My question is about много людей. Why is there a -ей at the end?
I assume it should be the plural of the masculine человек in genetive case.
asked Jul 21, 2012 at 4:57
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1 Answer
Человек is a suppletive word: its different forms are formed from different roots.
There are several pairs like that in Russian:
- человек / люди
- ребёнок / дети
- идти / шёл
- лежать / класть
etc.
Compare to English:
- go / went
- bad / worse
In the modern language the proper singular for люди (люд) is only used synecdochally (meaning a group of people):
Пока в Риме правила династия Антонинов, простой люд не жаждал большего порядка в общественных делах. [Сергей Смирнов. Конец серебряного века. Anno Domini 180 // «Знание -- сила», 2003]
The proper plural for человек (человеки) may be only used ironically, exergastically (все мы люди, все мы человеки) or to imitate old speech.
Евангелисты придумали, евангелисты, смертные, как все человеки. [Юрий Давыдов. Синие тюльпаны (1988-1989)]
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apropos ребёнок/дети - could you explain how ребята fits here? Commented Jul 21, 2012 at 16:32
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@Vitaly: ребята is a vernacular word for elder children (above 6 or so), mostly used as an addressing. You won't see it in, say, an official document. Дитя is a high style word, not normally used in speech too.– Quassnoi ♦Commented Jul 21, 2012 at 16:46
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1@LawrenceDeSouza: what about it? Много requires an object in pl. gen., exactly what we see here.
-ейis the ending for pl. gen. of nouns with this declension paradigm, compare чертей, соседей, обручей.– Quassnoi ♦Commented Jul 21, 2012 at 16:48