What's the difference between дверями and дверьми? My textbook states that «дверьми» is bookish, however upon searching more into this I found some articles claiming that they are completely interchangeable. So does it matter which one I choose?
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1if you wish to speak good Russian, дверьми is the right choice in my opinion– Баян Купи-каMar 11, 2018 at 9:02
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An article from a popular science magazine Наука и жизнь: nkj.ru/archive/articles/21442 The version дверьми is called to be 'closer to colloquial'.– Alex_anderMar 13, 2018 at 13:02
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2 Answers
Despite they are completely interchangeable, the latter is a bit bookish.
Ending -ьми in instrumental case plural is lost, except for these words:
дочери-дочерьми/дочерями,лошади-лошадьми/лошадями,двери-дверьми/дверями,плети-плетьми/плетями(thanks @user31264),звери-зверями(preferable) /зверьми(obsolete),дети-детьмиonly,люди-людьмиonly (thanks @БаянКупи-ка),кости-костями, except the phraseлечь костьми.
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3@Trey and also людьми and never людЯМИ (unless one is grammarless) Mar 11, 2018 at 9:04
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In fact, when плеть is a flogging device, or when it is compared to lifeless hands/legs, плетьми is used in almost all cases. When плеть is part of a plant or similar inanimate object, плетями is used. Mar 11, 2018 at 23:04
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Stats from the Russian National Corpus:
Literary texts (Художественные тексты):
дверями: 52%, дверьми: 48%Non-literary texts (Нехудожественные тексты):
дверями: 74%, дверьми: 26%
(Based on the first 100 documents.)
This confirms that дверьми is more bookish (48% vs 26%) and that in literary texts the two are interchangeable (52% vs 48%). In other genres (news, speech) дверями prevails (74% vs 26%).