Is the surname Milstein inclined? Surname declension

1. C declension of surnames ending in -ov (-ev,), -in (-yn), -sky (-tsky),i.e., the so-called standard surnames, does not cause difficulties for native speakers. You just need to remember two important rules.

A. Borrowed surnames on -ov, -in, which belong foreigners, in the instrumental form have the ending -ohm(as nouns of the second school declension, for example table, table): the theory was proposed by Darwin, the film was directed by Chaplin, the book was written by Cronin.(Interestingly, the pseudonym is also inclined Green, owned by a Russian writer: the book is written Green.) Homonymous Russian surnames have an ending - th in instrumental form: with Chaplin(from dialect word chaplya"heron"), with Cronin(from crown).

B. Female surnames on - ina type Currant, Pearl inclined in two ways, depending on the declension of the male surname ( Irina Zhemchuzhina And Irina Zhemchuzhina,Zoe Smorodina And Zoya Smorodina). If the male surname is Zhemchuzhin, then it is correct: arrival Irina Zhemchuzhina. If the male surname is Pearl, then it is correct: arrival Irina Zhemchuzhina(surname is declined as a common noun pearl).

2. Now we go directly to the so-called non-standard surnames. The first thing to remember is that, contrary to popular misconception, the gender of the bearer of a surname does not always affect inclination/non-inclination. Even less often, this is influenced by the origin of the surname. First of all, it matters what sound the surname ends with - a consonant or a vowel..

3. We will immediately describe several groups of indeclinable surnames. In modern Russian literary language do not bow Russian surnames, ending in -s, -ih (type Black, Long), as well as all surnames, ending in vowels e, and, o, y, s, e, y.
Examples: notebooks by Irina Chernykh, Lydia Meie, Roman Grymau; the diploma was given to Victor Dolgikh, Andrey Gretry, Nikolay Shtanenko, Maya Lee; meeting with Nikolai Kruchenykh and Svetlana Busset.

Note. In colloquial speech and in language fiction, reflecting oral speech, it is considered acceptable to decline male surnames into - uh, -ih (in Chernykh's script, meeting with Kruchenykh), as well as the declension of surnames of Ukrainian origin into -ko, -enko according to the declension of feminine nouns -a: go to Semashka, visiting Ustimenka.

4. If last name ends in a consonant(except for surnames on -oh, -them, which were mentioned above), then here - and only here! - the gender of the bearer of the surname matters. All male surnames ending in a consonant are inclined - this is the law of Russian grammar. All female surnames ending in a consonant are not declined. In this case, the linguistic origin of the surname does not matter. Men's surnames are also declined, coinciding with common nouns.
Examples: Mikhail Bock's notebook, diplomas issued to Alexander Krug and Konstantin Korol, meeting with Igor Shipelevich, visiting Andrey Martynyuk, daughter of Ilya Skalozub, work of Isaac Akopyan; notebook of Anna Bock, diplomas issued to Natalia Krug and Lydia Korol, meeting with Yulia Shipelevich, visiting Ekaterina Martynyuk, daughter of Svetlana Skalozub, work of Marina Akopyan.

Note 1. Male surnames of East Slavic origin, having a fluent vowel during declension, can be inclined in two ways - with and without loss of a vowel: Mikhail Zayats And Mikhail Zayets, with Alexander Zhuravel And Alexander Zhuravl, Igor Gritsevets And Igor Gritsevets. In a number of sources, declension without dropping a vowel is recognized as preferable (i.e. Hare, Crane, Gritsevets), because surnames also perform a legal function. But the final choice is up to the bearer of the surname. It is important to adhere to the chosen type of declension in all documents.

