Novegradian nouns have seven cases, three genders, and two numbers (though some nouns also have a third).
5.1 Roots and Genders
Novegradian is considered as having six basic nominal stems, in Indo-European terms derived from the ā, jā, u, jo, and i stems, as well as a sixth "consonantal" stem. The jā and consonantal declensions contain a relatively small set of nouns, so Novegradian is generally said to have four primary stems.
The Novegradian A-stem, or First Declension, derives from the IE á-stem and consists almost entirely of feminine nouns, with only a few masculine nouns, mostly archaic or foreign. Examples include нига níga "book", шестра śéstra "sister", олака ólaka "street, path", слуга slúga "servant".
The Ja-stem, or Second Declension, derives from the IE jā-stem (ie, an ā-stem with a root-final /j/). In Common Slavic, this was just a variant of the above A-stem. All such nouns are feminine. Examples include жемя źémia "land", каля kália "fish", дужа duźá "person, soul".
The O-stem, or Third Declension, derives from the IE u-stem and neuter o-stem. These nouns are mostly neuter with a smaller number of masculine nouns, and in the nominative singular generally end in /o/ for neuter nouns and a consonant (ie, zero-ending) for masculine nouns. Examples include дом dóm "house", сад sád "garden, orchard", асто ásto "year", окно oknó "window".
The E-stem, or Fourth Declension, derives from the IE o- and jo-stems. Novegradian is unique amonst the Slavic languages for having merged these masculine o-stem with the jo-stem; usually the masculine o- and u-stems were merged. These nouns include a large number of both masculine and neuter nouns, all ending in /e/. Examples include словѣке slově́ke "Slav" (m), возе vóze "car" (m), море móre (n) "sea", поле póle (n) "field".
The I-stem, or Fifth Declension, derives from the IE i-stem. These nouns can be either masculine or feminine. Examples include панти pánti (m) "way", нокьи nókji (f) "night", рыши rýśi (m) "cheese" (Komi), дожгьи doźgjí (m) "rain".
The Consonant-stem, or Sixth Declension, consists of nouns that acquire a suffix in all forms but the nominative singular. They may be of any gender. Many such nouns have reacquired this consonant in the nominative singular by analogy, but still take sixth declension endings. Examples include мати máti "mother" (-r-), небесо nébeso "sky, heaven" (-s-), ймѣно jmě́no "name" (-n-). Former IE ū-stem nouns also have generally fallen into this class, with the consonantal suffix -v-: керкуа kérkua "church".
5.2 Animacy
Nouns in Slavic languages display a curious property known as animacy, where nouns referring to humans or animals decline differently than other nouns in some forms. Novegradian in particular has made significant use of animacy, having given it wider usage than most other Slavic languages. The animacy of a noun must be known in order to properly decline the accusative case and to modify nouns with numerals.
Animate nouns refer to humans or animals. This includes personal names as well as professions. Body parts are not included, nor are living but inanimate forms of life such as plants.
Bacteria, viruses, and other microbes form a special case. They can be either animate or inanimate, generally depending on their semantic function within a sentence. If they are playing an active semantic role within a sentence, they will be treated as animate. If they are playing a more passive role or are being treated as virtually inanimate, they will be grammatically inanimate. This rule was promulgated soon after their discovery in order to resolve the question of how to treat these new organisms, but has been around long enough for it to become standard and by and large unquestioned.
5.3 The First (A) Declension
The citation form of first declension nouns, the nominative singular, always ends in -a. The endings are attached directly onto the root. The first half of the table represents the singular, and the second, the plural.
| First Declension Singular | ||||
| нига "book" | лейра "camp" | шестра "sister" | нога "leg, foot" | |
| Nominative | ниг-а (níga) | лейр-а (léira) | шестр-а (śéstra) | ног-а (nogá) |
| Genitive | ниг-ѣ (nígě) | лейр-ѣ (leirě́) | шестр-ѣ (śestrě́) | ног-ѣ (nogě́) |
| Accusative | ниг-у (nígu) | лейр-у (leirú) | шестр-ѣ (śestrě́) | ног-у (nógu) |
| Dat./Instr. | ниг-ой (nígoi) | лейр-ой (leirói) | шестр-ой (śestrói) | ног-ой (nogói) |
| Partitive | ниг-ок (nígok) | лейр-ок (leirók) | шестр-ок (śestrók) | ног-ок (nógok) |
| Locative | ниг-ѣ (nígě) | лейр-ѣ (leirě́) | шестр-ѣ (śestrě́) | ног-ѣ (nogě́) |
| Lative | ниг-ун (nígun) | лейр-ун (leirún) | шестр-ун (śestrún) | ног-ун (nógun) |
| First Declension Plural | ||||
| Nominative | ниг-и (nígi) | лейр-и (léiri) | шестр-и (śéstri) | ног-и (nógi) |
| Genitive | ниг-Ø (níg) | леёр-Ø (leiór) | шестор-Ø (śestór) | ног-Ø (nóg) |
| Accusative | ниг-и (nígi) | лейр-и (léiri) | шестор-Ø (śestór) | ног-и (nógi) |
| Dat./Instr. | ниг-ам (nígam) | лейр-ам (leirám) | шестр-ам (śestrám) | ног-ам (nogám) |
| Partitive | ниг-оу (nigóu) | лейр-оу (leiróu) | шестр-оу (śestróu) | ног-оу (nogóu) |
| Locative | ниг-ах (nígah) | лейр-ах (leiráh) | шестр-ах (śestráh) | ног-ах (nogáh) |
| Lative | ниг-они (nigóni) | лейр-они (leiróni) | шестр-они (śestróni) | ног-они (nogóni) |
For the most part this declension is very straightforward, except for the genitive and accusative forms. If the stem of the noun ends in any sort of consonant cluster (above, /jr/ and /str/), an /o/ is inserted immediately before the last consonant in the genitive plural. Also, as in other Slavic languages, a special "animacy" distinction appears in the accusative case, although it has gone further in Novegradian than elsewhere. Any noun referring to a person or animal, in this case "sister", will use the genitive case form in place of the accusative case. The form *шестр-у śestru is nonexistent.
Most of these forms derive directly from Common Slavic, although some comments can be made about several of their origins. Both the accusative and lative singulars derive from the Common Slavic accusative *-ǫ. In Old Novegradian this uncoupled and became -ун. Due to various phonological and speech-related factors, the /n/ wore away in many positions, leaving the modern accusative. The places where it remained were the lative functions of the old accusative, thereby splitting the case. Over time the range and use of the lative expanded. The lative plural is an innovative form created with the plural ending -i, in analogy with the old instrumental case ending -ами, before it disappeared.
