Declension of Neuter Nouns, Singular

	Hard Nouns		Soft Nouns
NOM.	окно	море	ружьё	здание
GEN.	окна	моря	ружья	здания
DAT.	окну	морю	ружью	зданию
ACC.	окно	море	ружьё	здание
INSTR.	окном	морем	ружьём	зданием
PREP.	окне	море	ружьё	здании

Special Rules Pertaining to Neuter Nouns

1. Neuter nouns of foreign origin ending in -о, -е, -и, -у, -ю, or -a, such as метро, шоссе, такси, рагу, меню, are not declined.

2. Hard neuter nouns ending in a sibilant or -ц followed by о are stressed on the ending:  плечо – shoulder;  яйцо – egg.

3. Soft neuter nouns ending in a sibilant or -ц followed by e are not stressed on the ending: училище – school; сердце – heart. In these, the genitive: училища, сердца and the dative: училищу, сердцу have hard endings because of the spelling rule in the “Pronunciation” chapter.

4. The prepositional ending of nouns in -ьё is -ье: о ружье – about the gun.

5. The prepositional ending of nouns in -ие is -ии: в здании – in the building.

6. The ten neuter nouns ending in -мя are declined as follows:

NOM.	имя	время
GEN.	имени	времени
DAT.	имени	времени
ACC.	имя	время
INSTR.	именем	временем
PREP.	имени	времени

      7. In current speech the noun дитя (nominative and accusative) is used only in these two cases in the singular. (Otherwise, ребёнок is currently used and declined.)