Conjugation of male surnames into a consonant. Declination of the names of employees in documents and business correspondence. Ordinary endings of Russian surnames

Surnames ending in -ov / ev, -in / yn, -sky / skoy, -tsky / tskoy, make up the bulk of Russian surnames. Their declension usually does not raise questions and occurs with the addition of endings according to the following rules:

Table 1. Surnames beginning with -ov/-ova
case	case question	Male surname	Female surname	Plural
			Ivanova	Ivanovs
			Ivanova	Ivanov
				Ivanovs
		Ivanov	Ivanova	Ivanovs
		about Ivanov	about Ivanova	about the Ivanovs

Table 2. Surnames in -sky/-sky
case	case question	Male surname	Female surname	Plural
		Akhtyrsky	Akhtyrskaya	Akhtyrsky
		Akhtyrsky	Akhtyrskaya	Akhtyrsky
		Akhtyrsky	Akhtyrskaya	Akhtyrsky
		Akhtyrsky	Akhtyrskaya	Akhtyrsky
		Akhtyrsky	Akhtyrskaya	Akhtyrsky
		about Akhtyrsky	about Akhtyrskaya	about the Akhtyrsky

2. Surnames consonant with adjectives are declined in accordance with the declension of masculine and feminine adjectives and in the plural: Dashing, Tolstaya, White, Great.

Table 3. Surnames consonant with adjectives
case	case question	Male surname	Female surname	Plural
	who? what / what?
	whom? what / what?
	to whom? to what/what?
	whom? what/which one?
	by whom? what / what?
	about whom? about what/about what?

3. Surnames consonant with a noun are declined according to gender, grammatical gender does not affect declension. Including foreign-language ones without stress on the last syllable. Examples of surnames: Melnik, Guitar, Bull, Crow, Chernous, Shcherba, Kafka. Masculine surnames (Melnik, Coward) are declined in men according to the rule of declension of masculine nouns, in women and in the plural they are not declined. Feminine surnames (Guitar, Friday) for men and women are declined according to the rules of declension of feminine nouns, in the plural the surname has the form of the nominative case for men and does not decline by cases.

Table 5. Surnames consonant with feminine nouns
case	case question	Male surname	Female surname	Plural

Note 1. It is worth clarifying the stress in surnames ending in -a, since the ending of the instrumental case depends on this. Compare: Lefty - Lefty, Lefty - Lefty. Note 2. French surnames with a stressed ending -a, -i, do not bow: Emile Zola, Pierre Broca, about Alexandre Dumas.

Surnames coinciding with nouns with a fluent vowel are also declined with a drop in vowel. Examples: Hare - Hare, Forehead - Forehead, Leo - Leo. However, family traditions may dictate an exception, the vowel is not dropped. For example: Bast shoes - Bast shoes (instead of Bast shoes).

Russian surnames of the middle gender ending in -o, Ukrainian surnames in -ko, as well as foreign-language surnames in -o, -e, -i, -u, -yu are not inclined. Examples: Swamp, Zoloto, Petrenko, Timoshenko, Zhivago, Dali, Ordzhonikidze, Gandhi.

Surnames formed from the genitive case of a personal name, nickname or family are not declined . Their genus has not been determined. They end in -in, -them/s. Examples: Khitrovo, Gray-haired, Small.

7. In double surnames, each part is declined by cases separately in accordance with the rules described above.

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 works on philology there is a complete list of them), 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 not true, 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, regardless of origin and belonging to a particular country, they 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:

	bow down	Don't bow down
Letters -and I) not under stress	The last letters follow the consonants: Pied Ha, cafe ka. He went to a concert by Stas Piekha. She was a fan of Franz Kafka.	If the last letters follow a vowel - And: Mor ia, Gars and I. He liked to listen to Paul Mauriat's orchestra. He met football player Raul Garcia.
Letters -and I) are under stress	The last letters follow the consonants, but have Slavic roots: Loza, Mitta. Yuri Loza has a wonderful song "The Raft". I admire the director	The last letters follow consonants or vowels and are of French origin: Dumas, Benoist, Delacroix, Zola. She was friends with Alexandre Dumas. He began painting thanks to Eugene Delacroix.

To consolidate knowledge, do male surnames tend to - but, 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 -them: Dietrich, Freindlich, Ulrich. In Russian surnames before -them 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 according to 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. So, dissonant surnames (Pelmen), as well as those coinciding with a geographical name (Uruguay, Taiwan), do not decline. 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 declined according to the general rules, but only their 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.

Whether male surnames of other foreign countries are declined depends entirely 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.