The dative and instrumental cases began to merge in the 1600s or 1700s, when their plural endings (-аме and -ами, respectively) began to conflate in speech. By the late 19th century the merger was complete, when the instrumental singular form began to take over the dative singular, although the original dative form still survives in some irregularly-declining nouns and in fixed expressions.
The origin of the partitive singular is not completely clear. It may have come from a Uralic language, or more likely it may have its origins in the same formation (a diminutive?) that created the Russian partitive nouns чайку "[some] tea" and кофейку "[some] coffee". The partitive plural ending, on the other hand, certainly comes from the u-stem genitive plural ending (CS *-ovъ), freed for use when the u-stem merged with the neuter o-stem to form the Novegradian O-stem.
There are four stress patterns that can appear on first declension nouns. They can be stem-stressed (like нига above), which are always stressed on the same syllable except in the partitive and lative plurals; they can be ending-stressed, which is rather rare, but which are always stressed on the first syllable after the stem; they can be mobile-stressed, like нога above, where stress moves around predictably; or they can be "double-consonant mobile", like лейра and шестра, whose roots always end in a consonant cluster. The stress patterns are summarized below. "S" refers to stress on the stem, and "E" to stress on the ending. "G" refers to the special stress pattern unique to the genitive plural, where the last syllable is stressed, whether it is part of the stem or an epenthetic vowel.
| First Declension Stress Patterns | ||||||||
| Stem | Ending | Mobile | 2C Mobile | |||||
| Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | S | S | E | E | E | S | S | S |
| Genitive | S | G | E | G | E | G | E | G |
| Accusative | S | S/G | E | E/G | S/E | S/G | E | S/G |
| Dat./Instr. | S | S | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Partitive | S | E | E | E | S | E | E | E |
| Locative | S | S | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Lative | S | E | E | E | S | E | E | E |
5.4 The Second (Ja) Declension
This declension is relatively small, but always listed after the A Declension because of its historical relationship to it. All of these nouns are feminine, and end in either -а or -я in their citation forms.
| Second Declension Singular | ||||
| жемя "land" | каля "fish" | дужа "person" | дакьа "dacha" | |
| Nominative | жем-я (źémia) | кал-я (kália) | дуж-а (duźá) | дакь-а (dákja) |
| Genitive | жем-ин (źémin) | кал-ин (kálin) | дуж-ин (duźín) | дакь-ин (dákjin) |
| Accusative | жемл-у (źémlu) | кал-ин (kálin) | дуж-ин (duźín) | дакь-у (dákju) |
| Dat./Instr. | жем-ей (źeméi) | кал-ей (kaléi) | дуж-ей (duźéi) | дагь-ей (dagjéi) |
| Partitive | жемл-ок (źemlók) | кал-ёк (kaliók) | дуж-ок (duźók) | дагь-ок (dagjók) |
| Locative | жем-и (źemí) | кал-и (kalí) | душ-и (dúśi) | дагь-и (dagjí) |
| Lative | жемл-ун (źemlún) | кал-юн (kaliún) | дуж-ун (duźún) | дагь-ун (dagjún) |
| Second Declension Plural | ||||
| Nominative | жем-ѣ (źémě) | кал-ѣ (kálě) | дуж-ѣ (duźě́) | дакь-ѣ (dákjě) |
| Genitive | жемел-и (źeméli) | кал-и (káli) | душ-и (dúśi) | дакь-и (dákji) |
| Accusative | жем-ѣ (źémě) | кал-и (káli) | душ-и (dúśi) | дакь-ѣ (dákjě) |
| Dat./Instr. | жемл-ам (źemlám) | кал-ям (kaliám) | душ-ам (dúśam) | дагь-ам (dagjám) |
| Partitive | жемл-оу (źemlóu) | кал-ёу (kalióu) | дуж-оу (duźóu) | дагь-оу (dagjóu) |
| Locative | жемл-ах (źemláh) | кал-ях (kaliáh) | душ-ах (dúśah) | дагь-ах (dagjáh) |
| Lative | жемл-они (źemlóni) | кал-ёни (kalióni) | дуж-они (duźóni) | дагь-они (dagjóni) |
The /l/ sporadically appearing in the declension of жемя in place of /j/ is due to a change in Common Slavic that was only partially undone in Novegradian. The /l/ acquired after the labial consonants /p b β m/ drops whenever followed by a front vowel /i e æ/, and occasionally before /a/. This can be seen in the declension of any noun ending in -пя, -бя, -вя, or -мя in the nominative singular - the /l/ only appears before /o u a/ (except in the nominative singular). It is still present in the genitive plural, where the infixed /e/ seperates it from the consonants preceding it. Even non-native nouns ending in labial + я follow this pattern, which they gained through analogy.
The words дужа and дакьа display another phenomenon found in all declensions. A single unclustered consonant becomes voiced immediately before the stressed syllable, leading to many such alternations in their declension. This does not work in reverse - if the consonant was originally voiced, it will always be voiced. Дужа in an earlier form of Novegradian was pronounced [du.'sʲa].
Nouns like дужа and дакьа (with no /j/ element) that are found in this declension once did have /j/, but it merged with the preceding consonant at an early stage. In this instance, the original forms in Proto-Slavic were *duxja and *datja. Such nouns decline exactly the same way as nouns that still have the /j/ element, except in spelling iotafied consonants are not used (eg, о where каля has ё, а where it has я, etc).
There are two stress patterns displayed in this declension, both mobile. The first is known as Stem-Nominative (like жемя, каля, and дакьа above), where the stress in the nominative singular is on the stem. The second is Ending-Nominative (like дужа above), where the stress in the nominative singular is on the ending. Summarized below (where G again represents the special genitive plural stress pattern - stress on the last syllable before the ending):
| Second Declension Stress Patterns | ||||
| Stem-Nom. | Ending-Nom. | |||
| Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | S | S | E | E |
| Genitive | S | G | E | G |
| Accusative | S | S/G | E | E/G |
| Dat./Instr. | E | E | E | S |
| Partitive | E | E | E | E |
| Locative | E | E | S | S |
| Lative | E | E | E | E |
5.5 The Third (O) Declension
The Third Declension consists of masculine and neuter nouns that end in /o/ or a consonant in their citation forms. Both masculine and neuter nouns decline identically in all numbers and case but the nominative singular, where masculine nouns take -Ø and neuter nouns take -o.
