After the two big declensions come the two small ones — and they carry the most surprising stem changes in the language. Declension III is the class of feminine nouns ending in a soft sign ь or a hushing consonant (ніч, сіль, любо́в, тінь), plus the irregular ма́ти "mother." Its signature is the instrumental singular, where the final consonant doubles (ніч → ні́ччю, сіль → сі́ллю) or, after a labial, takes an apostrophe (любо́в → любо́в’ю). Declension IV is a tiny class of neuter nouns in -я/-а denoting young creatures or a few special words (теля́, курча́, ім’я́), and its signature is that the noun grows a syllable in the oblique cases by inserting -ат-/-ят- or -ен- (теля́ → теля́ти, ім’я́ → і́мені). Both classes must be learned as paradigms; there is no shortcut around their stem changes.
Declension III: the instrumental that doubles
Declension III feminines look unremarkable in the nominative — a bare stem ending in a soft sign or hushing consonant. The drama is concentrated in the instrumental singular. Here is ніч "night" in full:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ніч | но́чі |
| Genitive | но́чі | ноче́й |
| Dative | но́чі | ноча́м |
| Accusative | ніч | но́чі |
| Instrumental | ні́ччю | ноча́ми |
| Locative | (у) но́чі | (у) ноча́х |
| Vocative | но́че | но́чі |
Look at the instrumental singular: ні́ччю. The nominative ніч has one ч; the instrumental has two. The ending here is -ю, and to attach it the final consonant lengthens (doubles) when it sits between two vowels. Note also the о/і alternation in the stem (ніч with і, but но́чі with о once the syllable opens) and the end-stressed genitive plural ноче́й.
Ні́ччю ра́птом зірва́вся ві́тер, і ві́кна задеренча́ли.
In the night the wind suddenly picked up, and the windows started to rattle. (instrumental ні́ччю — doubled чч.)
За ці ноче́й я майже не спав — стільки робо́ти.
Over these nights I've barely slept — so much work. (genitive plural ноче́й.)
The doubling pattern across the class
The doubling happens with most Declension III nouns whose stem ends in a single consonant that can lengthen:
| Nominative | Instrumental sg. | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ніч | ні́ччю | night |
| сіль | сі́ллю | salt |
| тінь | ті́нню | shadow |
| по́дорож | по́дорожжю | journey |
| ра́дість | ра́дістю | joy (no doubling — see below) |
Посоли́ суп сі́ллю, а не со́євим со́усом.
Salt the soup with salt, not with soy sauce. (instrumental сі́ллю — doubled лл, from сіль; note the genitive со́лі has о.)
Вона́ йшла за мно́ю, як моя́ вла́сна тінь, і зника́ла ті́нню за ро́гом.
She walked behind me like my own shadow and vanished like a shadow around the corner. (instrumental ті́нню — doubled нн.)
When an apostrophe replaces the doubling: любо́в’ю
After a labial consonant (б, п, в, м, ф) the consonant cannot lengthen, so Ukrainian inserts an apostrophe before the -ю instead. The key example is любо́в "love":
| Case | Singular |
|---|---|
| Nominative | любо́в |
| Genitive | любо́ві |
| Dative | любо́ві |
| Accusative | любо́в |
| Instrumental | любо́в’ю |
| Locative | (у) любо́ві |
| Vocative | любо́ве |
The instrumental is любо́в’ю, with the apostrophe marking that в and ю are pronounced separately (v + yu), not as a soft вю. This is the same apostrophe rule that gives you ім’я́ and п’ять — covered in full on the apostrophe page.
Вона́ диви́лася на ньо́го з тако́ю любо́в’ю, що серце сти́скалося.
She looked at him with such love that it made your heart ache. (instrumental любо́в’ю — apostrophe after the labial в.)
The irregular ма́ти
The word ма́ти "mother" is Declension III but irregular: it inserts an -ер- extender in every case except the nominative and the accusative-like form, and it has two competing nominative/accusative forms (ма́ти / ма́тір):
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ма́ти | матері́ |
| Genitive | ма́тері | матері́в |
| Dative | ма́тері | матеря́м |
| Accusative | ма́тір | матері́в |
| Instrumental | ма́тір’ю | матеря́ми |
| Locative | (на) ма́тері | (на) матеря́х |
| Vocative | ма́ти | матері́ |
The instrumental ма́тір’ю again takes the apostrophe — here because a hard р before the -ю keeps its hardness, marked by the apostrophe (the same rule as in бур’я́н, пір’я́). The genitive/dative is ма́тері, and the accusative is ма́тір — a separate form learners constantly merge with the nominative.