Often, secretaries and clerks, when drawing up protocols, are faced with the requirement of the head not to bow some names. What surnames do not actually decline, we will tell in the article. We have prepared a summary table of the most common cases that are difficult to deal with.

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What are the misconceptions about the declension of surnames

Most native speakers of the Russian language do not know the laws of declension of names and surnames. Despite the fact that there are many guides and manuals on this topic, the issue of declension of surnames remains difficult for many people. In many ways, misconceptions about the rules for declension of surnames interfere. Here are some of them.

The declension of a surname depends on its linguistic origin. For example, all Georgian, Polish or Armenian surnames do not decline.

The declension of a surname depends on the gender of its bearer.

If the surname coincides with a common noun - Will, Freedom, Zhuk - she does not decline.

However, the most common misconception is that there are so many declension rules that it simply does not make sense to memorize them.

In order to refute these misconceptions, consider the basic rules for changing surnames by cases. We have formulated them in the form of step-by-step instructions, with which you can quickly conclude whether the surname changes in cases or not.

Table: declension of surnames in Russian

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How to determine if a surname is inclined: step by step instructions

Step #1

Look at the last name. If it ends in -ov (-ev,), -in (-yn), -sky (-tsky), decline it in the standard way

Such surnames change without problems. But keep in mind two important exceptions.

A. If the surname ends in -ov, -in, but it is foreign (For example, Chaplin or Darwin), then it will change in cases like a noun of the second declension (for example, table) - Chaplin, Darwin.

C. Female surnames in -ina (Smorodina, Zhemchuzhina) change depending on how the male version of the same surname changes. If the male version sounds like Smorodin or Zhemchuzhin, then the female surname in the instrumental case will sound like Currant or Zhemchuzhina, and if the male version matches the female surname - Zhemchuzhina or Currant, then the female surname will be declined like a common noun. An example is in the table below.

	Charlie Chaplin	Anna Smorodina (in m. R. Smorodin)	Irina Zhemchuzhina (coincides with m.b.)
	Charlie Chaplin	Anna Currant	Irina Zhemchuzhina
	Charlie Chaplin	Anna Currant	Irina Zhemchuzhina
	Charlie Chaplin	Anna Smorodina	Irina Zhemchuzhina
	Charlie Chaplin	Anna Currant	Irina Zhemchuzhina
	Charlie Chaplin	Anna Currant	Irina Zhemchuzhina

Step #2

If you have a non-standard surname in front of you, note what sound it ends with

The main rule to follow is that the type of declension is primarily affected not by the gender or nationality of the carrier, but by whether it ends in a vowel or consonant sound.

Step #3

Do not change a last name that ends in -s, them, or e, and, oh, y, s, uh, u

For example, the book of Belykh, the performance of Loye, Gramigny, Ceausescu, Lykhna, Maigret and Liu.

Note. In everyday speech and in the language of literature, which depicts Speaking , sometimes you can find the declension of male surnames on -s or -ih. For example, Chernykh's report. Sometimes you can find the declension of Ukrainian surnames on -ko - Chernenka or Shevchenko. The last variant of surname changes was common in the 19th century. But now both the first option and the second one are undesirable.

Step #4

If the last name ends in a consonant (except -ih and -ih), look at the gender of the owner

Male surnames are inclined towards a consonant sound, but female ones are not. The linguistic origin of the surname does not matter. Men's surnames are also declined, which coincide with common nouns.

For example, the reports of Krug, Shock, Martirosyan (for male surnames) and the reports of Krug, Shock, Martirosyan (for female surnames).

Note 1. There are male surnames of East Slavic origin, which can be inclined in two ways. We are talking about surnames that have a fluent vowel when changing - Zhuravl: Zhuravel or Zhuravl. Most reference books recommend keeping a fluent vowel (Zhuravel) when declining, since from a legal point of view it is important to preserve the integrity of the surname. However, the owner of the surname can insist on the option he has chosen. The main thing in this case is to adhere to the uniformity of changing the surname by case in all legal documents.

Note 2. The surnames beginning with th (Shakhrai) deserve special mention. Here we also encounter the possibility of a double change of surname. If the surname is perceived as an adjective, for example, Topchy, then it changes as Topchy, Topchy, etc. If the surname is perceived as a noun, then it changes as Topchia, Topchia. Such complex cases concern only those surnames in which the consonant "y" is preceded by the vowels "o" or "i". In all other cases, the surname changes according to the general rules (Shakhrai, Shakhrai, etc.)

