Nouns in the Udmurt language change according to number and case, and have the possessive and indicative categories. The grammatical category of gender is absent.

The plural of a noun is formed by means of attaching the affix -ос to a stem ending with a vowel and -¸с to a stem ending with a consonant: арама grove - арамаос groves , пукон chair - пуконъ¸с chairs .

The majority of inanimate nouns are declined in 15 cases, and animate in the first 8 cases (and sometimes in the Approximative case). Do not confuse the Adverbial and Transitive noun cases with adverbs and transitive verbs. The case names in English and Udmurt, with a brief description of each case, follows:

1. Nominative (ниман): кин who , ма(р) what ; there is no affix (ending).

2. Accusative (ад он): кинэ whom , мае (маре) what ; affix -эз (-ез) and null, plural -ты or -ыз; indicates an object upon which the action is transferred, e.g.: нюлэсэз кораны cut a forest , книга лыд ыны read a book (null affix).

3. Genitive (возьматон): кинлэн whose, of whom , малэн that, of which ; affix -лэн, plural -¸слэн, -ослэн; indicates that one thing belongs to another, e.g.: атайлэн изьыез father s hat.

4. Ablative [Separation] (люкон): кинлэсь from whom , малэсь from which, out of which ; affix -лэсь, plural -¸слэсь, -ослэсь; may indicate distancing, taking from, material from which an object is made, cause, and also is used in forming the comparative degree, e.g.: пиÿш та ужлэсь палэнскиз the fellow was removed from this work ; таиз ныд кызьпулэсь this haft is made of birch ; Муско Ижкарлэсь бад ымгес Moscow is bigger than Izhevsk.

5. Dative (с¸тон): кинлы to whom , малы to what ; affix -лы, plural -¸слы, -ослы; indicates an object or a person upon whom the action is directed, and also time, purpose of action, turning one thing into another, e.g.: вера со сÿрысь Олÿлы tell Olga about this ; пиналъ¸с узылы мын зы the children went for strawberries.

6. Abessive [Deprivation] (кельтон): кинтэк without whom , матэк without which ; affix -тэк, plural -¸стэк, -остэк; corresponds to the Russian genitive case with the preposition без , e.g.: тонтэк without you , коньдонтэк without money.

7. Adverbial [According] (тупан): кинъÿ according to whom , маÿ according to which ; affix -ÿ (-ъÿ), plural -¸съÿ, -осъÿ; indicates according to whom or what the action is performed, e.g.: мон малпамъÿ in my opinion , ваньмыз мынэ радызъÿ everything is going according to plan.

8. Instrumental (лэсьтон): кинэн with whom , маин with which ; affix -эн (-ен), -ын, plural -¸сын, -осын; indicates the instrument, cooperation, cause, means or manner of action, e.g.: кидэ майталэн миськы I washed my hands with soap , ми Колÿен од г классын дышетским Kolia and I studied in the same class .

9. Inessive [Location] (интыÿн): кытын where ; affix -ын (-н), plural -¸сын, -осын; indicates the place of location at a certain point, the place or time of action, e.g.: ульчаын in the street , коркан in the house , ньыль часын at four o clock.

10. Illative [Entering] (пырон): кытчы to where ; affix -э (-е), -ы, null, plural -¸сы, -осы; indicates the place to which the action is directed, and also the time when it occurs, e.g.: гуртэ to the village; to home , таÿз арнÿе in this week ; корка пырыны [null affix] to enter the house.

11. Elative [Exiting] (потон): кытысь from where, out of where ; affix -ысь (-сь), plural -¸сысь, -осысь; indicates the place from which the action originates, e.g.: школаысь out of the school , коркась from home .

12. Egressive [Distancing] (кошкон): кытысен from where, from which ; affix -ысен (-сен), plural -¸сысен, -осысен; indicates the starting point of the action or of an intermediate action, e.g.: Ярысен Ижкарозь кык сю иськемлэсь ÿтыр from Iar to Izhevsk is over 200 kilometers ; тулысысен с зьылозь from spring to fall ; урамысен соос нош пумиськизы they met again on the street.

13. Transitive [Transiting] (ортчон): кыт where, along what place ; affix -эт (-ет , -т ), plural -¸сэт , -осэт ; indicates the object or space along which (through which) the action occurs, e.g.: инбамет across the sky.

14. Approximative [Travelling] (матэктон): кудлань in the direction of, toward whom or which ; affix -лань, plural -¸слань, -ослань; indicates the direction of movement or action, e.g.: солань in that direction, Васÿ нюлэслань мын з Vasia walked toward the forest.

15. Terminative [Arriving] (вуон): кытчыозь up to where ; affix -озь (-¸зь) plural -¸созь, -осозь; indicates the point of destination or termination of an action in space or time, and is often paired with another word in the Egressive case, e.g.: Ижкарысен Мускоозь from Izhevsk to Moscow, с зьылозь until fall. If the stem of a noun ends with a soft vowel or consonant, and if the case affix begins with a vowel, that vowel becomes soft: э becomes е, and о becomes ¸, as the following table illustrates:

The simple declension of nouns

Possessive category

Udmurt, more than any other Finno-Ugrian language, is rich with forms expressing the relationship of possession. A word that is the object of possession always has the personal-possessive affix. It is called "personal-possessive" because the affix shows whether it is first, second or third person. The possessive inflection affixes also indicate number in both directions, for possessor and object possessed, i.e., they vary depending on whether it is a singular possessor, singular possessed, plural possessor, and plural possessed; thus there are four paradigms of affixes using the possessive inflection.

Because Udmurt is an agglunative language, the possessive affixes are often combined with the case affixes. Thus the reader could, after studying the the following table, build four tables combining the possessive affixes and the case affixes for any given noun.

In the Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, Ablative, Dative, Approximative, Abessive and Adverbial cases, the possessive affix is appended to the word stem (after the plural affix, if plural) before a case affix; but for the other cases, the case affix is first appended to the word stem, then the possessive affix is added. E.g., бусы field is бусы-ед-лэн for 2nd person genitive, but бусы-ысь-тыд for 2nd person elative case.

To show possession of an object by a singular possessor, most often the affixes 1. -э (-е), 2. -эд (-ед), 3. -эз (-ез) are used. But there are a certain number of words which indicate possession by means of 1. -ы, 2. -ыд, 3. -ыз. Nouns in this group represent certain parts of the body, parts of various objects, internal condition, and various family relations, e.g.: пыды my leg , лулыд your soul , нылыз his daughter.

To show possession of a singular object by many possesors in 2nd and 3rd person, the affixes -ды and -зы are used after a vowel or a voiced consonant; but after voiceless consonants -ты and -сы are used: шудды your happiness, шудзы their happiness, but сты your door , ссы their door.

By now it should be evident that affixes decline regularly: -ы, -ыд, -ыз for 1st, 2nd and 3rd persons in singular, and -мы, -ды/-ты, -зы/-сы for 1st, 2nd and 3rd persons in plural.