Note 2. Separately, it is necessary to say about surnames ending in a consonant th. If preceded by a vowel And(less often O), the surname can be inclined in two ways. Surnames such as Topchy, Pobozhiy, Boky, Ore, can be perceived as having endings -oh, -oh and inflect as adjectives ( Topchy, Topchy, feminine Topchaya, Topchaya), and it is possible - as having a zero ending with a declension similar to nouns ( Topchia, Topchia, feminine invariant form Topchy). If consonant th at the end of the surname preceded by any other vowel, the surname is subordinate general rules (Igor Shakhrai, Nikolai Adzhubei, But Inne Shakhrai, Alexandre Adjubey).

5. If last name ends in a vowel -я preceded by another vowel (ex: Shengelaya, Breaking, Rhea, Beria, Danelia), she bows down.
Examples: notebook by Inna Shengelai, diploma issued to Nikolay Lomaya, meeting with Anna Rhea; crimes of Lavrenty Beria, meeting with George Danelia.

6. If last name ends in a vowel -a preceded by another vowel (ex.: Galois, Morois, Delacroix, Moravia, Eria, Heredia, Gulia), she does not bow.
Examples: notebook Nicholas Galua, diploma issued to Irina Eria, meeting with Igor Gulia.

7. And the last group of surnames - ending in -а, -я, preceded by a consonant. Here - and only here! - the origin of the surname and the place of stress in it matter. There are only two exceptions to keep in mind:

A. Don't bow down French surnames with an accent on the last syllable: books by Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola and Anna Gavalda, goals by Diarra and Drogba.

B. Predominantly do not bow Finnish surnames ending in - A unstressed: meeting with Mauno Pekkala(although in a number of sources it is recommended to incline them too).

All other surnames (Slavic, Eastern and others; ending in stressed and unstressed -and I) bow down. Contrary to a common misconception, surnames that coincide with common nouns are also declined.
Examples: notebook by Irina Groza, diploma issued to Nikolai Mukha, lecture by Elena Kara-Murza, songs by Bulat Okudzhava, roles by Igor Kvasha.

Note. There is fluctuation in the declension of Japanese surnames, but reference manuals note that in recent times such surnames have been consistently declined: Kurosawa films.

Here, in fact, are all the main rules; As you can see, there aren't too many of them. Now we can refute the misconceptions listed above related to the declension of surnames. So, contrary to popular belief: a) there is no rule “all Armenian, Georgian, Polish, etc. surnames do not decline” - the declension of surnames obeys the laws of the grammar of the language, and if the final element of the surname lends itself to Russian inflection, it declines; b) the rule “male surnames decline, female ones do not” does not apply to all surnames, but only to those that end in a consonant; c) the coincidence of the surname in form with common nouns is not an obstacle to their declension.

It is important to remember: the surname is word and, like all words, it must obey the grammatical laws of the language. In this sense, there is no difference between sentences Certificate issued to Hunger Ivan(instead of correct Hunger Ivan) And The villagers were suffering from hunger.(instead of suffered from hunger), there is a grammatical error in both sentences.

It is also important to follow the rules of declension of surnames because the refusal to change the cases of the declined surname can lead to misunderstandings and incidents, disorienting the addressee of the speech. Indeed, imagine the following situation: a person with the surname Storm signed his work: article by Nikolai Groz. According to the laws of Russian grammar, a male surname ending in the genitive singular. numbers on - A, is restored to its original form, in nominative case, with a null ending, so the reader will make an unambiguous conclusion: the author's name is Nicholas Groz. Submitted to the dean's office work A. Pogrebnyak will lead to the search for a student (Anna? Antonina? Alice?) Pogrebnyak, and the student Alexander Pogrebnyak's belonging to her will still have to be proved. It is necessary to follow the rules of declension of surnames for the same reason that it is necessary to follow the rules of spelling, otherwise a situation arises similar to the famous "opteka" described by L. Uspensky in "Word about words".

Therefore, we suggest that you remember the elementary truth number 8.

