The strangest nouns according to foreigners

Hello, dear student! Today I would like to talk about the topic which is, according to foreigners and students who learn Russian, is quite strange.

There are a lot of suffixes in the Russian language, i.e. the elements of a word which are written between root and ending and serve to express feelings and making, for example, diminutive or pet form.

For instance, we use the suffix -ек, if a vowel is elided when we decline a word:

Звоночек [zvanochik] a small bell - нет звоночка [zvanochka] - there is no (чего? - what? Genitive case) звоночка

But if no vowel is elided during declension, we use the suffixes -ик or -чик:

Стульчик [stul'chik] a small chair - нет стульчика [stul'chika] - there is no (чего? - what? Genitive case) стульчика

Кубик [kubik] a small cube - нет кубика [kubika] - there is no (чего? - what? Genitive case) кубика

There is also difference in genders, for example, in masculine gender we use the suffix -ец, and in feminine - иц. For example:

Брат [brat] a brother - братец

Крупа [krupa] careals - крупица

Also, depending on the positioning of stress, we write the suffix -ец for neuter gender, if the ending is stressed. But if the stress falls upon a stem, we write the suffix -иц. For example:

Письмо [pis'mo] a letter - письмецо, the stress falls upon the letter -o, that's why we use the suffix -ец

Платье [plat'e] a dress - платьице, the stress falls upon the stem, the letter -a, that's why the diminutive form of this word is "платьице".

Probably, the most common suffix for making diminutive-pet form of nouns is -ечк. For example:

Майка [Majka] a T-shirt - Маечка

Чашка [Chashka] a cup - Чашечка

But be careful as the words with the suffix - ичк differ from above-mentioned ones!

Ресница [Risnitsa] an eyelash - Ресничка

In this case the noun is derived from the words with the suffix -иц: "ресница".