Talk:Russian spelling rules

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(Quote from the article) They have a very considerable effect on the declension of nouns and adjectives and the conjugation of verbs because many of the endings produce consonant-vowel combinations that the spelling rules strictly forbid. (Unquote)

Something cannot have a 'very considerable' effect. That would be like saying something is 'very unique' - it doesn't make sense in English. It's either considerable, or it's not. 58.165.253.134 (talk) 06:07, 15 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't think yours is a very considered opinion if you think something can't be very considerable. "They were very considerable men who made an enormous contribution to the Party." This is the Collinsdictionary.com entry for considerable Tsinfandel (talk)

Remembering the effect of these rules

In order to fix the rules in the memory, it might be helpful to think of the three spelling rules in terms of some of their major effects on verbs and nouns.

The biggest verb rule. Biggest because it affects 8 consonants (г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, щ, ц) and shows up most notably in verb conjugations. "Normal" 1st sing ю and 3rd pl я become a and y respectively. (Also 'biggest' has g which is a reminder that the gutturals are affected.)

The big plural rule. Big because it affects 7 consonants (г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, щ) and shows up most notably in the formation of plurals. "Normal" -ы becomes -и. (Also 'big' has g which is a reminder that the gutturals are affected.)

The Hand-e rule. 'Hand' because it affects 5 consonants (ж, ч, ш, щ, ц) - like 5 fingers of the hand - and 'e' because it causes unstressed -om to become -em in instrumental singulars of masc/neut nouns. (And the hand is man's major tool or 'instrument'). Neut nom/acc sings are also affected -o becoming -e. A handy hand-e rule.

The rules apply generally to all words and all cases. E.g. the big plural rule also applies to fem gen sing of nouns. Adjectives follow the same rules, but because of the different occurrence of vowels in the endings (om is a prep sing ending in adjectives, not instr sing) the rules apply to (more and) different cases than with nouns. Once the basic forms are learned and the 3 spelling rules fixed in the mind, the forms should follow. Tsinfandel (talk)

You could reduce it to two rules (and a rare exception)

1. Hawaii 5-O. Unstressed o becomes e after ж, ч, ш, щ, ц (hear the waves breaking shhhhhhh жe чe шe щe цe). 2. After г, к, х, ж, ч, ш, щ, ц write y a и not ю я ы (except you can write цы as in цыган - gypsy - but such cases are rare). Wodorabe (talk) 09:50, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Exceptions to #3

шофёр, шоколад are foreign loanwords. I don't want to edit the page because I can't state it precisely. "This rule applies to conjugated/declined suffixes but not to the roots of foreign loanwords such as..." ? Serios3723 (talk) 09:38, 22 June 2020 (UTC)