ABC Truth No. 8. The declension of surnames obeys the laws of the grammar of the Russian language. There is no rule "all Armenian, Georgian, Polish, etc. surnames are not bowed." The declension of the surname depends primarily on what sound the surname ends with - a consonant or a vowel. The rule "male surnames decline, female ones do not" does not apply to all surnames, but only to those that end inconsonant. The coincidence of the surname in form with common nouns(Fly, Hare, Sticketc.) is not an obstacle to their declination.

Ivanov, Ozhegov, Krysin, Lopatin, Bunin, Fonvizin, Green, Zeitlin, Darwin. Male surnames on -ov, -in(Russian and borrowed) decline: Ozhegov's dictionary, the story belongs to Bunin, I'm waiting for Ivanov, to talk with Krysin about Grin.

Borrowed surnames for -ov, -in, which belong foreigners, in the instrumental form have the ending -ohm(as nouns of the second school declension, for example table, table): the theory was proposed by Darwin, the film was directed by Chaplin, the book was written by Cronin.(Interestingly, the pseudonym is also inclined Green, owned by a Russian writer: the book is written Green.) Homonymous Russian surnames have an ending - th in instrumental form: with Chaplin(from the dialect word chaplya"heron"), with Cronin(from crown).

Shukshin, Ilyin, Petrov, Fedorova, Graudina. Women's last names -ina, -ova bow down. Surname type Currant, Pearl inclined in two ways, depending on the declension of the male surname (Irina Zhemchuzhina and Irina Zhemchuzhina, Zoya Smorodina and Zoya Smorodina). If the male surname is Zhemchuzhin, then it is correct: arrival of Irina Zhemchuzhina. If the male surname is Pearl, then it is correct: arrival of Irina Zhemchuzhina(surname is declined as a common noun pearl).

Okudzhava, Globa, Shcherba, Vaida -and I unstressed, usually inclined (songs by Bulat Okudzhava, forecasts by Pavel Globa, films by Andrzej Wajda).

Gamsakhurdia, Beria, Danelia, Pikhoya. Surnames on - ia do not bow: books by Konstantin Gamsakhurdia. Unlike them, Georgian surnames on - and I declinable: Beria's crimes, Danelia's films. Surnames on - oya decline like a noun needles: about Rudolf Pihoy.

Mitta, Frying pan, Kvasha. Male and female surnames of Slavic origin on -A percussion lean (about Alexander Mitt, with Grigory Skovoroda, with Igor Kvasha).

Dumas, Zola, Gavalda. Male and female surnames of French origin on -and I drums don't bend (books by Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola, Anna Gavald).

Korolenko, Dovzhenko, Shevchenko, Lukashenko, Petrenko. Male and female surnames on -ko do not bow.

Falcone, Gastello, Zhivago, Durnovo, Lando, Dante, Koni. Male and female surnames on -o, -e, -i, -u, -yu do not bow.

Blok, Gaft, Brockhaus, Hasek, Mickiewicz, Stirlitz, Dahl, Rosenthal, Hudziy, Macbeth. Male surnames ending in a consonant, whether soft or hard, are inclined (Brockhaus encyclopedia, Mickiewicz's poetry, dictionary written by Dalem). Female surnames ending in a consonant are not declined (to Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok, memoirs of Nadezhda Mandelstam).

Black, Yellow, Twisted. Male and female surnames on -oh, -them do not bow.

Kalakutskaya, Kalakutsky, White, White, Thick, Tolstoy. Male and female surnames, which are adjectives in form, are declined according to the adjective model:

I.p.: Andrey Bely, Tatyana Tolstaya

R. p.: Andrey Bely, Tatyana Tolstaya

D. p .: Andrey Bely, Tatyana Tolstaya

V. p .: Andrey Bely, Tatiana Tolstaya

T.p.: with Andrey Bely, with Tatyana Tolstaya

P. p.: about Andrey Bely, about Tatyana Tolstaya

See more...

