surname there is a consonant before the sound - a, then the endings of the surnames in the form of cases will be: sounds - a, - ы, - e, - y, - oy, - e.
If at the end of a man's surname there is one of the letters (g, k, x) or a soft hissing letter (ch, sch) or w before the sound - a, then the ending of the surname in the genitive case form will be the sound - i.
If at the end of a man’s surname there is one of the hissing words (ch, sch, ts, sh) or zh before the sound -a, then the ending of the surname in the form of the instrumental case when stressing the end of the word will be - oh, and - her.
The surname as a family name assumes the presence of a plural form: Ivanovs, Pashkins, Vedenskys. If people getting married take a common surname, it is written in the plural: Vasiliev, Vronsky, Usatiye, Gorbatye, Lyubimye. Non-standard male surnames, except for surnames formed in the form of adjectives, do not have plural forms when written in official documents. Therefore they write: Maria Petrovna and Nikolai Semenovich Cherry, spouses Parus, husband and wife Syzran, brother and sister Astrakhan.
Despite the difficulties that arise when declension of Russian and foreign male surnames that exist in the Russian language, it is still advisable to correctly declension a person’s first name and surname if they can be declinated. The system of rules for case endings in the Russian language operating in the rules of the Russian language quite strictly suggests accepting the inflected word left without declension as being in the wrong case or not belonging to the gender to which it actually belongs in this case. For example, Ivan Petrovich Zima, in the genitive case there should be Ivan Petrovich Zima. If it is written: for Ivan Petrovich Zima, this means that in the nominative case this surname will look like Zim, not Zima. Left without declination, male surnames like Veter, Nemeshay will be mistaken for women’s names, because similar surnames for men are indeclined: with Vasily Sergeevich Nemeshay, from Viktor Pavlovich Veter. To declension of such male surnames, it is advisable to refer to the directory of declension of first and last names.
Below are some examples of declensions of male surnames existing in the Russian language:
Declension of male surnames (standard)
Singular
I. Smirnov, Kramskoy, Kostikov, Eliseev, Ivanov,
R. Smirnov, Kramskoy, Kostikov, Eliseev, Ivanov,
D. Smirnov, Kramskoy, Kostikov, Eliseev, Ivanov,
V. Smirnov, Kramskoy, Kostikov, Eliseev, Ivanov,
T. Smirnov, Kramskoy, Kostikov, Eliseev, Ivanov,
P. about Smirnov, about Kramskoy, about Kostikov, about Eliseev, about Ivanov.
Plural
I. Smirnovs, Kramskoys, Kostikovs, Eliseevs, Ivanovs,
R. Smirnovs, Kramskoys, Kostikovs, Eliseevs, Ivanovs,
D. Smirnov, Kramskoy, Kostikov, Eliseev, Ivanov,
V. Smirnovs, Kramskoys, Kostikovs, Eliseevs, Ivanovs,
T. Smirnov, Kramskoy, Kostikovs, Eliseevs, Ivanovs,
P. about the Smirnovs, about the Kramskoys, about the Kostikovs, about the Eliseevs, about the Ivanovs.
In Russian male surnames of two words, its first part is always declined if it is used as a surname (the poetry of Lebedev-Kumach, the work of Nemirovich-Danchenko, the exhibition of Sokolov-Skal)
With the exception of those surnames where the first part does not mean the surname, such male surnames are never declined, for example: stories by Mamin-Sibiryak, painting by Sokolov, sculpture by Demut-Malinovsky, research by Grem-Brzhimailo, in the role of Pozdnik-Trukhanovsky
It is recommended to use non-standard male surnames ending with sounds - a (-z), such as Zima, Loza, Zoya, Dora, in the plural exclusively for all cases of the form that coincides with the original type of the surname. For example: Ivan Petrovich Zima, Vasily Ivanovich Loza, with Semyon Semenovich Zoya, and for the plural - the forms Zima, Loza, Zoya in all cases. To declension of such male surnames, it is advisable to refer to the directory of declension of first and last names.
It is difficult to decline the plural of male surnames Zima and Zoya.
There is a problem of dividing into “Russian” and “non-Russian” surnames ending in the syllables - ov and - in; Such male surnames include, for example: Gutskov (German writer), Flotov (German composer), Cronin (English writer), Franklin, Goodwin, Darwin, etc. From the point of view of morphology, the “non-Russianness” or “Russianness” of a male surname is determined whether the ending with (-ov - or - in -) is expressed or not expressed in the surname. If such an indicator is expressed, then the surname in the instrumental case will have the ending - й
Non-Russian male surnames, which when mentioned refer to two or more persons, are in some cases placed in the plural, in others - in the singular, namely:
if the surname consists of two male names, then such a surname is put in the plural form, for example: Gilbert and Jean Picard, Thomas and Heinrich Mann, Mikhail and Adolph Gottlieb; Oirstarhi father and son;
There are also non-Russian (mostly German) surnames ending in - them: Freundlich, Argerich, Ehrlich, Dietrich, etc. Such surnames cannot be called Russian surnames ending in - them because in Russian surnames before the ending - they are practically There are no soft consonants that have hard pairs, since in the Russian language there are very few adjective names with such stems (i.e. similar adjective names like red, gray; and are there surnames Krasnykh, Sedykh and the like).
