Questions & Answers about Здесь нет груш, слив или вишен.
Why are all the fruits in this sentence in the genitive case?
The word нет (meaning "there is no" or "there are no") always forces the noun that follows into the genitive case. Because we are stating that multiple items are missing, we use the genitive plural.
Why do груш and слив look like they have lost their endings completely?
That is the "zero ending" in action! The dictionary forms are груша (pear) and слива (plum). To form the genitive plural for feminine nouns ending in -а, you simply drop the -а and add nothing else.
The dictionary form of "cherry" is вишня. How does it become вишен in the genitive plural?
Feminine nouns ending in -я also get a zero ending (you drop the -я). However, dropping the -я from вишня leaves an awkward consonant cluster at the end. To make it easier to pronounce, Russian inserts a "fleeting vowel" (е) between the consonants, turning it into вишен.
Is it safe to assume that words with a "zero ending" like груш look just like masculine nouns?
Visually, yes! Because they end in a consonant, feminine nouns in the genitive plural (like груш and слив) often look exactly like masculine nouns in their dictionary form. It's a funny quirk of Russian grammar that you have to rely on context to know if you are looking at a singular masculine noun or a plural feminine/neuter noun.