Russian 0010 (Elementary Russian 1): Hard or soft?

Autumn 2007 (2081)

Prepared by: David J. Birnbaum (djbpitt+russ0010@pitt.edu)
Last modified: 2007-10-02
Location: http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~russ0010/2081/hardorsoft.html
Main course web site: http://clover.slavic.pitt.edu/~russ0010/2081/

How can you tell whether a noun is hard or soft?

/a/	/e/	/i/	/o/	/u/	zero
а	э	ы	о	у	Ø
я	е	и	ё	ю	ь

For the purpose of selecting endings from the chart above, if it ends in a hard-series vowel or zero (that is, if there is nothing after the last consonant), it’s hard:
- газе́та, о́тчество, костю́м
- Exception: If it ends in й, it’s soft (музе́й)
If it ends in a soft-series vowel or soft sign, it’s soft
- пла́тье, слова́рь, тетра́дь, неде́ля

Note that the same rule applies to adjectives. новый is hard because the vowel after the last stem consonant (в) is from the hard series (ы). Синий is soft because the vowel after the last stem consonant here (н) is from the soft series (и).

Note also that the prepositional singular ending -е is always spelled -е (never *э). In other words, the softening is part of the ending.