Ivanov, Ozhegov, Krysin, Lopatin, Bunin, Fonvizin, Green, Zeitlin, Darwin. Male surnames on -ov, -in(Russian and borrowed) decline: Ozhegov's dictionary, the story belongs to Bunin, I'm waiting for Ivanov, to talk with Krysin about Grin.

Borrowed surnames for -ov, -in, which belong foreigners, in the instrumental form have the ending -ohm(as nouns of the second school declension, for example table, table): the theory was proposed by Darwin, the film was directed by Chaplin, the book was written by Cronin.(Interestingly, the pseudonym is also inclined Green, owned by a Russian writer: the book is written Green.) Homonymous Russian surnames have an ending - th in instrumental form: with Chaplin(from the dialect word chaplya"heron"), with Cronin(from crown).

Shukshin, Ilyin, Petrov, Fedorova, Graudina. Women's last names -ina, -ova bow down. Surname type Currant, Pearl inclined in two ways, depending on the declension of the male surname (Irina Zhemchuzhina and Irina Zhemchuzhina, Zoya Smorodina and Zoya Smorodina). If the male surname is Zhemchuzhin, then it is correct: arrival of Irina Zhemchuzhina. If the male surname is Pearl, then it is correct: arrival of Irina Zhemchuzhina(surname is declined as a common noun pearl).

Okudzhava, Globa, Shcherba, Vaida -and I unstressed, usually inclined (songs by Bulat Okudzhava, forecasts by Pavel Globa, films by Andrzej Wajda).

Gamsakhurdia, Beria, Danelia, Pikhoya. Surnames on - ia do not bow: books by Konstantin Gamsakhurdia. Unlike them, Georgian surnames on - and I declinable: Beria's crimes, Danelia's films. Surnames on - oya decline like a noun needles: about Rudolf Pihoy.

Mitta, Frying pan, Kvasha. Male and female surnames of Slavic origin on -A percussion lean (about Alexander Mitt, with Grigory Skovoroda, with Igor Kvasha).

Dumas, Zola, Gavalda. Male and female surnames of French origin on -and I drums don't bend (books by Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola, Anna Gavald).

Korolenko, Dovzhenko, Shevchenko, Lukashenko, Petrenko. Male and female surnames on -ko do not bow.

Falcone, Gastello, Zhivago, Durnovo, Lando, Dante, Koni. Male and female surnames on -o, -e, -i, -u, -yu do not bow.

Blok, Gaft, Brockhaus, Hasek, Mickiewicz, Stirlitz, Dahl, Rosenthal, Hudziy, Macbeth. Male surnames ending in a consonant, whether soft or hard, are inclined (Brockhaus encyclopedia, Mickiewicz's poetry, dictionary written by Dalem). Female surnames ending in a consonant are not declined (to Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok, memoirs of Nadezhda Mandelstam).

Black, Yellow, Twisted. Male and female surnames on -oh, -them do not bow.

Kalakutskaya, Kalakutsky, White, White, Thick, Tolstoy. Male and female surnames, which are adjectives in form, are declined according to the adjective model:

I.p.: Andrey Bely, Tatyana Tolstaya

R. p.: Andrey Bely, Tatyana Tolstaya

D. p .: Andrey Bely, Tatyana Tolstaya

V. p .: Andrey Bely, Tatiana Tolstaya

T.p.: with Andrey Bely, with Tatyana Tolstaya

P. p.: about Andrey Bely, about Tatyana Tolstaya

See more...

In many situations, it is very important for a person to know how male surnames are inclined. For example, a student needs to sign an essay or a notebook, an entertainer needs to announce the performance of a particular artist, and a clerk needs to properly draw up personal files and other documents. This will be discussed in the proposed article.

How male surnames are inclined with vowels at the end

Let's talk about the norms of modern Russian literary language and make reservations for colloquial speech. The simplest rule that has no exceptions: male surnames do not change in cases and numbers if there are vowels at the end. Let's list them: "e", "u", "i", "e", "y", "s", "o". Example:

• Come visit Valery Mindadze.
• I know tennis player Nicolas Mayut.
• Got word from Ivan Grosu.