| Third Declension Singular | |||||
| дом "house" (m) | сад "garden" (m) | асто "year" (n) | окно "window" (n) | яблоко "apple" (n) | |
| Nominative | дом-Ø dóm |
сад-Ø sád |
аст-о ásto |
окн-о oknó |
яблок-о iábloko |
| Genitive | дом-у dómu |
сад-у sádu |
аст-у ástu |
окн-у óknu |
яблок-у iábloku |
| Accusative | дом-Ø dóm |
сад-Ø sád |
аст-о ásto |
окн-о oknó |
яблок-о iábloko |
| Dat./Instr. | дом-ом dómom |
сад-ом sádom |
аст-ом ástom |
окн-ом oknóm |
яблок-ом iáblokom |
| Partitive | дом-ок domók |
сад-ок sadók |
аст-ок astók |
окн-у óknu |
яблок-у iábloku |
| Locative | дом-ѣ dómě |
сад-ѣ sádě |
аст-ѣ ástě |
окн-ѣ okně́ |
яблок-ѣ iáblokě |
| Lative | дом-он domón |
сад-он sadón |
аст-он astón |
окн-он oknón |
яблог-он iablogón |
| Third Declension Plural | |||||
| Nominative | дом-а domá |
сад-а sadá |
аст-а astá |
окн-а okná |
яблог-а iablogá |
| Genitive | дом-Ø dóm |
сад-Ø sád |
асот-Ø ásot |
огон-Ø ogón |
яблок-Ø iáblok |
| Accusative | дом-а domá |
сад-а sadá |
аст-а astá |
окн-а okná |
яблог-а iablogá |
| Dat./Instr. | дом-ам domám |
сад-ам sadám |
аст-ам astám |
окн-ам oknám |
яблог-ам iablogám |
| Partitive | дом-оу dómou |
сад-оу sádou |
аст-оу ástou |
окн-оу oknóu |
яблок-оу iáblokou |
| Locative | дом-ѣх domě́h |
сад-ѣх sadiě́h |
аст-ѣх astiě́h |
окн-ѣх okniě́h |
яблог-ѣх iablogiě́h |
| Lative | дом-они dómoni |
сад-они sádoni |
аст-они ástoni |
окн-они oknóni |
яблок-они iáblokoni |
The third declension is, by and large, very regular. Other than the two nominative singular endings, the only inflectional variation can occur in the partitive and genitive singulars. The usual partitive ending is -ок -ok, but if the root ends in /k/ or a cluster containing /k/, the genitive singular stands in instead to avoid cacophony. This also applies to the fourth declension. In addition, animate third declension nouns always take the genitive/accusative singular in -a, never in -u: син sín "son" > сина sína, бовор bóvor "beaver" > бовора bóvora. This is part of a strong language-wide tendency for masculine animate nouns to take the ending -a in the animate accusative singular, no matter the declension.
There are only two stress patterns. The more common is stem-nominative, like дом, сад, асто, and яблоко above, where the stress in the nominative singular is on the stem; this naturally includes all masculine nouns, as they have no ending in this form. The other is ending-nominative, like окно above, where the stress in the nominative singular is on the ending.
| Third Declension Stress Patterns | ||||
| Stem-Nom. | Ending-Nom. | |||
| Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | S | E | E | E |
| Genitive | S | S | S | G |
| Accusative | S | S/E | S/E | E/G |
| Dat./Instr. | S | E | E | E |
| Partitive | E | S | E | E |
| Locative | S | E | E | E |
| Lative | E | S | E | E |
5.6 The Fourth (E) Declension
The Fourth Declension is the largest in the language. Such nouns, always ending in /e/ in their citation forms, are usually masculine or neuter.
| Fourth Declension Singular | ||||
| словѣке "Slav" (m) | возе "car" (m) | море "sea" (n) | поле "field" (n) | |
| Nominative | словѣк-е slově́ke |
воз-е vóze |
мор-е móre |
пол-е póle |
| Genitive | словѣк-а slově́ka |
воз-а vóza |
мор-а móra |
пол-а póla |
| Accusative | словѣк-а slově́ka |
воз-Ø vóz |
мор-е móre |
пол-е póle |
| Dat./Instr. | словѣк-ем slově́kem |
воз-ем vózem |
мор-ем mórem |
пол-ем pólem |
| Partitive | словѣк-а slově́ka |
воз-ек vozék |
мор-ек morék |
пол-ек polék |
| Locative | словѣк-ѣ slově́kě |
воз-ѣ vózě |
мор-ѣ mórě |
пол-ѣ pólě |
| Lative | словѣк-ен slově́ken |
воз-ен vózen |
мор-ен morén |
пол-ен polén |
| Fourth Declension Plural | ||||
| Nominative | словѣк-и slově́ki |
воз-и vózi |
мор-и móri |
пол-и póli |
| Genitive | словѣк-Ø slově́k |
воз-Ø vóz |
мор-Ø mór |
пол-Ø pól |
| Accusative | словѣк-Ø slově́k |
воз-и vózi |
мор-и móri |
пол-и póli |
| Dat./Instr. | словѣг-ам slověgám |
воз-ам vozám |
мор-ам morám |
пол-ам polám |
| Partitive | словѣк-еу slově́keu |
воз-еу vózeu |
мор-еу móreu |
пол-еу póleu |
| Locative | словѣк-ѣх slově́kěh |
воз-ѣх vózěh |
мор-ѣх morě́h |
пол-ѣх polě́h |
| Lative | словѣк-они slově́koni |
воз-они vózoni |
мор-они móroni |
пол-они póloni |
The fourth declension is relatively regular, both in form and stress. The most important quirk to note is that the nominative and accusative for masculine inanimate nouns are distinguished, as the accusative lacks the ending -e (unless dropping it would result in an illegal cluster). Other irregularities are predictable and have already been discussed in the context of other declensions: animate nouns have the same accusative and genitive, the genitive singular replaces the partitive to avoid /k/-/k/ cacophony, and if the stem ends in a cluster, an epenthetic vowel is inserted in the genitive plural. However, unlike in other declensions, the genitive epenthetic vowel here is always /e/: вѣтре vě́tre "wind" > вѣтер vě́ter "of winds".
