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Questions about Church Slavonic

This page contains questions that I have about Church Slavonic. As they are answered, I will put the answers here, as well. Note: these are the same questions that are posted on various pages throughout the site, gathered here for easy reference. If you know the answers to any of these questions, please e-mail me.


  • How are passive participles formed?

Letter Names

  • What are the correct spellings of the letter names? There are many inconsistencies in the resources I have. They different in spelling and in placement of stress. For example, Luke 1:34 has <kakw>, but D'jachenko has <kako>. One book has the stress in <mysljete> on the first syllable, another has the stress on the second syllable. Are these just mistakes in the books or have these changed over time?
  • Are the meanings of the letter names correct?


  • Is <kakw> a neutral consonant?
  • Is <nash"> a neutral consonant?
  • Is <pokoj> a neutral consonant?
  • Is <rcy> a dental (not apico-alveolar) consonant?
  • Is <ljudi> apico-dental?
  • Do <jer"> and <jer'> indicate any pronunciation information other than the hardness or softness of the preceding consonant?
  • Does <jus malyj> cause palatalization of a preceding neutral consonant (when <jus malyj> is not in syllable initial position)? E.g. <imja> is palatalized (and pronounced "eemyah"), while <nashja> is not palatalized and is pronounced the same as <nasha>?


  • What are the exact rules of usage for </apostrof">?
  • What is the <kav/yka> used for?
  • Is the <kr/atkaja> ever used other than with the letter <izhe>? What exactly does it do to the pronunciation?
  • When is <erok"> used? What rules or historical circumstances govern its use? (Why is it used so infrequently? Why bother to abbreviate a hard sign? Was it just for decorative purposes?)

Other Letters

  • What are the names of these letters? What is their history? How are/were they used? Anything you can tell me about them would be appreciated.
  • Is the version of <Vzhica> with the special accent used only as a vowel? Is it supposed to be used every time is <Vzhica> is used as a vowel or are there rules governing its use?
  • What is the relationship between <uk"> and <Vzhica>? It appears that both of them derive from the Greek letter upsilon. How did they become separate letters?

First Declension Nouns

  • Are the declensions for <bog"> and <carstvie> correct? If so, why does are the accusative and instrumental plural <bwgi> instead of <bogi>?
  • Why do the nominative, accusative, and instrumental plural forms of <car'> have a varia accent instead of a kamora accent, even though they are identical to the prepositional singular form?
  • Are there consonants other than <zhivete> that use the "mixed" declension?
  • Does the "mixed" declension occur because a stem ending in a front (e.g. palato-alveolar) consonant (such as <zhivete>) causes the following vowel to be fronted? (e.g. <zho> --> <zhe>)

Fourth Declension Nouns

  • Is <oko> a fourth declension noun? Why is its plural form <ochi> (or is this its dual form)? Why is the plural not <ochesa> (or <ochesi> if it is a dual form)?

The Verb <byti>

  • What is the relationship of the verb <byvati> to the verb <byti>?
  • When do the dual forms of <byti> end in the letter <jat'> instead of the letter <az">

Irregular Verbs

  • Why do some of the of the 1st and 3rd person singular forms end in a hard sign and some end in a soft sign? I would have expected the endings to be the same.
  • One source gives <dadite> as the 2nd person plural of <dati>. I assume this is because <dati> is perfective so the 2nd person plural has imperative force and is therefore replaced by an imperative form. Is this correct? Which form is more commonly seen?


  • What are the rules for using the <o> suffix on single-letter prepositions (e.g. v" and vo, s" and so, k" and ko, etc.)?
  • Why is <vo vjeki vjekwv"> used in one place (e.g. <slava i nynje>); and <v" vjeki vjekwv"> used in another (e.g. Psalm 83:5)? Psalm 47:15 has both in the same verse, <vo vjek" i v" vjek" vjeka>. What is going on?

Our Father

  • Is there a difference between <jakw> and <jakozhe>?
  • What part of speech is the <i> in <jakozhe i>?
  • How are adjectival nouns distinguished from abstract nouns? E.g. How would "Deliver us from evil [in the abstract]" differ from "Deliver us from the evil one"?
  • Does same ambiguity/controversy (i.e. "daily/necessary" vs. "supersubstantial") that surrounds the Greek "epiousios" apply to <nasushchnyj>?

Prayer after Meals

  • What part of speech is <i> (meaning "even", "also")?
  • Is <prishel> the perfect form of <priiti>? If so, why does the <d> in the stem of <priiti> turn into <sh>?

St. Symeon's Prayer

  • When does the second person present tense have imperative mood (as in <wtpushchaesi>)?
  • What rule transforms <wtpustiti> into <wtpushchaeshi>?
  • In general, how can you determine the gender/declension of proper nouns and loan words?
  • Is <ljudie> a collective noun? Is the genitive plural, <ljudej>, better translated as "of people" or "of peoples"? Does it have singular grammatical forms or are the plural forms always used?
  • What grammatical form is <vidjestje>?

O Heavenly King

  • What is <ispolnjajaj>? It looks like some kind of participle, but I couldn't find any tables that listed a form exactly like this.
  • Since <sha> is a hard consonant, is <nashja> pronounced as though it were written <nasha>?