74 Ukrainian: A Comprehensive Grammar 2.3.2.2.1 Masculine nouns ending in a vowel (-o) A few masculine nouns in Ukrainian have the N.sg. marker -o; although they look like neuters (see 2.1.3), they decline like masculine hard-stem nouns in a consonant. The most common noun of this sort is 'father': STRESS SE: баТЬКО 'FATHER' N. G. D. A. I. L. V. Singular - Однина батько батька батькові батька батьком батькові батьку! Plural - Множина батьки батьків батькам батьків батьками батьках = N. Н. Р. д. 3. о. м. Кл. Ukrainian personal names in -o are declined in the same way, viz. Дмитро, Дмитра, and so on; see Declension of personal names at 2.1.2.4 and 2.3.5. 2.3.2.3 Masculine nouns ending in a consonant: soft stems The soft-stem masculine paradigms are just as prone to variation as the hard stems described above. The following table contains all the possible endings used with these nouns: N. G. D. A. I. L. V. Singular -0(-b) -я,-ю -Ю, -ЄВІ/-СВІ -0 (-ь), -я -ем/-см -І, -Ю, -ЄВІ/-ЄВІ -к>, -є Plural ~lj "1 -ів/-їв, -(ей) -ЯМ -і, -ів/-їв, -(ей) -ями -ях = N. н. р. д. 3. 0. М. Кл. The apparent proliferation of endings is in fact not quite as dramatic as this table makes it out to be, as all endings that contain -Ї- or -є- merely indicate the presence of a [j] at the end of the stem. They are not, then, independent endings, but are included above as graphic variants of -i- and -e-. Examine the following paradigms, and you will note that the general rules of thumb regarding the G.sg., D.sg., and L.sg. encountered for hard stems applies equally to the soft stems. In the G.pl. most masculine nouns will have the ending -ів; -ей is encountered in a very few forms (see p. 76).
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