There are quite a few irregularities. Thus, beside во сне [va snje] "in one's sleep," there is сон [son] "sleep," with [o] inserted instead of [jo]. Some words, like блеск [bljesk] "sheen," do not insert a vowel. These irregularities are shown in the dictionary.
Words ending in consonants other than those named do not insert vowels: мост [most] "bridge," чувств [čustf] "of feelings."
3. Spelling of Prefixes. When a prefix ending in a hard consonant combines with a form that begins with [i], this vowel, in accordance with the general habit, gets the dull sound, and this is shown in the spelling: играть [igratj] "to play" with prefix c- gives сыграть [sigratj] "to play off." In the case of prepositions, which are written (but not pronounced) as separate words, the same habit obtains, but the writing does not show it: игра [igra] "game," с игрой [s igroy] "with the game": [i] here has its dull sound.
When a prefix ending in a hard consonant comes before a form with initial [y], the letter ъ is added, indicating a hard consonant before [y]: есть [yestj] "to eat" with prefix с- gives съесть [syestj] "to eat up."
Prefixes ending with [z] are written with с before unvoiced mutes (§3).
§5. INFLECTION
The parts of speech in Russian are much as in English: noun, adjective, pronoun, verb, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection.
Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and verbs are inflected; that is, there are different forms for singular and plural, present and past, and the like. Words are cited in the dictionary in only one of their forms; the others are not given and it is presumed that the reader can recognize them. In order to enable the reader to do so, we here give an outline of Russian inflection.
Inflected forms consist usually of a stem with different endings; thus слива [sljiva] "plum," сливы [sljivi] "plums," show a stem [sljiv-] and endings [-a, -i]. We write the sign [j] at the beginning of an ending to indicate that before this ending a hard consonant is made soft if possible. Thus, with ending [-je]: стол [stol] "table," на столе [n' stalje] "on the table"; стул [stul] "chair," на стуле [na stulji] "on the chair," руль [rulj] "steering wheel," на руле [n' rulje] "on the steering wheel," нож [noš] "knife," на ноже [n' naze] "on the knife" (because [ž] has no corresponding soft consonant).
In ordinary inflected words the stress is in all forms on the same syllable of the stem or else in all forms on the ending: еду, едет, едем, едете, едут [yedu, yedj't, yedj'm, yedj'tji, yed't] "I am riding, he is riding, we, you, they are riding"; иду, идёт, идём, идёте, идут [idu, idjot, idjom, idjotji, idut] "I am going, he is going, we, you, they are going"; the stems here are [yed-] with stress on the stem, and [id-] with stress on the endings, and the endings are in both instances [-u, -jot, -jom, -jotji, -ut].
If the stress of a set of forms is on the endings, then in a form which has no ending the stress is on the last vowel of the stem: карандаш [k'randaš] "pencil," with no ending, belongs to the set карандаши [k'r'ndaši] "pencils," карандашей [k'r'ndašey] "of pencils," and so on. The last vowel may be an inserted vowel: отец [atjec] "father" belongs to the set отцы [atci] "fathers," отцов [atcof] "of fathers," and so on. Quite a few words, however, have shifting stress, now on one syllable, now on another: голове [g'lava] "head," but головы [gol'vi] "heads." All such cases are indicated in the dictionary.
§6. NOUNS
Gender. Nouns are divided into three genders, according to the shape of the adjectives, pronouns, and verbs that go with them:
masculine (M): этот стол "this table"
feminine (F): эта книга "this book"
neuter (N): это перо "this pen"
Number. Each noun has forms for two numbers: singular (S) and plural (P), much as in English: стол "table," столы "tables." Some nouns occur only in the singular: молоко "milk"; and some occur only in plural: ножницы "scissors", чернила "ink." The distinctions of gender are absent in the plural: эти столы "these tables," эти книги "these books," эти перья "these pens," эти чернила "this ink."
Case. Each noun has, both in the singular and in the plural, six case forms, each of which is used according to the relation of the noun to the other words in the sentence. The cases are nominative (n), accusative (a), genitive (g), dative (d), instrumental (i), and locative (l).
The nominative is a subject, both with and without verbs: брат ушёл "brother has gone away," брат дома "brother is at home." It is used also for a predicate noun when neither the beginning nor the end of the state is involved: Иван солдат "John is a soldier."
The accusative is the normal object of verbs: он взял книгу "he took the book." It is used in some expressions for duration and distance traversed: он жил целый год в Америке "he lived a whole year in America"; мы прошли километр "we walked a kilometer." A few impersonal expressions have an accusative object: мне надо эту кнгу "I need this book." A few prepositions have an accusative object; see §31.
A possessor is genitive: книга моего брата "my brother's book," его книга "his book"; as in English, this includes an object whose part is named: лицо моего брата "my brother's face"; ножки стола "the legs of the table." The genitive forms of the personal pronouns (§21) are not used in this way; instead there are possessive adjectives (§15): моя книга "my book," он взял свою книгу "he took his (own) book," but, with g, он взял его книгу "he took his (another man's) book." The g is used for a divisible substance or set when only some of it is involved: стакан воды "a glass of water," много денег "lots of money," мало времени "little (of) time." It is used for the object of a verb when only a part is involved: дайте мне хлеба (сахару, -воды) "give me some bread (some sugar, some water)." The subject of negative impersonal expressions of existence is g: там нет стола "there's no table there." The object of a negated verb is usually g: я не читал этой книги "I haven't read this book." A few verbs take a g object: она боится грозы "she is afraid of the thunderstorm"; a few have their object in the g when it is indefinite: мы ищем удобной квартиры "we are looking for a comfortable apartment," but, with a, мы ищем квартиру гражданина Ильина "we are
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