When speaking and literary works it is allowed to decline surnames belonging to men if they are of Ukrainian origin and end either in "-enko" or "-ko" (Bondarenko, Klitschko). For example, you can say: "Come with me to Ustimenka." But when writing a final essay, for example, such an expression is unacceptable. That's right: "Come with me to Ustimenko."

How male surnames are inclined to "-a", "-ya"

For the letters "a" and "z" at the end of a male surname, different rules apply. If "a" is preceded by a vowel, then the above requirement applies in that case as well. Example: Diploma signed for Victor Gogua.

But for the letter "I" this rule works the other way around - the surname is declined. Example: "We remember the life of Lavrenty Beria."

If both letters are after consonants, then two indicators become decisive:

• where does the stress fall?
• what is the origin of the surname.

If the last syllable is under stress, then French surnames do not decline. Example: I have read all the works of Alexandre Dumas.

The same rule applies to Finnish surnames. And here the syllable on which the stress falls is not important: He called Jussi Mikkola.

Previously, this rule also applied to Japanese surnames, but today a different interpretation is clearly applied in all reference books. All of them, like the rest of the surnames ending in "-a", "-ya", are inclined. Example: We visited Ivan Sinitsa's restaurant.

To make everything more clear, let's present the declension of surnames ending in "-a" in the form of a table:

If at the end -uk

Now consider how male surnames are inclined to a consonant. The same rule applies to them. It sounds like this: if male surnames end in a consonant, then they change in cases and numbers. But there are some nuances that should be noted.

One of the most common in western Ukraine are surnames, where related, professional or other affiliation is formed using the suffix "-uk" ("-yuk"). For example, the son of Vasil is Vasilchuk, the cooper's apprentice is Bondarchuk. How are male surnames inclined to "-uk"?

Everything is simple here and the specified rule applies unconditionally:

• Nominative (who?): Sergey Shevchuk.
• Genitive (of whom?): Sergei Shevchuk.
• Dative (to whom?): Sergei Shevchuk.
• Accusative (of whom?): Sergei Shevchuk.
• Creative (by whom?): Sergei Shevchuk.
• Prepositional (about whom?): about Sergei Shevchuk.

If at the end "-k"

Also in Ukraine, surnames ending in "-ok", "-ik" are common. Are there any particularities in this case? How are male surnames inclined to "-k"? According to the above rule, they change by case, but there are features here. One of them is the possible presence of a fluent vowel. Let's look at an example:

• Nominative (who?): Igor Pochinok, Ivan Gorelik.
• Genitive (of whom?): Igor Pochinok, Ivan Gorelik.
• Dative (to whom?): Igor Pochinok, Ivan Gorelik.
• Accusative (of whom?): Igor Pochinok, Ivan Gorelik.
• Creative (by whom?): Igor Pochinok, Ivan Gorelik.
• Prepositional (about whom?): about Igor Pochinok, Ivan Gorelik.

The most common surnames

Among Russian male surnames, the most common are those that end in "-in" ("-yn"), "-ov" ("-ev"). They decline like adjectives, but in the prepositional case the ending is fundamentally different from the traditional one. Let's take a look at this in comparison. Another nuance is the ending in the instrumental case of foreign surnames with "-in" ("-yn"). It also differs from the traditional one. This can be clearly seen in the table below.

If at the end "-ich"

Most often, such endings have foreign surnames - Serbian or Jewish. Therefore, sometimes the question arises: how are male surnames inclined to "-ich"? Change in cases occurs according to the type of nouns. The endings correspond to the second declension. Let's look at an example:

• Nominative (who?): Ivan Vuyachich.
• Genitive (of whom?): Ivan Vuyachich.
• Dative (to whom?): Ivan Vuyachich.
• Accusative (of whom?): Ivan Vuyachich.
• Creative (by whom?): Ivan Vuyachich.
• Prepositional (about whom?): about Ivan Vuyachich.