Я зателефонува́в ма́тері й сказа́в, що приї́ду на вихідні́.
I phoned my mother and said I'd come for the weekend. (dative ма́тері.)
Він пиша́ється свої́ю ма́тір’ю — вона́ ви́ховала тро́х діте́й сама́.
He's proud of his mother — she raised three children on her own. (instrumental ма́тір’ю.)
Declension IV: the nouns that grow a syllable
Declension IV is tiny — neuter nouns in -я (теля́, ім’я́) and a few in -а after a hushing consonant (курча́, лоша́). They denote young creatures (теля́ "calf," курча́ "chick," лоша́ "foal," дитя́ "child") plus a handful of special words (ім’я́ "name," пле́м’я "tribe," сі́м’я "seed"). Their defining trick: in the oblique cases they insert a syllable — -ат-/-ят- for the young-creature group, -ен- for the ім’я́ group.
The -ат-/-ят- group: теля́
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | теля́ | теля́та |
| Genitive | теля́ти | теля́т |
| Dative | теля́ті | теля́там |
| Accusative | теля́ | теля́т |
| Instrumental | теля́м | теля́тами |
| Locative | (на) теля́ті | (на) теля́тах |
| Vocative | теля́ | теля́та |
The nominative is the short теля́, but from the genitive onward an -ат-/-ят- appears: теля́ти, теля́ті, теля́та, теля́там. The one place it drops out is the instrumental singular, where the ending -м attaches straight to the stem: теля́м (not *теля́том). The plural is built entirely on the extended stem: теля́та, теля́т, теля́там.
У ко́жного теля́ти на ву́сі своя́ бі́рка з но́мером.
Each calf has its own numbered tag on its ear. (genitive теля́ти — the -ят- extender appears.)
Навесні́ в нас народи́лося п’ятеро теля́т.
In spring five calves were born on our farm. (genitive plural теля́т.)
Дити́на бі́гала за курча́тами по подві́р’ю.
The child ran after the chicks around the yard. (instrumental plural курча́тами, from курча́.)
The -ен- group: ім’я́
A small subgroup (ім’я́ "name," пле́м’я "tribe," сі́м’я "seed/family") inserts -ен- instead, and crucially the stress shifts to the first syllable in the singular oblique cases:
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | ім’я́ | імена́ |
| Genitive | і́мені | іме́н |
| Dative | і́мені | імена́м |
| Accusative | ім’я́ | імена́ |
| Instrumental | і́менем | імена́ми |
| Locative | (в) і́мені | (в) імена́х |
| Vocative | ім’я́ | імена́ |
The nominative ім’я́ (end-stressed, with the apostrophe) becomes і́мені in the genitive/dative/locative and і́менем in the instrumental — the -ен- extender plus a stress jump to the front. The plural runs on -ен- too but re-stresses the ending: імена́, іме́н, імена́м.
Як по ба́тькові? Я забу́в, під яки́м і́менем він зареєстро́ваний.
What's the patronymic? I've forgotten under what name he's registered. (instrumental і́менем — note the front stress.)
У докуме́нтах перепли́тали кі́лька іме́н, тому́ й ви́никла плу́танина.
A few names got mixed up in the documents, which is why the confusion arose. (genitive plural іме́н.)
Why these classes matter out of all proportion to their size
Declensions III and IV together hold only a few hundred nouns, but they include some of the highest-frequency words in the language — ніч, сіль, любо́в, ма́ти, ім’я́, дитя́. You cannot avoid them, and you cannot guess their forms from the nominative, because the surprising material (the doubled instrumental, the apostrophe, the -ер-/-ат-/-ен- extenders) only appears once you start declining. The honest advice: learn each of these high-frequency nouns as a full paradigm, the way you'd memorise an irregular English verb.