There are only two regular stress patterns, one belonging to masculine (former o-stem) nouns and one belonging to neuter (former jo-stem) nouns.
| Fourth Declension Stress Patterns | ||||
| Masc | Neut | |||
| Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | S | S | S | S |
| Genitive | S | S | S | S |
| Accusative | S | S | S | S |
| Dat./Instr. | S | E | S | E |
| Partitive | E | S | E | S |
| Locative | S | S | S | E |
| Lative | S | S | E | S |
5.7 The Fifth (I) Declension
The Fifth Declension consists of both masculine and feminine nouns ending in -и. Many case forms have collapsed together, yet the fifth declension may have one of the most complicated paradigms due to several variant endings depending on gender and animacy. For this reason, it is typically divided into three subdeclensions: Va (consisting of animate nouns), Vb (consisting of feminine inanimate nouns), and Vc (consisting of a small group of masculine inanimate nouns).
| Fifth Declension Singular | |||||
| гости "guest" (Va) | коньи "horse" (Va) | нокьи "night" (Vb) | кости "bone" (Vb) | панти "way" (Vc) | |
| Nominative | гости gósti |
коньи kónji |
нокьи nókji |
кости kósti |
панти pánti |
| Genitive | гостя góstia |
конья kónjia |
ногьи nogjí |
кости kostí |
панти pantí |
| Accusative | гостя góstia |
конья kónjia |
нокьи nókji |
кости kósti |
панти pánti |
| Dat./Instr. | гостем gostém |
коньем konjém |
ногьюм nogjiúm |
костюм kostiúm |
пантем pantém |
| Partitive | гостек góstek |
коньек kónjek |
нокьек nókjek |
костек kóstek |
пантек pántek |
| Locative | гости gostí |
коньи konjí |
ногьи nogjí |
кости kostí |
панти pantí |
| Lative | гостин góstin |
коньин kónjin |
нокьин nókjin |
костин kóstin |
пантин pántin |
| Fifth Declension Plural | |||||
| Nominative | гостие góstie |
коньие kónjie |
нокьие nókjie |
костие kóstie |
пантие pántie |
| Genitive | гостей gostéi |
коньей konjéi |
нокьей nókjei |
костей kóstei |
пантей pántei |
| Accusative | гостей gostéi |
коньей konjéi |
нокьие nókjie |
костие kóstie |
пантие pántie |
| Dat./Instr. | гостям gostiám |
коньям konjiám |
ногьям nogjiám |
костям kostiám |
пантям pantiám |
| Partitive | гостеу gósteu |
коньеу kónjeu |
нокьеу nókjeu |
костеу kósteu |
пантеу pánteu |
| Locative | гостих góstih |
коньих kónjih |
нокьих nókjih |
костих kóstih |
пантих pántih |
| Lative | гостини góstini |
коньини kónjini |
нокьини nókjini |
костини kóstini |
пантини pántini |
Group Va, the animate nouns, was formed from a merger of animate i-stems (all masculine) and animate masculine jo-stems, and so displays a few influences from jo-stem endings. Most significant is the genitive singular/animate accusative singular ending -я -ia rather than the usual -и -i. This is also part of a general trend in Novegradian to mark all singular animate accusatives in -a, regardless of declension.
The most distinctive feature of Group Vb, the feminine nouns, is the dative/instrumental singular -юм -ium, deriving from the Common Slavic instrumental *-ьjǫ. The /m/ instead of expected /n/ is by analogy with the dative/instrumental singular endings in other declensions.
Group Vc, the masculine nouns, is very small, since the majority of historically masculine i-stems or jo-stems were either animate or assimilated into the fourth declension, and even in colloquial speech there remains a strong tendency to do the same to the remaining Vc nouns. These lack both of the distinctive features given above.
Each of the three subdeclensions has its own stress pattern. In addition, a few Vc nouns such as дожгьи doźgjí "rain" with ending stress have their own particular pattern.
| Fifth Declension Stress Patterns | ||||||||
| Va | Vb | Vc | End | |||||
| Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | S | S | S | S | S | S | E | S |
| Genitive | S | E | E | S | E | S | S | S |
| Accusative | S | E | S | S | S | S | E | S |
| Dat./Instr. | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E |
| Partitive | S | S | S | S | S | S | E | S |
| Locative | E | S | E | S | E | S | E | S |
| Lative | S | S | S | S | S | S | E | S |
5.8 The Sixth (Consonantal) Declension
The Sixth Declension consists of nouns of all genders that acquire a suffix in all forms other than the nominative singular, or nouns that at some point did, but then regularized the system. These suffixes were at one point part of the noun stem, but by Common Slavic had dropped from the nominative singular by regular sound changes. The nouns below are мати "mother" (r-stem), небесо "sky, heaven" (s-stem, reattached), and ймѣно "name" (n-stem, reattached). In additional, Proto-Slavic ū-stem nouns such as керкуа kérkua "church" have been reanalyzed as consonantal stems with -v-.
| Sixth Declension Singular | ||||
| мати "mother" | небесо "sky" | ймено "name" | керкуа "church" | |
| Nominative | мат-и (máti) | неб-ес-о (nébeso) | йм-ен-о (jméno) | керк-уа (kérkua) |
| Genitive | мат-ер-а (mátera) | неб-ес-а (nébesa) | йм-ен-а (jména) | керк-ев-а (kérkeva) |
| Accusative | мат-ер-а (mátera) | неб-ес-о (nébeso) | йм-ен-о (jméno) | керк-уа (kérkua) |
| Dat./Instr. | мат-ер-ем (máterem) | неб-ес-ем (nébesem) | йм-ен-ем (jménem) | керк-ев-ем (kérkevem) |
| Partitive | мат-ер-ек (materék) | неб-ез-ек (nebezék) | йм-ен-ек (jmenék) | керк-ев-ек (kerkevék) |
| Locative | мат-ер-е (mátere) | неб-ес-е (nébese) | йм-ен-е (jméne) | керк-ев-е (kérkeve) |
| Lative | мат-ер-ин (máterin) | неб-ес-ин (nébesin) | йм-ен-ин (jménin) | керк-ев-ин (kérkevin) |
| Sixth Declension Plural | ||||
| Nominative | мат-ер-и (máteri) | неб-ес-и (nébesi) | йм-ен-и (jméni) | керк-ев-и (kérkevi) |
| Genitive | мад-ер-Ø (madér) | неб-ес-Ø (nebés) | йм-ен-Ø (jmén) | керк-еу-Ø (kerkéu) |
| Accusative | мад-ер-Ø (madér) | неб-ес-и (nébesi) | йм-ен-и (jméni) | керк-ев-и (kérkevi) |
| Dat./Instr. | мат-ер-ми (mátermi) | неб-ес-ми (nébesmi) | йм-ен-ми (jménmi) | керк-еу-ми (kérkeumi) |
| Partitive | мат-ер-оу (máterou) | неб-ес-оу (nébesou) | йм-ен-оу (jménou) | керк-ев-оу (kérkevou) |
| Locative | мат-ер-ѣх (máterěh) | неб-ес-ѣх (nébesěh) | йм-ен-ѣх (jméněh) | керк-ев-ѣх (kérkevěh) |
| Lative | мад-ер-они (madéroni) | неб-ес-они (nebésoni) | йм-ен-они (jménoni) | керк-ев-они (kerkévoni) |
The /β/ in the extended stem of nouns like керкуа lenites to /w/ before another consonant or at the end of a word. The /nm/ in the dative/instrumental plural йменми jménmi is frequently pronounced /nn/ in all but the most careful speech.
