The English capital letters after the headword identify the word's stress pattern. As elsewhere in the dictionary, any forms that do not follow the word's stress pattern are considered to be irregular and are listed on the headword line.

E = End stress
S = Stem stress
M = Moving stress

The meaning of these codes is somewhat different for nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Stress Patterns for Nouns
The first capital letter tells you where the stress falls in the Singular forms; the second letter tells you where the stress falls in the Plural forms. In cases where End stress would fall on the zero ending, stress falls on the preceding syllable. The Stem stress falls on the same syllable of the stem in all forms of the word. There are no nouns with Moving stress.

Examples:
стћл EE
стћл, стћл, столђ, столљ, столџ, столћм
столІ, столІ, столћв, столђх, столђм, столђми

зљркало SE
зљркало, зљркало, зљркала, зљркале, зљркалу, зљркалом
зеркалђ, зеркалђ, зеркђл, зеркалђх, зеркалђм, зеркалђми

Stress Patterns for Adjectives
The one capital letter after an adjective headword tells you where the stress falls in the short forms and in the comparative form. (Long forms never shift stress; all long forms are stressed on the same syllable as the headword, so no stress code is required.) In cases where End stress would fall on the zero ending (masculine short form), stress falls on the preceding syllable. Moving stress in the case of adjectives means: stress "moves" from the stem to the feminine ending.

The stress rule for the comparative is two-fold:

(1) If the adjective stem ends in a velar consonant (к г х), the ending will be -е and the immediately preceding syllable will be stressed, no matter what the stress code is (see жђркий - жђрче, below).

(2) Otherwise, if any short form is stressed on the ending, either obligatorily or optionally, then stress will fall on the comparative ending -ље; conversely, if no short endings are ever stressed, then the ending -ее is unstressed.

Examples:
жђркий M
жђрок, жаркђ, жђрко, жђрки, жђрче
сурћвый S
сурћв, сурћва, сурћво, сурћвы, сурћвее
мќрный S [or M]
мќрен, мќрнђ, мќрно, мќрны, мирнље Note: мќрнђ (two stressed syllables) means that both мќрна and мирнђ are used.
живћй M
жќв, живђ, жќво, жќвы, живље
горїчий E
горїч, горячђ, горячћ, горячќ, горячље

Stress Patterns for Verbs
The first English capital letter after the infinitive tells you where the stress falls in the Non-past forms; the second letter tells you where the stress falls in the Past forms. In cases where End stress would fall on the zero ending, stress falls on the preceding syllable.

Moving stress in the case of past tense forms means the same thing it does for short adjectives: stress "moves" from the stem to the feminine ending (бІл - былђ).

For non-past forms Moving stress means that the stress "moves" from the stem to the First Person Singular ending (пќшешь - пишџ).

Stem stress generally means that the stress falls on the same stem syllable as it does in the headword (infinitive). Exceptions (where a different syllable of the stem is stressed) are rare, but one common case is the -ова- verbs illustrated below (рисовђть - рисџют).

Examples:
рисовђть SS
рисџют; рисовђл, рисовђла, рисовђло, рисовђли
прийтќ EE
придџт; пришёл, пришлђ, пришлћ, пришлќ
вестќсь EE
ведџтся; вёлся, велђсь, велћсь, велќсь
бІть SM
бџдут; бІл, былђ, бІло, бІли
писђть MS
пишџ, пќшешь, пќшет, пќшем, пќшете, пќшут; писђл, писђла, писђло, писђли