ребёнок

Russian

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Slavic *orbъ (“servant, slave; orphan”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃erbʰ.

Pronunciation

Audio (file)
IPA^(key): [rʲɪˈbʲɵnək]

Noun

ребёнок • (rebjónok) m anim (genitive ребёнка, nominative plural де́ти or ребя́та^*, genitive plural дете́й or ребя́т^*) (^*Use the second plural with the meaning "friends!", "fellows!", "guys!", "comrades!".)

(plural де́ти, less commonly ребя́та) child, kid, baby: children, kids, babies
(plural only) (plural ребя́та) guys, fellows, friends, comrades

Usage notes

The singular form can only refer to "child"/"baby" sense.
The plural form "ребята" can mean "guys", "friends", etc.
For the plural form "children" "дети" is the preferred word but "ребята" is also used.

Declension

Declension of ребёнок (anim masc-form hard-stem accent-f/b irreg)

	singular	plural
nominative	ребёнок rebjónok	де́ти^△, ребя́та^* déti^△, rebjáta^*
genitive	ребёнка rebjónka	дете́й^△, ребя́т^* detéj^△, rebját^*
dative	ребёнку rebjónku	де́тям^△, ребя́там^* détjam^△, rebjátam^*
accusative	ребёнка rebjónka	дете́й^△, ребя́т^* detéj^△, rebját^*
instrumental	ребёнком rebjónkom	детьми́^△, ребя́тами^* detʹmí^△, rebjátami^*
prepositional	ребёнке rebjónke	де́тях^△, ребя́тах^* détjax^△, rebjátax^*

△ Irregular.

^*Use the second plural with the meaning "friends!", "fellows!", "guys!", "comrades!".

Descendants

Belarusian: рабёнак (rabjónak).