	Ivan Chernykh	Ivan Krug	Anna Krug	Ivan Shakhrai
	Ivan Chernykh	Ivan Krug	Anna Krug	Ivan Shakhrai
	Ivan Chernykh	Ivan Krug	Anne Krug	Ivan Shakhrai
	Ivan Chernykh	Ivan Krug	Anna Krug	Ivan Shakhrai
	Ivan Chernykh	Ivan Krug	Anna Krug	Ivan Shakhrai
	Ivan Chernykh	Ivan Krug	Anne Krug	Ivan Shakhrai

Step #5

The surname ends in a vowel -я. Is there another vowel before it? If yes, bow her

Examples: notebook by Inna Shengelai, diploma issued to Nikolay Lomaya, meeting with Anna Rhea; crimes of Lavrenty Beria, meeting with George Danelia.

Step #6

The surname ends in the vowel -a. Is there another vowel before it? If yes, don't push her.

Examples: Nikolai Galua's notebook, diploma issued to Irina Eria, meeting with Igor Gulia.

Step #7

The surname ends in -а or -я, but it is preceded by a consonant. Pay attention to the origin of the surname and the stress in it.

There are only two exceptions to remember:

BUT. French surnames with an accent on the last syllable are not inclined: books by Alexandre Dumas, Emile Zola and Anna Gavald, aphorisms by Jacques Derrida, Drogba's goals.

B. Mostly Finnish surnames ending in -a are unstressed: a meeting with Mauno Pekkala.

All other surnames - Eastern, Slavic, Japanese - ending in stressed and unstressed -a or -ya are inclined. Decline and surnames that coincide with common nouns.

Examples: Irina Groza's notebook, Nikolai Mukha's diploma, Elena Kara-Murza's lecture, Bulat Okudzhava's songs, Igor Kvasha's roles, Akira Kurosawa's films.

	Margarita Galois	Nina Danelia	Anna Groza
	Marguerite Galois	Nina Danelia	Anna Groza
	Marguerite Galois	Nina Danelia	Anna Groze
	Marguerite Galois	Nina Daneliya	Anna Groza
	Marguerite Galois	Nina Danelia	Anna Groza
	Marguerite Galois	Nina Danelia	Anna Groze

Why is it important to follow the rules of declension of surnames

You run the risk of encountering misunderstandings if you do not follow the rules for declension of surnames.

For example, consider this situation. You received a letter signed like this: "Vasily Groz's letter." Following the laws of Russian grammar, you most likely assume that the male surname, which in the genitive case ends in -a, in the nominative case will have a zero ending and conclude that the author of the letter is Vasily Groz. Such a misunderstanding would not have arisen if the letter had been signed correctly - "Vasily Groza's letter."

Another example. You have passed the article A. Pogrebnyak. It is natural to assume that the author of the article is a woman. If it later turns out that the author is a man, Anatoly Pogrebnyak, this can lead to a misunderstanding.

Declension of surnames of employees in documents and business correspondence

Practice shows that in working with personnel, in the preparation of personnel documents, in business correspondence, the correct declension of surnames and names of both Russian and foreign origin causes certain difficulties. Let's try to understand this difficult issue.

In many ways, the rules for declension of names and surnames are due to their origin. Official surnames in Russia appeared at the end of the 14th century. The princes and boyars were the first to receive surnames. Often the surname was associated with estates, possessions of one or another representative of the nobility: Meshchersky, Vyazemsky, Kolomensky.

Somewhat later, the surnames of the nobles are formed (XVI - XVIII centuries). Among them are many names of eastern origin: Kantemir from Turkic. Khan-Temir (temir - iron), Khanykov from Adyghe. Kanyko (kan - educator, teacher, ko - son, i.e. teacher's son), Kurakin from the nickname Kuraka (from Turkic dry, skinny), etc. Another category of noble families such as Durnovo, Khitrovo, Sukhovo are names derived from Russian words. In order to distinguish them from consonant common nouns, the stress was placed on the last syllable, and in the surnames on - ago - on the penultimate one: Chernago, Zhivago, Burago.

Chronologically, the next group of surnames belonged to service people (XVII - XVIII centuries). In it, as well as in the princely surnames, geographical names were reflected, but not as the names of objects that were in their possession, but as designations of the places where these people themselves came from: Tambovtsev, Rostovtsev, Bryantsev and others. By these surnames it is easy to restore the designations of the inhabitants of certain places.

In the 19th century the names of the Russian clergy were formed. Among them are many artificially formed from various words not only in Russian, but also in Church Slavonic, Latin, Greek and other languages. A significant group is represented by surnames formed from the names of churches and church holidays: Assumption, Epiphany, Rozhdestvensky.