For comparison, the name is taken, which is declined similarly (m. R., 2 cl.).

If at the end "-b", "-th"

For native speakers, declension of surnames to "-y" does not cause any difficulties. This option is quite common and fully corresponds to the change in cases of either adjectives (Razumovsky) or nouns of the second declension (Gaidai). How are male surnames inclined to "-ь"? Absolutely similar, which can be seen in the example:

• Nominative (who?): Stepan Korol, Leonid Gaidai, Pyotr Razumovsky.
• Genitive (of whom?): Stepan Korol, Pyotr Razumovsky.
• Dative (to whom?): Stepan Korol, Leonid Gaidai, Pyotr Razumovsky.
• Accusative (of whom?): Stepan Korol, Leonid Gaidai, Pyotr Razumovsky.
• Creative (by whom?): Stepan Korol, Leonid Gaidai, Pyotr Razumovsky.
• Prepositional (about whom?): about Stepan Korol, Leonid Gaidai, Pyotr Razumovsky.

What should you pay attention to? If "ь" is used after the sibilant, the change in cases occurs in the masculine form. For example, this applies to such surnames as Night, Mouse. There are also exceptions in Russian. This applies to dissonant surnames (Pelmen, for example) and reproducing geographical names (Taiwan, Uruguay). They do not change in cases and numbers.

Other exceptions

At the beginning, the rule was already mentioned, according to which all surnames are inclined to consonants in the male version. But any statement implies exceptions. It also exists in Russian.

We did not make out how male surnames ending in "-ih" ("-ih") are inclined. As early as the beginning of the 20th century, they were actually changed according to cases. But today it is believed that surnames derived from adjectives in the plural require the preservation of individuality. Therefore, they are not changed by numbers and cases. Such surnames are an exception to the rule:

• I studied in the same class with Anatoly Pyatykh.
• Everyone laughed at Leonid Fliginsky.

But they should be distinguished from foreign ones, primarily German ones, which must be inclined according to all the rules (Freindlich, Ulrich, Dietrich). Example: I visited Walter Ulrich.

What else should you know

The most difficult question to answer is how male surnames are inclined if they are of foreign origin. For example, the Armenian language is very common on the planet. If about 3 million people live in the country itself, then 8.5 million are representatives of the national diaspora around the world. In their language, by cases (and there are seven of them), both male and female surnames change. In the Russian version - only for men. They are easy to identify because they traditionally end in "-yan" ("-an"): Hambardzumyan, Avjan. More archaic surnames (south of Armenia) may end in "-yants" ("-ants"), "-unts": Sarkisyants, Tonunts. Here's an example of declension:

• Nominative (who?): Hmayak Hakobyan, Georg Tonunts.
• Genitive (of whom?): Hmayak Hakobyan, Georg Tonunts.
• Dative (to whom?): Hmayak Hakobyan, Georg Tonunts.
• Accusative (of whom?): Hmayak Hakobyan, Georg Tonunts.
• Creative (by whom?): Georg Tonunts.
• Prepositional (about whom?): about Hmayak Hakobyan, about Georg Tonunts.

A feature of many countries are compound surnames. For example, they are widespread in Korea, Vietnam, China.

If there is a consonant at the end, then it works general rule about change in cases. However, this only applies to the last part. The first remain unchanged. Example: We talked with Kim Jong Il.

Double surnames among Russians are obligatorily inclined in both parts: We enjoyed the work of Petrov-Vodkin.

From school, many have learned the rule that when pronouncing and writing, female surnames do not decline in cases, and male ones, on the contrary, like similar adjectives or nouns. Is everything so simple, and are male foreign surnames inclined in Russian - this article is devoted to this, based on the monograph by L.P. Kalakutskaya, published in 1984.