There is a single stress pattern for such nouns, but differs from those of other declensions because there are three syllables the stress can generally fall on: the primary stem (P), the initial part of the stem not including the consonantal suffix (such as *мат-, *неб-, *йм-, *керк- above); the secondary or vanishing stem (S), which contains the consonantal suffix (*-ер-, *-ес-, *-ен-, *-ев- above); and the case suffix ending (E). For nouns such as ймѣно, in which the primary stem has no vowel, stress intended for the primary stem falls on the secondary stem.
| Fifth Declension Stress Patterns | ||
| Sg | Pl | |
| Nominative | P | P |
| Genitive | P | S |
| Accusative | P | P/S |
| Dat./Instr. | P | S |
| Partitive | E | P |
| Locative | P | P |
| Lative | P | S |
Although this declension contains the fewest nouns, it does include a number of fairly common words. Other sixth declension nouns include: (NPl in parentheses)
- бокуа bókua (бокеви bókevi) "barrel"
- вантуа vántua (вантеви vántevi) "duck"
- врѣмено vrě́meno (врѣмени vrě́meni) "time, season"
- докьи dókji (докьери dókjeri) "daughter"
- дрѣво drě́vo (дрѣвеси drě́vesi) "tree, wood"
- еле iéle (елени iéleni) "deer"
- каме káme (камени kámeni) "stone"
- кољо kóło (кољеси kółesi) "wheel"
- моркуа mórkua (моркеви mórkevi) "carrot"
- оху óhu (охеси óhesi) "ear"
- пламе pláme (пламени plámeni) "flame"
- реме réme (ремени rémeni) "belt"
- слово slóvo (словеси slóvesi) "word"
- тѣло tě́lo (тѣлеси tě́lesi) "body"
- шѣме śě́me (шѣмени śě́meni) "seed"
As well as a handful of other terms. Not all of these nouns displayed vanishing consonants in Proto-Slavic. Some, such as еле "deer" and perhaps реме "belt" had already been regularized in Common Slavic, but Novegradian later returned them to the consonantal declension by analogy. On the other hand, a small set of nouns that were irregular in Common Slavic have been completely regularized in Novegradian and have been removed from the consonantal declension, such as степеньи stépenji "extent" (originally "step", now fifth declension), око óko "eye" (now third declension), and дене déne "day" (now fourth declension).
5.9 The Vocative Case
A very small set of nouns reflect the original Slavic vocative case, used when calling out the name of someone. The native vocative case has been completley lost in Novegradian; all of these words were borrowed from Church Slavonic, coming from the religious vocabulary of the language and preserved through the long-time usage of Church Slavonic in the Orthodox church.
There are three in common usage:
| Nominative | Vocative | Meaning |
| боғе bóğe | боже bóźe | God |
| господи gospódi | ғосподи ğospodí | Lord |
| Иезусе Христос Iezúse Hristós | Иезусе Христе Iezúse Hristé | Jesus Christ |
The vocative of господи gospódi "Lord" acquires /ɣ/ where the nominative (and all other forms) have /g/. This originates in the imitation of the Church Slavonic pronunciation, where all Г are pronounced as voiced velar fricatives.
Even though vocative form of Иезусе Iezúse "Jesus" appears identical to the nominative, it is still considered to be distinct. In older texts with jers, they were spelled differently (nom. Иисоусъ vs. voc. Иисоусе), and in the modern spoken language, where /e/ is usually dropped from the end of nominative forms, the vocative ending /e/ is preserved.
Although no longer functionally a vocative, the vocative form of Church Slavonic отец otec "father" is seen in the Novegradian name for the Lord's Prayer, the отченаше otčenáśe (lit. "O Our Father").
A modern vocative, unrelated to the historical one, has reemerged in the colloquial language from a contracted form of the possessive adjective мой mói "my". This is discussed further in section 22.4.4.
5.10 The Dual
Although the dual is no longer a productive force in the Novegradian nominal system, it still is used with a small set of nouns, the most commonly used of which are body parts that come in pairs.
The dual appears only in the first, third, fourth, fifth (Vb), and sixth declensions. It is demonstrated below with рока róka "hand/arm", око óko "eye", плукье plúkje "lung", лохти lóhti "elbow", and the irregular оху óhu "ear".
| Dual | |||||
| рока "hand, arm" (I) | око "eye" (III) | плукье "lung" (IV) | лохти "elbow" (V) | оху "ear" (VI) | |
| Nominative | рок-ѣ rókě |
ок-и óki |
плукь-ѣ plúkjě |
лохт-и lóhti |
ох-ес-е óhese |
| Genitive | рок-у róku |
ок-у óku |
плукь-у plúkju |
лохт-ю lóhtiu |
ох-ес-у óhesu |
| Accusative | рок-ѣ rókě |
ок-и óki |
плукь-ѣ plúkjě |
лохт-и lóhti |
ох-ес-е óhese |
| Dat./Instr. | рог-ома rogóma |
ог-ома ogóma |
плугь-ема plugjéma |
лохт-има lóhtima |
о-ес-ма oiésma |
| Partitive | - | - | - | - | - |
| Locative | рок-у róku |
ок-у óku |
плукь-у plúkju |
лохт-ю lóhtiu |
ох-ес-у óhesu |
| Lative | рок-ѣ rókě |
ок-и óki |
плукь-ѣ plúkjě |
лохт-и lóhti |
ох-ес-е óhese |
Many cases have collapsed together in the dual. There are only three sets of endings, and partitive forms do not exist.
5.11 Zero Ending Locative Case
Some monosyllabic nouns in the first, third, and fourth declensions take a zero-form ending in the locative singular in certain circumstances. This is the result of the stress in the prepositional phrase shifting off the noun and onto the preposition, weakening the locative ending to the point of it disappearing entirely. A more specific account of this phenomenon, along with a description of what nouns it can apply to, can be found in section 16.6.
Since this phenonemon is the result of a stress shift to the preposition, it never occurs when the locative is used in isolation without a preposition or when any modifier appears between the noun and the preposition: на мор ná mor "at sea", морѣ mórě "at sea, in the sea", на Варижескѣѣм морѣ na Variźeskě́iěm mórě "in the Baltic Sea".
