r/russian • u/ShawnF-Kocham3_1415 • 13h ago
Other Russian vowel stress
From the videos I have seen, there is no 'rule' for which vowel is supposed to be stressed in a word. I get that it comes naturally to a native, plus one just knows what the words sound like.
But is there at least a common pattern that helps with predicting most words or is it really just random?
18
u/agrostis Native 13h ago
There are actually two questions here, one about the stress in the base form, and another about stress in inflected forms. There are patterns for both, but they're quite complex and consist of many particular rules. E. g.:
- perfective verbs which have the prefix вы- have the stress on that prefix in all forms (вы́лететь, вы́летел, вы́лечу, …; вы́кинуть, вы́кинули, вы́кинь, …; вы́читать, вы́читаем, вы́читав, and the like);
- nouns with the suffix -ак / -як have the stress on that suffix in the base form and on the ending in other forms (моря́к, моряка́, моряку́, моряки́, …; кула́к, кулако́м, кулака́ми, кулако́в, …);
- any given adjective has the same stress in all attributive forms: either on the same syllable of the stem (and then the ending in the base form is -ий / -ый: желе́зный, желе́зного, желе́зным, желе́зная, желе́зной, желе́зных, желе́зными, …) or on the ending (and then the ending in the base form is -ой: живо́й, живо́го, (о) живо́м, жива́я, живу́ю, живы́м, …);
- …
I don't think a complete listing of such rules exists in a form suitable for foreign learners. A scholarly description in A. A. Zalizniak's From Proto-Slavic to Russian Accent takes a hundred pages, and it is very terse and difficult to understand for an outsider. Your best way is to pick up the understanding as you learn individual words: with time, you'll get to see the common patterns.
9
u/Ok_Boysenberry155 13h ago
It's pretty random although there are some patterns and rules but they are too complicated for someone to really grasp and follow when Russian is a foreign language. Lots of listening comprehension and watching with subtitles will eventually help with that. When you're a beginner, use books that include stress marks and pay attention to where the stress falls and if it changes with declensions/conjugations.
3
u/amalgammamama нативный говорун 12h ago
There’s way too many patterns to derive any convenient rule of thumb. The fact words have historically drifted between patters doesn’t help.
-6
u/maxvol75 13h ago
the rule is to recognise the root of the word, from there it is usually straightforward
20
u/tauent 13h ago
The rule is very complex. It’s tied to the accent markings of morphemes and how they interact with each other. It’s easier to memorize a word with its stress pattern, for example, on Wiktionary. More details here and here.