But, if before the ending - theirs in a male surname there is a hissing or velar consonant, such male surnames, as a rule, are not declined, only when the name of the adjective is related (for example, Kodyachikh., Sladkikh); in the absence of this condition, such surnames are usually perceived ambiguously from the point of view of morphology; such surnames include, for example: Valshchikh, Khaskachikh, Trubatsky, Lovchikh, Stotsky. Despite the rarity of such cases, one should not forget this fundamental possibility.
In slightly rare cases, surnames whose original forms end with the letter - й before vowels and or - o are perceived ambiguously. Let's say that surnames such as Lopchiy, Nabozhy, Dopchiy, Borkiy, Zorkiy, Dudoy can also be understood as ending in the syllables - ii, - oi. Such male surnames are declined according to the rules of adjectives: Lopchego, Lopchemu, Nabozhiy, Nabozhye, Dopchiy, Dopchemu, Borkiy, Borkomu, Zorkiy, Zorkiy, and as having a zero ending with a declension in the manner of nouns (Lopchia, Lopchiyu...,) To clarify such If you are perplexed, you need to consult a dictionary of surnames.
Male surnames that end with the sounds - e, - e, - i, - ы, - у, - у, do not decline. For example, the following: Daudet, Dusset, Manceret, Fourier, Leye, Dabrie, Goethe, Nobile, Maragiale, Tarle, Ordzhonikidze, Maigret, Artmane, Bossuet, Grétry, Devussy, Navoi, Stavigliani, Modigliani, Guare, Gramsci, Salieri, Galsworthy, Shelley, Needly, Rustaveli, Kamandu, Chaburkiani, Gandhi, Jusoity, Landu, Amadou, Shaw, Manzu, Kurande, Nehru, Colnu, Endescu, Camus, Colnu, etc.
Foreign-language male surnames ending with a vowel sound, excluding unstressed ones - a, - i (Hugo, Daudet, Bizet, Rossini, Mussalini, Shaw, Nehru, Goethe, Bruno, Dumas, Zola), ending with the sounds - a, - i , with a leading vowel - and (poems by Garcia, sonnets by Heredia, stories by Gulia) do not decline. The exception may be in common parlance. Male surnames of French origin that end in an accent are inflexible - I: Zola, Broyat.
All other male surnames ending in - i are declined; for example Golovnya, Zabornya, Beria, Zozulya, Danelia, Syrokomlya, Shengelaya, Gamaleya, Goya.
When foreign male surnames are declined and forms of the Russian declension rules are used, the main features of the declension of such words are not preserved in the language of the original itself. (Karel Capek - Karela Capek [by no means Karl Capek]). Also in Polish names (in Vladek, in Edek, in Janek [not: in Vladek, in Edk, in Jank]).
The most complex picture in declension is represented by male surnames ending with the sound - a. Unlike the previously considered cases, here there is a large matters, ending - a stands after a vowel or after a consonant, and if it is a vowel, then whether the stress falls on this vowel and (in certain cases) what origin does this male surname have.
All male surnames ending in the sound -a, standing after vowels (most often y or i), are not declined: Balois, Dorois, Delacroix, Boravia, Edria, Esredia, Boulia.
Male surnames that are of French origin with the ending of a stressed sound are not declined - I: Zola, Troyat, Belacruya, Doble, Golla, etc.
All male surnames, ending in an unstressed - and after consonants, are declined according to the rule of the first declension, for example: Didera - Dider, Didere, Dideru, Dideroy, Seneca - Seneca, Seneca, Seneca, Seneca, etc.; Kafka, Petrarch, Spinoza, Smetana, Kurosawa, Gulyga, Glinka, Deineka, Olesha, Zagnibeda, Okudzhava and others are inclined to the same principle.
The declension of male surnames (singular and plural) due to the fact that it is not clear whether they should retain a fluent vowel in the manner of common nouns similar in appearance, the declension can be difficult (Travetsa or Travetsa - from Travets, Muravel or Ant - from Muravel, Lazurok or Lazurka - from Lazurki, etc.).
To avoid difficulties, it is better to use the reference book. If a man's surname is accompanied by a woman's and male names, then it remains in the singular form, for example: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Jean and Eslanda Rodson, August and Caroline Schnegel, associates of Richard Sorge, Dick and Anna Krausen, Ariadne and Steve Tur; also Sergey and Valya Bruzzhak, Stanislav and Nina Zhuk;
A man's surname is also written and spoken in the singular if it is accompanied by two common nouns of different genders, for example: Mr. and Mrs. Rayner, Lord and Lady Hamilton; but if in such combinations as husband and wife or brother and sister, the surname is most often used in the plural form: husband and wife Budstrem, brother and sister Wieringa;
When using the word spouse, the surname is presented in the singular form, for example: spouses Dent, spouses Thorndyke, spouses Loddak;
When using the word brothers, a man's surname is also usually presented in the singular form, for example: the Grimm brothers, the Trebel brothers, the Hellenberg brothers, the Vokrass brothers; When using the word family, the surname is usually presented in singular form, for example: Doppfenheim family, Gramal family.