Since this change is fairly old, voiced consonants that end up in final position as a result of this ending loss always unvoice or, in the case of /ɣ/ and /β/, lenite. However, this change is never indicated in spelling: о Боғ ó Boğ "about God" ['wo.boj].
Monosyllabic second declension nouns may also be affected, but only if the roots end in /m/ or /β/. In such cases, /m/ becomes /ɲ/ and /β/ becomes /l/: на жень ná źenj "on the land" (жемя źémia "land"), на крол ná krol "on the roof" (кровя króvia "roof").
5.12 Irregular Nouns
5.12.1 Common Nominal Alterations
The most common nominal alteration is consonant voicing induced by stress. A regular phonetic change caused virtually all consonants to voice immediately before the stressed syllable, unless they 1) are at the beginning of a word or 2) are part of a consonant cluster. Although this sound change is no longer affecting new loans, analogy continues to be a very powerful force. These alterations can clearly be seen in the nouns above.
Because this sound change is no longer active, confusion often arose as to when it "should" be analogically applied. In the original change, for example, clusters with /j/ could block the voicing process, yet a number of loans adopted after this period do show voicing after j + consonant clusters, because the /j/ was thought to be more of a vocallic element. As a result, later loans (in all parts of speech) such as вайке váike "difficult, trying" (from Finnish) show voiced forms (eg, вайгейше vaigéiśe "more difficult") that are now considered standard.
Voicing does not occur across morpheme boundaries. Analogy once again prevents this. It may only occur if for some reason the word in question becomes dissociated from whatever word was derived from, such as the preposition погољом pogółom "around, throughout", historically related to кољо kóło "wheel".
Due to the lenition of /β/ word-finally or before another consonant, many words display a /β~w/ alternation. Word-finally, this is generally not reflected in spelling: крев krév "blood (NSg)" is [krɛw], while крева kréva "blood (GSg)" is [krɛβə].
When a historical /β/ occurs in a stem-final cluster, however, the situation is more interesting. In most forms of the word, it will be vocalized (generally in spelling as well): насауте násaute "loading" [nasəwte]. In the genitive plural, however, what should happen? Should a vowel be inserted, since there was originally was /βt/ cluster, or should nothing happen, because the original /β/ has vocalized? Many dialects revert to the original /β/, given насавет násavet. This is considered nonstandard, however. In the standard language, the /β/ does not revert: насаут násaut. However, the spelling hides that a vowel has still been inserted: ['na.sə.wɛt]. In the standard dialect, therefore, it is proper to not reflect the fact that there was ever a consonant there, but to insert a vowel in speech nonetheless.
Some masculine fourth-declension nouns whose stems end in vowel+/l/ elide this /l/ to /j/ in the nominative singular, accusative singular, and genitive plural. This only applies to the oldest layer of vocabulary, consisting of words that entered the language prior to about 1300AD: клагое klagóie "church bell (NomSg)", клаголи klagóli "church bells (NomPl)"; аньее ánjeie "angel (NomSg)", аньеля anjeliá "angels (NomPl)". This does not, however, apply to the agentive suffix -теле -tele.
5.12.2 Collective Plurals
Many masculine terms referring to people (or epicene nouns that refer to people of either sex) in the plural take a suffix /j/, originally a collective suffix applied to kinship terms, which may cause consonant alterations. For example, the singular root for "friend" is *drug- (NomSg друге drúge), while the plural root is *drug-j- > *druź- (NomPl дружи drúźi); "son" is *sin- in the singular (NomSg син sín), while the plural is *sin-j- > *sinj- (NomPl синьа sinjá); "brother" is *brat- (NomSg брате bráte) in the singular and *brat-j- > *brakj- (NomPl бракьи brákji) in the plural. This has since spread to many other masculine nouns referring to people by analogy (eg, студенте studénte "student" > студенкьи studénkji). The reflexes of this /j/ are visible in all plural forms in all cases, but absent in all singular forms.
Words that end in a consonant that does not easily palatalize (ie, not /t d s z n k g x ɣ/) instead acquire a /j/ that only appears in the nominative plural: NomSg царе cáre "tsar" > NomPl царя cariá. Note that such nouns in the fourth declension take the third declension NomPl ending -a.
Some nouns have an unexpected consonant appear in the collective plurals reflecting an older pronunciation. For example, боғе bóğe "god" has the plural form божя boźiá because the /ɣ/ was /g/ at the time of this change. The /j/ here, however, is completely unexpected and probably was introduced at a later date.
5.12.3 Animals
Novegradian has a productive suffix -ин -in used to form animal diminutives, which refer to their young cubs/calves/foals/etc. Originally only usable on a small set of domesticated animals, in modern Novegradian it may be applied to any large mammal whose name has long been established in Novegradian (ie, it can't be applied to words that only entered the language in the last few hundred years).
Examples of some of the oldest forms include кожлин koźlín "young goat, kid" (from кожеле koźéle "goat") and агнин agnín "lamb" (from Common Slavic *agnъ, original root no longer present in Novegradian). Interestingly, дѣдин dědín "child" is often used alongside the original дѣтинко dě́tinko "child", especially in the plural. A more recent example is левин levín "lion cub", from леве léve "lion".
While their formation is quite simple, their plurals are more complex. There are two possible forms.
One is to drop the suffix -ин in all forms but the nominative singular, and to decline the noun regularly in the fourth declension. However, this is rare for all nouns except those whose bases are no longer used in Novegradian, like агнин "lamb". Otherwise the word would be very similar if not identical to the 'adult' form when declined.
The other method is to drop the suffix -ин in all forms other than the nominative singular, as above, and add the suffix -ет- -ét- in its place. It then conjugates as though it were a sixth declension noun. The only exception is that the nominative plural ending is -ет-е (-et-e) instead of the expected -ет-и (-et-i). This pattern is used for most such nouns, although агнин and similar nouns may freely decline without the suffix as well.
Both declensions of агнин:
| Regular | Suffixial | ||||
| Sg | Pl | Sg | Pl | ||
| Nominative | агнин agnín |
агни ágni |
агнин agnín |
агнете ágnete |
|
| Genitive | агна ágna |
аген ágen |
агнета ágneta |
агнет agnét |
|
| Accusative | агна ágna |
аген ágen |
агнета ágneta |
агнет agnét |
|
| Dat./Instr. | агнем ágnem |
агнам agnám |
агнетем ágnetem |
агнетми ágnetmi |
|
| Partitive | агнек agnék |
агнеу ágneu |
агнедек agnedék |
агнетоу ágnetou |
|
| Locative | агнѣ ágně |
агнѣх ágněh |
агнете ágnete |
агнетѣх ágnetěh |
|
| Lative | агнен ágnen |
агнони ágnoni |
агнетин ágnetin |
агнетони agnétoni |
|
5.12.4 Nationalities
Novegradian uses the suffix -ѣнинe -ě́nine on a place name to indicate people from there. Most commonly it is used with country and city names, but virtually any place name or toponym can be used. It declines as a normal fourth declension noun in the singular, but in the plural the suffix -ѣнин- -ě́nin- collapses to -ѣнь- -ě́nj-. In addition, the nominative plural ending is -е instead of the expected -и.
