Долой буржуазный жаргон!
Down with bourgeois jargon!
Slovarish makes heavy use of icons and colors to present information about the inflections and meanings of words in a way that is concise and easy-to-read.
Most of the icons are fairly intuitive, but for reference, they are listed below.
Nouns and adjectives
Verbs
Some individual inflections are annotated to highlight special or irregular features. This makes it easier to focus on what must really be memorized, because it is safe to assume that the majority of forms follow the rules.
The unpredictable nature of word stress in Russian is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for any learner of the language.
However, if you break up the inflections of word into sets of forms — for example, singular and plural of nouns, or past and nonpast tense of verbs — then you can account for almost all variations in stress with just four or five patterns.
Click any of the headings listed below to read more.
Fixed on the stem
Stress remains on the stem throughout all forms in the set. Examples:
Fixed on the ending
Stress remains on the ending throughout all forms in the set. When there is no ending, stress falls on the last syllable.
Note that for nouns, the stressed plural instrumental ending is а́ми/я́ми; for verbs, the -ся reflexive verb suffix is not considered the ending.
Examples:
- мост мост, моста́, ... моста́х
- статья́ статьи́, статье́й, ... статья́ми, статья́х
- возьму́т NP верну́сь, вернёшься, ... верну́тся
- родя́тся P роди́лся, родила́сь, ... родили́сь
Additionally, many feminine nouns with end stress in the singular have stem stress just in the accusative form, such as рука́ (or, less commonly, the instrumental: любо́вь). These are not considered irregular but are shown whether the inflections are collapsed or expanded.
Stem stress for first form, then end stress
For nouns, the “first form” is the nominative; for short adjectives, it is the masculine. Examples:
End stress for first form, then stem stress
Only occurs in the nonpast tense of verbs, where the “first form” is the я-form. Example:
- смо́трят NP смотрю́, смо́тришь, ... смо́трят
Only feminine form has end stress
Only occurs in the past tense of verbs, past participle short forms, and short adjectives. Examples:
Fem/neut on stem, masc/plur on ending
Only occurs in a handful of short adjectives. Example:
- ну́жный S ну́жен, нужна́, ну́жно, нужны́
Verbs are the most complex part of speech in Russian for multiple reasons. They also have significantly more forms than nouns or adjectives.
To make things less intimidating, Slovarish uses a system of verb stem notation that eliminates the need to show every single form.
However, to get the most out of the dictionary, it may help to brush up on the basics of how Russian verbs work.
Conjugation type
To keep things simple, the notation makes special use of a couple letters:
Consonant alternation
Disappearing ну, д, and т
Final ну in the past-tense stems of many verbs disappears in past tense forms, but comes back in the infinitive and participles.
Final д and т in the past-tense stems of some verbs disappears in both the past tense and infinitive forms, but comes back in participle forms.
Incidentally, this happens with the past stems of исче́зну- (disappear) and also прошёд- (pass, of time), whose participle appears in the term “past tense” (прошедшее время). Also, ёд-/ёт- in past stems alternates with е́д-/е́т- in participles.