Suppletive and high-frequency irregular plurals
A few everyday nouns use a different historical stem; treating them as stored pairs is more accurate than inventing rules.
- Nouns in -а́нин/-я́нин often lose -ин and take -е: граждани́н - гра́ждане, россия́нин - россия́не. The class is productive enough to recognise but still needs lexical checking.
- Frequency first: лю́ди, де́ти, имена́, and времена́ deserve early active mastery because later cases reuse their irregular stems.
| Singular | Plural | English |
|---|---|---|
| челове́к | лю́ди | person / people |
| ребёнок | де́ти | child / children |
| мать | ма́тери | mother(s) |
| дочь | до́чери | daughter(s) |
| и́мя | имена́ | name(s) |
| путь | пути́ | way(s) |
Mini-check
1. Give the plurals: челове́к; ребёнок; и́мя. 2. What disappears in граждани́н → гра́ждане?
Apply this next
- Retrieve the rule without looking, then continue to the next lesson.