Re: Cases, part 4

On to the neuter case!

According to the chart, neuter singular nouns in the genitive case can end in "-a" or "-я," just like the masculine case. The basic rule is that neuter nouns which end in "-o" change that last vowel to "-a" and nouns which end in "-e" change that last vowel to "-я." However, at this point I must introduce you to two of Russian's Spelling Rules. (There's also a third one, but it doesn't apply in this situation.) This is one of them:

1. Stems terminating in г, к, х, ж, ш, щ are never followed by ы, ю, я, but by и, у, а [respectively].

2. Stems terminating in ц are never followed by и, ю, я, but by ы, у, а [respectively].

In our situation, this means that if we have a noun which end in "-гe," "-кe," "-хe," "-жe," "-шe," "-щe," or "-цe," the "-e" cannot change to "-я," but has to change to "-a."

So. Look at the noun, see if it ends in "-o." If it does, replace that letter with "-a" to form the genitive singular. If the noun ends in "-e," check first to see if the spelling rule applies. If the rule does apply, then change the "-e" to "-a." If the rule doesn't apply, change the "-e" to "-я."

For homework, give me the genitive singular forms of all of these neuter singular nouns:

блюдо
ведро
желание
логовище
мoре
окно
поле
прочитение
стремление
училище
хранилище
яйцо