In combinations of Russian surnames with numerals in declension, the following forms are used: two Ivanovs, both Ivanovs, two Ivanovs, both brothers Ivanovs, two friends Ivanovs; two (both) Perovskys. This rule also applies to combinations of numerals with foreign-language surnames; both Schlegels, two brothers of Manna.
Eastern declension of male surnames Slavic origin Having a fluent vowel during declination, such male surnames can be formed in two ways - with and without loss of the vowel during declination: Zayats - Zayatsa - Zayatsem and Zayatsa - Zayets. It must be taken into account that when filling out legal documents, such male surnames must be declined without losing the vowel.
Male surnames of Western Slavic and Western European origin, when declined, having a fluent vowel, are declined without losing the vowel: Slaszek Street, Capek's novels, performed by Gott, Zavranek's lectures. Male surnames, which are adjective names in form (with a stressed or unstressed ending) are declined in the same way as adjectives. Slavic male surnames ending in accented sounds - a, - ya are inclined (from director Mayboroda, with psychologist Skovoroda, to screenwriter Golovnya).
Male surnames of Slavic origin on - o such as Sevko, Darko, Pavlo, Petro are declined according to the rules for declension of masculine and neuter nouns, for example: in front of Sevka, in Dark. As a rule, male surnames ending in unstressed sounds - a, - z are inclined (essay by V. M. Ptitsa, art by Jan Neruda, romances performed by Rosita Quintana, a session with A. Vaida, songs by Okudzhava). Minor fluctuations are observed in the declension of Georgian and Japanese male surnames, where there are episodes of both indeclinability and indeclinability of surnames:
Awarding People's Artist of the USSR Kharava; 120th anniversary of the birth of Sen-Sekatayama, Kurosawa's film; works of A. S. Chikobava (and Chikobava); creativity of Pshavela; at the Ikeda residence; Hatoyama report; films by Vittorio de Sica (not de Sica). Slavic male surnames ending in - and, - ы are recommended to be inclined according to the model of Russian male surnames ending in - й, - й (Dobrovski - Dobrovsky, Pokorny - Pokorny). At the same time, it is allowed to design similar male surnames according to the Russian model and according to the rule of the nominative case (Dobrovsky, Pokorny, Der-Stravinsky). Male surnames that have a stressed ending - a are declined according to the rules of the first declension, that is, the stressed ending disappears in them - a: Pitta - Pitty, Pitt, Pittu, Pittoy; This also includes: Frying pan, Para, Poker, Kvasha, Tsadasa, Myrza, Hamza and others.
Czech and Polish male surnames in – tskiy, –skiy, i – й, – й, should be declined with full endings in the nominative case, for example: Oginskiy – Oginskiy, Pandovskiy – Pandovskiy.
Ukrainian male surnames ending in -ko (-enko), as a rule, are declined according to various types declensions only in fiction or in colloquial speech, but not in legal documents, for example: command to the head of Evtukh Makogonenko; the nobleman killed by Kukubenko rested, a poem dedicated to Rodzianka; Male surnames with the ending, both stressed and unstressed, do not decline - ko (Borovko, Dyatko, Granko, Zagorudko, Kiriyenko, Yanko, Levchenko’s anniversary, Makarenko’s activities, Korolenko’s works), where some of them decline in colloquial speech, (Borovko Borovki, letter to V.G. Korolenko - letter to V.G. Korolenka). Or: “In the evening Belikov... headed towards Kovalenki.” Male surnames do not incline toward - ko with an emphasis on the last one - oh, for example: the Franko Theater, Bozhko's legacy.
In complex multi-word surnames of Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, the last part of the surname ending in a consonant is declined, for example: Di Wen’s speech, Pam Zan Gong’s statement, conversation with Ye Du Sing.
Georgian male surnames can be inflected or indeclinable, depending on the form in which a particular surname is borrowed into the Russian language: surnames ending in - ia are indeclinable (Daneliya, Gornelia), those ending in - ia are indeclinable (Gulia).
Particular attention should be paid to the fact that in ordinary communication, if the bearer of a rare or difficult to pronounce surname allows the incorrect pronunciation of his surname, this is not considered a gross violation general rules declination. But in filling legal documents, media publications and works of art, if you are unsure of the correct declension, it is recommended to consult a directory of surnames, otherwise you can find yourself in an unpleasant situation, which entails a number of inconveniences, loss of time to prove the authenticity, belonging of the very person about whom this document was written.