The declension of новеграгьѣнинe novegragjě́nine "Novegradian":
| Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | новеграгьѣнинe novegragjě́nine |
новеграгьѣнье novegragjě́nje |
| Genitive | новеграгьѣнина novegragjě́nina |
новеграгьѣнь novegragjě́nj |
| Accusative | новеграгьѣнина novegragjě́nina |
новеграгьѣнь novegragjě́nj |
| Dat./Instr. | новеграгьѣнинем novegragjě́ninem |
новеграгьѣньам novegragjěnjám |
| Partitive | новеграгьѣнинек novegragjěninék |
новеграгьѣньеу novegragjě́njeu |
| Locative | новеграгьѣнинѣ novegragjě́nině |
новеграгьѣньѣх novegragjě́njěh |
| Lative | новеграгьѣнинен novegragjě́ninen |
новеграгьѣньони novegragjě́njoni |
5.12.5 Suppletion
There is only one true suppletive noun pair in Novegradian - дужа~луди (duźá~lúdi) "person~people", where *душ- is the root in all the singular forms and *луд- in all the plural forms. This pair goes back before Proto-Slavic.
5.12.6 Христос
The name Христос Hristós "Christ" has an irregular declension. In all forms other than the nominative it takes regular third declension endings with the stem *Hrist-, with the exception of using the fourth declension genitive/accusative -a. The nominative, however, bears the ending -os borrowed from Greek. As mentioned in section 5.9 above, it also has a distinct vocative form. The ending is stressed in all cases.
| Nominative | Христос Hristós |
| Genitive | Христа Hristá |
| Accusative | Христа Hristá |
| Dat./Instr. | Христом Hristóm |
| Partitive | Христок Hristók |
| Locative | Христѣ Hristě́ |
| Lative | Христон Hristón |
| Vocative | Христе Hristé |
5.12.7 Other Irregularities
A number of nouns just have irregularities that few or no other nouns have, usually the result of sound changes.
The noun вѣтуа vě́tua "branch" switches declensions. In the singular, it is sixth declension, much like керкуа "church". In the plural, though, it switches to the fifth declension, its root becoming *вѣтў- *vě́tw-. It derives from Common Slavic *větvь, so had it developed regularly, it would be entirely fifth declension. However, its singular forms all underwent metathesis to aid in pronunciation, at which point it appeared much like a sixth declension noun containing the -ev- suffix. However, the plural forms never switched declensions because the fifth declension plural endings contain a /j/ in several forms (NomPl вѣтуие vě́tuije [βætwije], GenPl вѣтўей vě́twei [βætwej]), which was reminiscent of the collective suffix which was still largely productive at the time of this metathesis.
The noun мраука mráuka "ant" similarly switches declensions, though this is the result of different suffixes being added to the root in the singular and plural. The Common Slavic singular was *morvi. In the singular the stem is *mrauk- (first declension), with a diminutive affix acting as a singulative. In the plural the stem is *mravj- (fourth declension), with the collective suffix -j- (NPl мравя mraviá, GPl мравей mrávei).
A less extreme declension switch occurs in егла iégla "fir tree, spruce", which declines as a regular first declension noun in all cases except for the genitive plural, where it switches to the fifth declension: еглей iéglei instead of expected *егол iegól.
The noun оху óhu "ear" (from Common Slavic *uxo) is a sixth declension s-stem noun. It is actually completely regular, but has an irregular spelling that more accurately reflects its pronunciation. Due to voicing rules, the /x/ regularly voices to /ɣ/ before the stress. However, since the following vowel is a stressed /e/, the /ɣ/ is lenited into [j], and is completely deleted in the written form. Therefore оху (plural охеси óhesi) has a genitive plural оес oiés, because *охес > *оғес > оес.
A very small set of nouns have a nasal consonant in all forms but the genitive plural, the result of a nasal vowel that had uncoupled. For example, Common Slavic *rǫbъ became Novegradian рамбе rámbe "hem, seam" in order to keep it more distinct from рабе rábe "serf" (an early Russian loan). This /m/ is found in all forms except the genitive plural, which is раб ráb. The reason for this is that there was a time when the pronunciation of all the forms of this word varied between [ramb-] and [rãb-]. When the epenthetic /o/ first started to be introduced (by analogy with the feminine nouns), the nasal was still at least somewhat vocalic, meaning there was no final cluster and no need for an epenthetic vowel. Later the nasal fully uncoupled in all forms except the genitive plural, because if it had, the result would have been *рамб, a final cluster not allowed in Novegradian.
An even smaller set has a genitive plural epenthetic vowel /i/ instead of the usual /e/, such as сайме sáime "party, gathering, social event" (GPl саим sajím). The reason for this becomes clear when the Common Slavic form, prior to yer-loss, is examined. In this case it was *sǫ-jьmъ. The front yer ь was unstressed and lost in all forms except the genitive plural, where it was preserved by a stress shift.
Two nouns, both derived from nouns ending in *-CCьko in Common Slavic, have a consonant reappear in the genitive plural that had been dropped in all other forms, the result of the epenthetic vowel breaking up what had been a more complex consonant cluster: соунце sóunce "sun (NSg)" > солнец solnéc "of suns (GPl), шерце śérce "heart (NSg)" > шердец śerdéc "of hearts (GPl)". Both of these also have irregular final stress in the genitive plural. A related phenomenon is the irregular шеуте śéute "whisper (NSg)" > шебет śebét "of whispers (GPl)", derived from Common Slavic *šьpъtъ; compare Old Novegradian NSg шепте and GPl шепетъ.
Many nouns that through sound changes have developed an extremely reduced form (such as simply CV or CV+glide) add additional suffixes to keep the word more distinct. In some cases, however, this suffixation is incomplete. The noun тае táie "secret", for example, has its original weak root *tai- in the singular, but the suffixed *tain- in the plural: тайни táini "secrets", though no singular *тайна exists.
There are very few instances of consonants other than /v/ lost through reduction that reappear in certain forms, as analogy usually eliminates such irregularities. However, a few still survive, as in the word цка cká "board, plank", which is pronounced /ska/. There is only an /s/ in all forms, despite the spelling, except in the genitive plural, where the epenthetic vowel restores the original affricate: ѕек dzék.
