Appendix:Slovene nouns/first neuter declension

The first neuter declension follow all nouns that have ending -a in genitive singular. Nouns can follow all accentual types and some can change gender and become masculine in dual and plural.

There is distinction between hard and soft stems. Soft stems (those ending in -c, -j, -č, -ž, -š) have -e- in endings instead of -o-:

Note: the second form is, if not otherwise denoted, in genitive singular

• Nouns can have -s-, -t-, or -n- infix and then have no ending in nominative singular.

• In mixed accentual types, unstressed e and o can either become IPA^(key): /e/ or IPA^(key): /o/, IPA^(key): /ɛ/ or IPA^(key): /ɔ/, or both (srebrọ̑ dative singular srẹ̄bru/srēbru, mesọ̑ dative singular mẹ̄su/mēsu).

• Some nouns with a stressed IPA^(key): /ɛ/ or IPA^(key): /ɔ/ can also have dual and plural forms with IPA^(key): /e/ or IPA^(key): /o/, such as ókno, nominative plural ókna/ȏkna/ọ́kna and rébro, nominative plural rébra/rȇbra/rẹ́bra/rẹ̑bra.

• Nouns ending in a non-sonorant consonant and a sonorant or a sonorant followed by -r, -lj, or -nj, have a fill vowel IPA^(key): /ə/ or IPA^(key): /i/, if the stem ends in -j, when there is a null ending (ókno genitive plural óken, poslọ̑pje genitive plural poslọ̑pij) Nouns without a vowel in the stem add a fill vowel IPA^(key): /ə/ in genitive dual/plural. Noun dnȍ 'bottom' has an ending -ov or, as tlȁ, has a fill vowel -a- (tlȁ tál/táł, dnȍ dnȍv/dán), but the -ovversion is preferred. Noun dnȍ is also irregular in locative where it is either dnȉh or dnẹ́h (dnȉh is preferred) and noun tlȁ is also irregular in locative and instrumental (nominative plural tlȁ locative plural tlẹ́h instrumental plural tlẹ́mi/tlí).

• A few neuter s-stem nouns show the effects of the Slavic first palatalisation in the forms with the infix -es-:
  • The noun okọ̑ has the stem očẹ̑s-. It also has a shorter plural stem oč- when referring to human eyes. This stem is feminine rather than neuter, and follows the mixed i-stem declension.
  • The noun uhọ̑ has the stem ušẹ́s-, with a change in accent type. The genitive plural allows both accents.
  • The noun igọ̑ has the stem ižẹ̑s-.

• Noun dŕva 'firewood' is also irregular, having two forms for locative and instrumental: nominative plural dŕva locative plural drvẹ́h/dr̄vih, instrumental plural drvmí/dŕvi. The irregular forms are preferred.

• Some nouns, such as črevọ̑ (stem črevẹ̑s-) lose the infix in the plural: črẹ́va.

22=črẹ̑va

• In the 19th century the ending -i was often used in the dative/locative singular instead of -u. This form was already included in the examples above.
• In the 18th century the endings -ama, -am, and -ah were more common; nowadays they are purely dialectal. These forms are also already included.
• All nowadays soft stems were up to 19th century declined as hard and that also holds true for most dialects.

• The s-infix is often omitted in some dialects. (non-tonal)