Nouns and gender in Russian language

Dec 03 2010

Yulia Amlinskaya

1.There are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. They can be told apart by their ending.

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Consonant: друг, пенал	А: мама, дача	О: окно, письмо
Й: музей, санаторий	Я: семья, тëтя	Е: море, горе
Ь: портфель, учитель	Ь: дверь, тетрадь	МЯ: время, семя

2. Some masculine nouns referred to people end in –A or –Я are declined like feminine nouns, but adjectives and pronouns referred to them are masculine. This is equally applied to Russian masculine names and their diminutive forms.

Example	Translation
дедушка	grandfather
дядя	uncle
Саша (Александр)	Sasha (diminutive form from Alexander)

3. Nouns that end in –ь can be both masculine and feminine. They must be looked up in the dictionary.

Masculine words	Translation	Feminine words	Translation
словарь	dictionary	дочь	daughter
Кремль	Kremlin	осень	autumn	дождь	rain	соль	salt

4. Certain nouns have no feminine form. They usually denote a profession.

Example	Translation
инженер	engineer
адвокат	lawyer
врач	doctor

5. The word коллега сan be masculine or feminine.

Example	Translation
Это мой коллега Иван Петров.	This is my colleague Ivan Petrov.
Это моя коллега Светлана Николаева.	This is my colleague Svetlana Nikolaeva.

6. There are some invariable nouns, most of them are nouns of foreign origin. They are usually neuter.

Example	Translation
метро	metro
кино	cinema
пальто	coat
такси	taxi

7. The word кофе can be both masculine and neuter.

Example	Translation
Чëрный кофе: мужской род	Black coffee: masculine
Крепкое кофе: средний род	Strong coffee: neuter

8. The gender of invariable proper nouns (geographical names, newspaper and magazine titles, etc.) corresponds to the gender of the noun denoting the category they belong to.

Example	Translation
Красивый Сочи: Сочи - город, слово «город» мужского рода.	Beautiful Sochi: Sochi is a city, the word “city” is masculine in Russian.
Длинная По: По-река, слово «река» женского рода.	Long Po: Po is a river, the word “river” is feminine in Russian.

9. Make these quizzes online:
1. Quiz 1: http://www.divshare.com/direct/13398883-dac.htm
2. Quiz 2: http://www.divshare.com/direct/13398866-313.htm
3. Quiz 3: http://www.divshare.com/direct/13398867-403.htm

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