The word ки kí "hammer" is notable for being the shortest noun in the Novegradian language. In all forms other than the nominative singular, accusative singular, and genitive plural the stem is *kij- (eg, genitive singular кию kíju, dative-instrumental singular киём kíjom). The genitive plural is spelt кий kíj, though is pronounced identically to the nominative/accusative form ки kí. This word is typically analyzed as having a single underlying stem *kij- in all forms that merely simplifies the /ij/ diphthong when it meets a word boundary.
5.12.8 Indeclinable Nouns
More recent loans that contain a very non-Novegradian-like ending (such as a stressed -и or -у, or any -ы) or contain a vowel that is integral to the root and would be awkward to drop when declined (such as кове kóve "coffee" or метро metró "metro, subway") tend to not decline at all, neither for case nor number. They rely on surrounding modifiers such as adjectives as well as context to imply the case and gender rather than to indicate it directly.
However, nouns that end in an unstressed /i/ almost never become indeclinable, even if the /i/ is considered integral, because the fourth declension endings almost all begin with /i/ anyways. Nouns like такси táksi "taxi" can therefore decline normally and almost never lose the /i/.
Indeclinable nouns tend to remain indeclinable only for a short time, generally no more than a few decades. After this point they have been a regular part of the language for long enough that they no longer feel "foreign" and speakers begin to lose the feeling that the final vowels are integral parts of the word. However, nouns that have a non-Novegradian ending, such as кангуру kangurú "kangaroo", cannot be nativized without actually modifying the root, since they do not fit into Novegradian declension patterns. In this particular case, the colloquial variant кангуре kangúre has almost completely replaced кангуру in casual speech.
5.12.9 Pluralia Tantum
Pluralia tantum are nouns with no singular form. Novegradian has a large number of pluralia tantum in the fourth declension that are semantically singular, but grammatically plural; morphologically the singular and plural are not distinguished. Examples include крѣуностия krěunostijá "fortress", сцестия scestijá "luck", and брения brénija "dirt". Also included are a number of geographical terms such as Повољжия Povółźija "region around the Volga River". This -ия -ija was originally a collective (and still is, to a certain degree) that has since also became a means to convert abstract nouns into concrete ones (such as крѣуности "firmness" > крѣуностия "fortress"). In Old Novegradian all such collectives adopted fourth declension endings, but with the suffix -ij(a) in all forms, sometimes replacing the usual suffix vowels:
| Pluralia Tantum Declension | ||
| сцестия "luck" | орадия "tool" | |
| Nominative | сцестия (scestijá) | орадия (orádija) |
| Genitive | сцестий (scéstij) | орадий (orádij) |
| Dat./Instr. | сцестиям (scestijám) | орадиям (orádijam) |
| Partitive | сцестиеу (scestijéu) | орадиеу (orádijeu) |
| Locative | сцестиях (scestijáh) | орадиях (orádijah) |
| Lative | сцестияни (scestijáni) | орадияни (orádijani) |
Outside of this class, pluralia tantum nouns are often not that different from English, such as очки óčki "glasses" or ножики nóźiki "scissors", while others may seem very strange, such as сутоки (sútoki) "astronomical day, day and night". Such pluralia tantum almost always fall in the fourth declension.
On the other side, Novegradian also has a number of singularia tantum with no plural form that seem unusual from an English perspective, such as љуке łúke "onion", еғьика iéğjika "blackberry", and рѣмода rě́moda "cranberry". This is common for many fruits and vegetables.
5.12 The Topicalization Marker
One interesting development in the Novegradian nominal system was the creation of the topicalization marker -то -to, derived from an older demonstrative. This same demonstrative became a definite article in South Slavic and gained quasi-topical function in Russian some of the time, but Novegradian has formed a true topic marker. It is an enclitic postfix added to the end of a noun after it has been fully declined. The marker itself has several different forms; which one is used depends on a sort of vowel harmony.
In the nominative case and inanimate accusative, it has the following forms:
| Form | Number | Used... | Example |
| -от -ót | Sg | after a consonant | дом-от dom-ót "house" |
| -то -to | Sg | after a noun ending in /o/, or nouns not fitting into any other category |
еутро-то iéutro-to "morning" мати-то máti-to "mother" |
| -та -ta | Sg | after /a/ | коша-та kóśa-ta "cat" |
| -те -te | Sg | after a noun ending in /e/ | возе-те vóze-te "car" море-те móre-te "sea" |
| -ти -ti | Pl | when the plural ends in /i/ or /e/ | нокьие-ти nókjie-ti "nights" |
| -та -ta | Pl | when the plural ends in /a/ | дома-та domá-ta "homes" |
In all other cases, there are only two forms.
| Form | Number | Used... | Example |
| -те -te | Sg/Pl | when the fully-declined form ends in a front vowel /æ e i/ | морѣ-те mórě-te "at sea" |
| -то -to | Sg/Pl | when the fully-declined from ends in a back vowel /a o u ɨ/ or a consonant |
нигу-то nígu-to "book (acc)" жемлун-то (źemlún-to) "toward land" |
Note that the form -от -ót is always stressed, while all of the other variants are always unstressed. Because of this, words ending in a single unvoiced consonant will voice before -от, although only in speech, never in writing: лѣс-от lěs-ót "forest" [li.'zot]. If the noun in the NomSg ends in -уа -ua, the /a/ is lost: керкуа kérkua "church" > керкў-от kerkw-ót, Москуа Moskuá "Moscow" > Москў-от Moskw-ót.
There is only one spelling peculiarty associated with the topical clitic: When a word ends in -й -i or -е -ie (which loses its /e/ before the topical clitic), the ending -от is respelt -ёт -iot, essentially indicating the /j/ twice. This comes from a time when the dash was often stylistically omitted: Андрее Andréie "Andrei" > Андрей-ёт Andrei-iót.
Nouns with roots that end in an /l/ that is dropped in the nominative case have it reappear when topicalized, and always take the suffix -от -ot: аньее ánjeie "angel" > аньел-от anjel-ót.
There is one exception to the regular rules above, although it is limited to poetry and older texts (largely from the 18th century). Although the dative/instrumental plural ending ends is -ам today, in the 17th century and earlier it was -ами -ami. Also in the 17th century vowel harmony started to appear. As a result, -те was always used after the instrumental plural since it ended with a front vowel at this point, and this continued to be standard long after the vowel disappeared. At no point was it "officially" changed to -то -to (which is used after oblique consonantal endings), but -те had almost completely fallen out of use in this position by the early 19th century in most writing in favor of the more regular -то.