A number of surnames are formed from Russian surnames by translating their bases into Latin and adding to the Latin base the suffix - ov - or - sk - and the ending - ij: Bobrov - Kastorsky, Gusev - Anserov. So, for example, the leadership of the Moscow Theological Academy changed in 1838 the name of the student Pyankov to Sobrievsky from the Latin sobrius - sober, teetotaler.

Many Russians have surnames of German origin. Various specialists from Germany - doctors, pharmacists, goldsmiths, etc. have lived in Russia for a long time. The Germans were invited to Russia to work and live, studied at the capital's universities, converted to Orthodoxy, married Russians, assimilated into the Russian environment, retaining only their former surnames as evidence that in the distant past the family's ancestor was a native of the Germans. And now among the Russian population there are people who have absolutely Russian names and patronymics along with German surnames such as Bruder, Wagner, Wenzel, Winter, Wunsch, Sonne, Koenig and others.

The vast majority of standard Russian surnames with suffixes - ov - (-ev-), - in-, -sk-, are inclined: Lermontov, Turgenev, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Kramskoy.

Russian surnames that do not have an indicator - sk - (Good, Tolstoy, Borovoy, Gladkiy, Transverse, etc.) are declined as adjectives.

Surnames with indicators - ov - and - in- have a special declension in the masculine gender, which is not found either among personal names or among common nouns. It combines the endings of masculine second declension nouns and adjectives like "fathers". From the declension of these nouns, the declension of surnames differs in the ending of the instrumental case (cf.: Koltsov-y, Nikitin-y - island-ohm, jug-ohm), from the declension of possessive adjectives - the ending of the prepositional case (cf.: o Griboedov-e, o Karamzin -e - about fathers, about mothers).

Correlative female surnames are declined as possessive adjectives in the feminine form (compare how Rostova and fathers, Karenina and mother's decline).

The same must be said about the declension of surnames into -ov and -in in the plural (Bazarovs, Motherland are inclined like fathers, mothers).

All other masculine surnames that have consonant stems and a zero ending in the nominative case (in writing they end with a consonant letter, ь or й), except for surnames with -s - them, are declined as nouns of the second declension of the masculine gender, i.e. have an ending in the instrumental case - om, (-em): Herzen, Levitan, Gogol, Vrubel, Hemingway, Gaidai. Such surnames are often perceived as "non-Russian".

Correlative female surnames do not decline: Natalia Alexandrovna Herzen, Lyubov Dmitrievna Blok, with Nadezhda Ivanovna Zabela-Vrubel, about Zoya Gaidai.

In the plural, the surnames of the type under consideration are also declined as masculine nouns: I visited the Herzens, the Vrubels, wrote to the Bloks, the Hemingways, etc.

Analysis of archival records of the 17th century. indicates that Moscow has the highest number of non-standard surnames compared to other Russian cities. Among the non-standard surnames, there are the shortest ones ever recorded, including those that coincide with the names of the letters: Ge, De, E, El, Em, En, Ro (Greek letter). From naming by the names of the letters of the old Russian alphabet, the surnames Azov are possible - (az - a), Bukin (beeches - b), Dobrov (good - d), Yusov (yus - y, y).

Some non-standard surnames (Od, Us, Yuk, Yar) are homonymous with common nouns, the explanation of which can be found in Dahl's dictionary. The same foundations are recorded in the standard surnames Odyakov, Usov, Yukov, Yarev. Others (Al, An, Li, Ni, De) are homonymous with unions, particles. The surnames Az, An, Em can come from the old calendar names Az, Ann, Emm. A foreign origin of some of these surnames is also possible. So, An, Ash, Ge, De, Em, En can be French common nouns, for example: An (fr. ane - donkey), Ash (fr. hache - ax), Ge (fr. gai - cheerful). Or German: Ash (German Asche - ash, ashes, ashes), Ro (German roh - raw, rough, cruel), Shu (German Schuh - shoe, boot, boot). The origin of some two-letter surnames from Chinese and Korean personal names is not excluded: Hye, Lee, etc.

Obviously Russian surnames are noteworthy, which are by no means nouns, but interjections, short adjectives and participles, particles, pronouns, adverbs: Blago, Boyko, After all, Gay, Alive, Nabok, Ridiculously, Nenado.

Verbal surnames formed from nicknames that are almost not preserved in modern Russian anthroponymy are very interesting: Bey, Bray, Great, Hold, Think, Kasai, Klyuy and others.

