Some rules relating to stress in nouns

Longer words, consisting of three or more syllables, are more likely to have stable stress.
The most stable stress patterns are normally to be found in nouns which are foreign loans and, moreover, have retained a version of the original endings. Examples of feminine lons and their endings: -а́ція (організа́ція, легаліза́ція, на́ція etc.), -ія (істо́рія, Іта́лія, се́рія, фотогра́фія etc.), -ика/-іка (му́зика, атле́тика, па́ніка, клі́ніка etc.); these are mainly derivations from Greek or Latin, usually denoting abstract concepts.
As with feminine foreign loans, masculine nouns of this type also tend to have stable stress, e.g. ге́ній, сцена́рій, геро́й, аре́шт, терори́ст, конце́рт, банкно́т, па́спорт, стадіо́н and many other nouns with loaned stems and endings.
Most feminine nouns of the mixed type, with stems ending in -ж, -ч, -ш, -щ, have stable stress in both singular and plural, mainly on the stem, e.g. мере́жа – network, да́ча – plot of land and/or house outside town, ти́сяча – thousand, гру́ша – pear (tree), пло́ща – square, area, but also on the ending e.g. межа́ – boundary; exceptions are свіча́ – candle (with end stress in singular, stem stress in plural) and душа́ – soul, which has a more complex stress pattern (see list of nouns with end stress in singular, stem stress in plural).
Most non-1st declension feminine nouns ending in a palatalised consonant, i.e. with the soft sign «ь», have stable stem stress in singular and plural, e.g. кисть – wrist, нена́висть – hatred, о́сінь – autumn. This category also includes the thousands of nouns with the ending -ість, which are derived from adjectives and denote a quality, e.g. го́рдість – pride (from го́рдий), ра́дість – joy (from ра́дий), я́кість – quality (from яки́й), ці́лість – entirety, whole (from ці́лий); in these nouns the stress falls on the syllable before the ending -ість.
In many feminine nouns ending in -ка the stem stress in the singular shifts to end stress in the plural, e.g. учи́телька / учительки́; but ро́дичка / ро́дички, сусі́дка / сусі́дки, украї́нка / украї́нки.
In neuter nouns with three or more syllables ending in -ання which are derived from verbs and denote a process related to the verb (there are large numbers of these), the stress falls on the first syllable of the ending and is stable, e.g. навча́ння – learning, study; завда́ння – task, assignment; пита́ння – question, issue; запита́ння - question (interrogative), чита́ння – reading; вида́ння – publishing, publication; обладна́ння - the equipping (of) etc. Exceptions include слу́хання – hearing; обла́днання – equipment etc.
In neuter nouns with two syllables ending in -ання or a double consonant followed by -я , this apparent ending is actually partly the stem (e.g. зна-ти / знання, жи-ти / життя). In this type of noun the stress falls on the ending and is stable e.g. знання́ – knowledge; життя́ – life; миття́ – washing (process), also the feminine noun стаття́ – article.
All neuter nouns with the ending -ство/-цтво have stable stress, e.g. посо́льство – embassy, сусі́дство – neighbourhood, дити́нство – childhood, коза́цтво cossacks (collective), “cossackdom”.
Nouns formed with certain prefixes, e.g. ви-, недо́- etc. tend to have the stress on those prefixes, e.g. ви́падок, ви́сновок, ви́няток, недо́курок, недо́літок.
The stress on some nouns changes if they are used with the numerals 2, 3 or 4, e.g. о́зеро (nom. sing.) / озе́ра (nom. pl.) but два/три/чотири о́зера. There are a number of nouns to which this rule applies, including де́рево, жі́нка, о́стрів and many others.
For stress on indeclinable nouns (foreign loans), see the section on invariable words.
A number of nouns have alternative stress patterns. In some cases this is because a single pattern has still to evolve (or there may be discussion of the “correctness” of either of the patterns). In other cases the stress given to a noun changes its meaning, e.g. за́мок – castle, замо́к – lock (more examples).
In some feminine and neuter nouns the syllable where the stress falls differentiates the case of the noun, e.g. жі́нки, вікна́ (gen. sing.) жінки́, ві́кна (nom. pl.).
In a relatively small group of masculine nouns the syllable where the stress falls differentiates the case of the noun, e.g. до сте́пу (gen. sing.) у степу́ (loc. sing.).