Importance of the problem

There are many situations in which the correct spelling and correct pronunciation of surnames in different cases is very important:

• The child began to study at school, and he needs to correctly sign a notebook or diary.
• A young man or an adult man is awarded a diploma or a letter of thanks.
• At a serious event, they announce the exit or performance of a man with a complex surname. It's not nice if it gets distorted.
• When preparing important documents (certificate, diploma) or preparing case materials to establish family ties (in court, at a notary).
• Knowing whether male surnames are inclined is necessary for people of many professions who deal with the execution of personal files or other business papers.

Russian surnames

The most common surnames in Russia - with suffixes - sk (-ck), ov (-ev), in (-yn) People: Razumovsky, Slutsky, Ivanov, Turgenev, Mukhin, Sinitsyn. All of them are easily inclined, like ordinary adjectives, both in the feminine and in the masculine. Exception - surnames on -ov, -in, the ending of which in the prepositional case is somewhat different from the traditional one.

Foreign surnames with suffix -in (-yn) also have a mismatch with Russians in the instrumental case. Let's look at an example:

Do male surnames tend to th without suffix - sk, which are also found in Russia (Tolstoy, Berezhnaya, Sukhoi)? Few (in scientific papers in philology there are them complete list), they easily change in cases similar to adjectives with a similar ending.

Ukrainian surnames

The most famous Ukrainian surnames - on -enko And -ko: Bondarenko, Luchko, Molodyko. If you look at Russian literature, then in works of art (A.P. Chekhov, for example), writers are quite free with their spelling in the masculine version and in the plural: “Let's go visit the Bondarenkos”.

This is incorrect, because the official spelling is different from works of art and colloquial speech. The answer to the question whether Ukrainian male surnames tend to - enko And -ko, unequivocal - no. Example:

• I am writing a letter to Oleg Bondarenko.
• She has an affair with Ivan Luchko.

And this applies to all surnames of Ukrainian origin, even such rare ones as Alekhno, Rushailo, Soap, Tolokno. Surnames are never inclined to -ago, -ovo, -yago: Vodolago, Durnovo, Dubyago. But what about those that end in consonants?

Surnames beginning with -k

Historically, suffixes -uk (-uk) they indicated either a kindred or a semantic affiliation: Ivan's son - Ivanchuk, cooper's assistant - Bondarchuk. To a greater extent, they are inherent in the western part of Ukraine, but are widespread among all Slavic peoples. Do male surnames tend to - uk?

According to the laws of the Russian language, female surnames do not change by case, but male surnames ending in a consonant (the exception is the ending -their,-s), decline without fail:

• I wrote a letter to Olga Dimitryuk.
• I was invited to visit Igor Shevchuk.
• I recently saw Sergei Ignatyuk.

All surnames expressed by nouns are subject to change in cases: Mole, Wolf, Wind, Pillar. There is one subtlety here: if the surname is Slavic, then the existing fluent vowel is not always preserved in the root. In jurisdictions, its spelling is important, although many sources do not consider the pronunciation to be incorrect without it. As an example, consider the surname Hare. More often pronounced: "She called Ivan Zayets." This is acceptable, but more correct: "She called Ivan Zayats."

Common in Ukraine and surnames in -ok, -ik: Pochinok, Gorelik. Knowing the rule that all male surnames with a consonant at the end change by case, it is easy to answer the question: do male surnames tend to -To:

• She came to the house of Ilya Pochinok (here the fluent vowel disappears).
• He knew Larisa Petrik well.

Exception to the rule

The Slavs often have family endings in -their(s): Chernykh, Ilyinsky. In the first half of the 20th century, male surnames with similar endings were often changed by case. According to the norms of the Russian language today, this is wrong.

The origin of these surnames from the plural adjective requires the preservation of their individuality:

• He greeted Peter Bela X.

Although there is a consonant at the end, this is an exception to the rule that you need to be aware of when answering the question of whether male surnames are declined.