The origin of surnames with the suffix - ets is interesting: Antonets, Gorislavets, Danilets, which come from affectionate nicknames for children in the family and an indication of the relationship to the head of the family: the son or grandson of Anton, Gorislav, etc. There are surnames with the suffix -onok, -enok (Nadelenok, Otdalenok, Kostyushenok, Ivanenok) - this is how the younger sons were called in the western regions of Russia, and later their descendants.

In official sources, there are both surnames of persons with Russian names and patronymics, geographical names in a pure, non-suffix form: Astrakhan, America, Arbat, Bug, Volga.

As part of the surnames, you can find a wide variety of personal names, ancient and new, full and abbreviated, Russian and non-Russian, male and female: Avdey, Amos, Artyukh, Bova, Boris, Vasyuk, etc.

And, finally, among non-standard surnames there are a lot of nouns with the most diverse lexical meaning of the stems: Banya, Bogatyr, Rich Man, Bearded Man, Brazhnik, Bratshiko, Buran, Burlak, Wind, Eye, Mushroom, Thunderstorm, Ray and others.

Indeclinable surnames	Declined surnames
All last names ending in -a preceded by vowels (usually just y or u) (Galois, Morois, Delacroix, Moravia, Eria, Heredia).	All last names ending in unstressed - and after consonants. For example, the surname Ribera declines like Ribera, Ribera, Ribera, Ribera. This group includes surnames like Smetana, Kurosawa, Deineka, Gulyga, Nagnibed and others.
Surnames spelled with e, e, and, s, u, u at the end (Nobile, Caragial, Artman, Gramsci, Ordzhonikidze, Chabukiani, Dzhusoyty, Neyedly, Amadou, Cornu etc.).	Surnames Slavic or Eastern origin. When leaning into them the stress ending is singled out - a: Mitta Mitta, Mitta, Mitta, Mitta; these include: frying pan, Kocherga, Kvasha, Tsadasa, Hamza, etc.
Surnames of French origin, ending in shock - a (Toma, Degas, Lucas, Farm, Gamarra, Petipa) or on - I (Zola, Troyat).	All last names ending in -i (with the exception of indeclinable French surnames origin), - Golovnya, Zozulya, Syrokomlya, Gamaleya, Shengelaya.
Georgian last names ending in - ia (Gulia).	Georgian last names ending on - iya (Danelia).
Surnames with a final - o (Craft, Dolivo, Durnovo, Khitrovo, Burago, dead).
Surnames of Ukrainian origin final - to (among which there are many on - enko): Korolenko, Kvitko, Bondarso, Gorbatko.
Non-Russians (predominantly German) surnames on - them: Argerich, Dietrich, Freindlich, Erlich, etc.
Surnames ending in -s, -ih, such as White, Curly, Long, Yellow (lectures by Chernykh, novel by Sedykh, creativity of Kruchenykh, etc.).

The declension of surnames ending in vowels in the original form does not depend on whether they are male or female.

If the resolution of difficulties with the declension of surnames cannot be provided by the rules, then in order to find the correct variant of the declension, it is necessary to use a surname dictionary that gives normative recommendations for each word (for example, in the case of the surname Kravets: how to correctly decline - Kravets or Kravets, the surname Mazurok decline or no, and if you decline, then how - Mazurka or Mazurka, etc.).

In conclusion, I would like to touch on the issue of writing Russian surnames in Latin, the need for which arises when developing bilingual documents and business papers.

One way to display Russian names in English is transliteration, which is the process of simply replacing letters of the Russian alphabet with the corresponding letters or combinations of letters of the English alphabet.

In this case, the vowels "a", "e", "e", "i", "o", "y", "s", "e", "yu", "i" are respectively replaced by "a", " e" or "ye", "ё" or "yё", "i", "o", "u", "y", "e", "yu", "ya":

The so-called diphthongs - combinations of a vowel and "y" are reflected as follows:

Literature

1. Appendix N 7 "Rules for filling out passport forms with the symbols of the Russian Federation" to the Instruction on the procedure for issuing and issuing passports to citizens of the Russian Federation for leaving the Russian Federation and entering the Russian Federation, approved by Order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia dated May 26, 1997 N 310.

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In many situations, it is very important for a person to know how male surnames are inclined. For example, a schoolchild needs to sign an essay or a notebook, an entertainer needs to announce the performance of an 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 the 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.

In conversation and in literary works, it is allowed to inflect 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 surnames in western Ukraine are surnames, where related, professional or other affiliation is formed with the help of 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, Leonid Gaidai, 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?): Hmayak Hakobyan, 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 the general rule about changing by cases applies. 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.