Common Mistakes
❌ ні́чю, сі́лю (single consonant in the instrumental)
Incorrect — Declension III doubles the consonant before -ю: ні́ччю, сі́ллю.
✅ ні́ччю, сі́ллю
at night, with salt — doubled чч / лл.
❌ любо́вю / любо́вью (no apostrophe)
Incorrect — after the labial в the instrumental takes an apostrophe: любо́в’ю.
✅ з любо́в’ю
with love.
❌ Я подзвони́в ма́ти (nominative instead of dative)
Incorrect — ма́ти inserts -ер- in the oblique cases: dative ма́тері.
✅ Я подзвони́в ма́тері.
I called my mother.
❌ нема́є теля́ (short stem in the genitive)
Incorrect — Declension IV grows the -ят- extender: genitive теля́ти, нема́є теля́ти.
✅ У нас нема́є жо́дного теля́ти.
We don't have a single calf.
❌ під яки́м ім’я́м (treating ім’я́ as a plain -я noun)
Incorrect — ім’я́ takes the -ен- extender: instrumental і́менем.
✅ під яки́м і́менем
under what name.
Key Takeaways
- Declension III = feminine nouns in -ь / hushing consonant (ніч, сіль, тінь, по́дорож) plus the irregular ма́ти. Its signature is the instrumental singular: the final consonant doubles (ні́ччю, сі́ллю, ті́нню, по́дорожжю) — unless a cluster blocks it (ра́дістю) or a labial forces an apostrophe (любо́в’ю).
- ма́ти is irregular: -ер- extender (ма́тері), separate accusative ма́тір, instrumental ма́тір’ю.
- Declension IV = neuter nouns that grow a syllable in oblique cases: -ат-/-ят- for young creatures (теля́ → теля́ти, plural теля́та/теля́т) and -ен- for the ім’я́ group (ім’я́ → і́мені/і́менем, plural імена́/іме́н).
- The instrumental singular of теля́ is теля́м (the extender drops), but ім’я́ keeps it: і́менем.
- These are tiny classes but full of top-frequency words — learn them as paradigms, not from rules.
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- The Four DeclensionsA2 — Ukrainian sorts nouns into four declension classes by gender and ending — I (-а/-я, incl. male nouns like Мико́ла, суддя́), II (consonant/-й/-о, incl. ба́тько, та́то), III (feminine soft -ь), IV (the -ат-/-ен- extenders like теля, ім’я) — and within I and II a hard/soft/mixed stem split decides nearly every competing ending.
- Doubled (Lengthened) ConsonantsB1 — Ukrainian writes certain long consonants as doubled letters — життя́, знання́, ні́ччю — and they are pronounced genuinely LONG. The doubling is phonemic, mandatory, and clusters predictably in the neuter -я noun class and the soft-feminine instrumental, so you can predict it rather than memorize each word.
- The Apostrophe (Апостроф)A1 — The Ukrainian apostrophe ’ is a full orthographic sign, not punctuation: it marks that a hard consonant is followed by an iotated vowel (я ю є ї) pronounced with a clear /j/ glide — blocking the softening that would otherwise happen. It is written after the labials б п в м ф and after р, and after consonant-final prefixes.
- Irregular and Suppletive PluralsB1 — The high-frequency plurals that break the regular rules — suppletive люди/діти, the -ин singulatives that drop their suffix (громадяни), the -ата animal-young plurals (телята), the -ен- neuters (імена), and the old dual body-part pairs (очі, вуха) — grouped by their historical class so they can be learned together, with the genitive plural given for each.
- Declension I in Full (кни́га, земля́, суддя́)B1 — Declension I covers the huge class of -а/-я nouns; once you master its three real complications — the velar mutation in the dative-locative (рука́→руці́, нога́→нозі́), the zero-ending genitive plural (книг, земе́ль, шкіл), and the -ою/-ею instrumental — the entire class follows.
- Gender of Soft-Sign NounsB1 — Nouns ending in -ь split between masculine and feminine with no spelling clue — but strong patterns tame the chaos: every -ість abstract and the ч/ж/ш + ь nouns are feminine, while день, кінь, учитель, степ and the Ukrainian-specific біль 'pain' are masculine; the gender then decides the instrumental ending.