The accusative case: plural forms (вижу книги, вижу студентов)

Я вижу книги. Я вижу студентов.I see the books. I see the students.

In the plural, the accusative follows one simple rule: look at what the noun names. For things, the accusative plural looks like the nominative plural. For people and animals, it looks like the genitive plural. This is the same idea as in the singular, with one useful difference: in the plural it works for all three genders.

Quick shortcut: things keep the plural they already have (Я вижу столы, книги, окна); people and animals take the genitive plural (Я вижу студентов, женщин, кошек).

Things: the same as the nominative plural

For inanimate nouns, the accusative plural has the form you already know from Plural of nouns in the nominative:

Цветы (flowers) and other plants count as things here: Я люблю цветы.

People and animals: the genitive plural form

For nouns that name people and animals, the accusative plural is the same as the genitive plural. The full set of genitive plural endings is in The genitive case: plural forms; the most common ones are enough here, but a few nouns have their own form (солдат, друг → друзей), so it is worth checking the genitive plural when a noun is new:

Feminine nouns are included, unlike in the singular, where only masculine animate nouns take the genitive form (see The accusative case: animate objects and pronouns). The singular Я вижу маму keeps its own accusative ending, but the plural is Я вижу мам.

Adjectives and pronouns follow the noun

An adjective agrees with the noun: with inanimate plural nouns it has the nominative plural form, and with animate nouns the genitive plural form:

The adjective ending is -ые / -ие for things and -ых / -их for people and animals. A full table of adjective endings is in Adjective and pronoun declension across the cases.

The personal pronouns have their own accusative plural forms, the same as the genitive: Он видит нас. Я приглашаю вас. Мы знаем их. The question word is кого? for people and animals and что? for things, as in Кого ты видишь? — Студентов. Other pronoun forms are in Personal pronouns in oblique cases.

Common mistakes

• ❌ Я вижу студенты. → ✅ Я вижу студентов. (people take the genitive plural form)
• ❌ Я вижу женщины. → ✅ Я вижу женщин. (feminine animate nouns follow the same rule in the plural)
• ❌ Я читаю книг. → ✅ Я читаю книги. (things keep the nominative plural form)
• ❌ Я вижу новых столов. → ✅ Я вижу новые столы. (the adjective follows the noun's group, things here)
• ❌ Я вижу красивые женщин. → ✅ Я вижу красивых женщин. (the adjective takes the same form as the noun)

Quick check

Put the words in brackets into the accusative plural.

1. Я вижу ____. (студент)
2. Мы читаем ____. (интересная книга)
3. Она любит ____. (кошка)
4. Он знает ____. (хороший врач)
5. Они покупают ____. (новый словарь)

Key takeaways

• In the accusative plural, things keep the nominative plural form: столы, книги, окна.
• Nouns for people and animals take the genitive plural form: студентов, женщин, кошек, детей, and this holds for all three genders.
• Adjectives follow the noun: -ые / -ие with things, -ых / -их with people and animals.
• The personal pronouns нас, вас, их have the same form in the accusative and the genitive; the question word кого? asks about people and animals, что? about things.