Quite common is the ending in -h: Stoikovich, Rabinovich, Gorbach. The general rule applies here:

• Waiting for Semyon Rabinovich to visit.
• He liked Anna Porkhach's exhibition very much.

Armenian surnames

Armenia is a small country with a population of just over 3 million people. But about 8.5 million representatives of the diaspora live in other countries, so they are very widespread. They can often be identified by their traditional ending - an(-yang): Avjan, Dzhigarkhanyan. In ancient times, there was a more archaic family form: -ants (-yants), -oz, which is still common in the south of Armenia: Kurants, Sarkisyants, Tonunts. Is the Armenian male surname inflected?

It is subject to the rules of the Russian language, which have already been mentioned in the article. Male surnames with a consonant at the end are subject to case declension:

• together with Armen Avjan ( wherein "together with Anush Avjan");
• watched a movie with Georg Tonunts ( wherein "Film starring Lili Tonunts").

Ending in vowels

Male surnames remain unchanged if they, regardless of origin and belonging to a particular country, end in the following vowels: and, s, y, u, e, e. Example: Gandhi, Dzhusoyty, Shoigu, Camus, Maigret, Manet. It does not matter at all whether the stress falls on the first or last syllable. This includes Moldovan, Indian, French, Georgian, Italian and Example: " He recently read the poems of Shota Rustaveli". But do male surnames tend to - and I)?

Both options meet here, so it's better to present them in a table:

To consolidate knowledge, do male surnames tend to - A, we offer you an algorithm that can always be at hand.

German surnames

The origin of Germanic surnames is similar to their history in other states: most are derived from personal names, place names, nicknames or occupations of their bearers.

Since German surnames change by case, they should be distinguished from Slavic ones. In addition to the common ones, such as Müller, Hoffman, Wittgenstein, Wolf, there are ending in -their: Dietrich, Freindlich, Ulrich. In Russian surnames before -their rarely are soft consonants with hard pairs. This is due to the fact that there are almost no adjectives with similar stems in the language. Slavic surnames, unlike German ones, do not decline (Fifth, Borovsky).

If at the end -ь or -й

The rule by which male surnames are inclined, having consonants without an ending as a basis, also applies to those cases where at the end is put -b or th. They change in cases like second declension nouns. However, in the instrumental case they have a special ending - ohm (em). They are perceived as foreign. To answer the question of whether male surnames tend to -b And th, consider an example:

• Nominative (who?): Vrubel, Gaidai;
• Genitive (of whom?): Vrubel, Gaidai;
• Dative (to whom?): Vrubel, Gaidai;
• Accusative (of whom?): Vrubel, Gaidai;
• Creative (by whom?): Vrubel, Gaidai;
• Prepositional (about whom?): about Vrubel, about Gaidai.

There are exceptions to the rule. Yes, do not bow dissonant surnames(Dumpling), as well as coinciding with geographical name(Uruguay, Taiwan). Even if it stands after the hissing (Night, Mouse), the surname is inclined according to the male version.

Double and compound surnames

China, Vietnam and Korea are distinguished by the fact that their inhabitants have compound surnames consisting of several words. If they end in a consonant, then they are inclined according to the general rules, but only their the last part. Example:

• We listened to Kim Jong Il's speech.

Russian double surnames are inclined in both parts according to the general rules:

• painting by Petrov-Vodkin;
• theater Nemirovich-Danchenko.

If the first part is not a surname, but serves as an integral part, it does not change in cases:

• Ter-Hovhannisyan's jump;
• work by Demuth-Malinovsky.

Do male surnames of others decline foreign countries, completely depends on the rules of Russian grammar, which were discussed in the article. The question of the use of the plural or singular when listing two persons remained unclear.

singular and plural

In which cases the plural is used, and in which the singular is best seen from the table:

Male surnames, unlike female ones, are declined, but there are many cases discussed in the article when they are also not subject to change. The main criteria are the ending of the word and the country of origin of the surname.