Gender of Russian nouns Russian grammar --> Russian nouns gender

The gender of nouns plays an important role in Russian grammar. It is very important to know the grammatical gender of Russian nouns because the forms of adjectives, pronouns, adjective-like words and past-tense forms of verbs depend on the gender of the noun they refer to. It is hard to build even a simple phrase in Russian without knowing the gender of nouns.

The division of Russian nouns into masculine, feminine and neuter have no substantial and well-grounded explanation. The grammatical gender is more or less (but not always regularly) related to the meaning of a word if a noun denotes a person or an animal: nouns naming males are usually grammatically masculine, nouns naming females are usually grammatically feminine.

Neuter nouns generally refer to nonliving objects and abstract notions. Only a small group of animate nouns are neuter. These are words дитя child, животное animal, существо creature, божество divinity, ничтожество nonentity (about a person), and words denoting zoological species, such as млекопитающее mammal, пресмыкающееся reptile etc.

At the same time, most inanimate nouns are masculine or feminine. The grammatical gender of these nouns is conditional and inexplicable as regards to their meanings. The division of inanimate nouns into masculine and feminine is determined only by their formal endings and syntactical factors.

The gender of most Russian nouns can be established according to the last letter of their citation form (usually nominative singular). There are few basic rules that allow to identify the gender for the majority of Russian nouns. These rules are sufficient for those who just begin learning Russian, but it is necessary to keep in mind that they do not work for all Russian nouns and, sooner or later, a large number of deviations from these rules becomes evident.

The basic rules to determine grammatical gender of Russian nouns are:

  1. Masculine nouns usually end in a consonant letter or -й
  2. Feminine nouns usually end in -a or –я
  3. Neuter nouns usually end in -о, -е, or -ё.

The above-mentioned rules provide a general idea how to determine the grammatical gender of nouns, but many Russian nouns may have other endings or their gender does not conform to these rules. Thus, there are several groups of words that complicate the situation with the grammatical gender of nouns in the Russian language:

- Nouns ending in –ь that may be either masculine or feminine. Their gender needs to be memorized since there is no exact criteria to determine it. At the same time, we will provide below some information about several groups of masculine and feminine nouns ending in -ь that hopefully helps to learn their grammatical gender.

- Nouns of common gender. It is a particular group of nouns that may exhibit two possible genders depending on the context. These are nouns ending in –a/–я that are used in a phrase either as masculine or as feminine depending on the biological gender of their referent.

- A group of masculine nouns that end in –a/-я. These are nouns denoting male persons, so the biological gender is more important here than formal endings.

- A group of nouns denoting professions and occupations that are most often grammatically masculine, but can refer to female persons, and, in some instances, behave as feminine nouns in phrases.

- A group of neuter nouns that end in -мя. There a few of them and their gender should be memorized.

- Indeclinable nouns borrowed from other languages that may be masculine, feminine or neuter whichever their ending is. Their grammatical gender is frequently (but not always) related to their meaning, so they can be divided to several groups, which can help to memorize their gender.

Taking into account the above-mentioned points, we are going to examine below all possible endings for masculine, feminine or neutral nouns.

Masculine Nouns

Masculine nouns may end in a consonant, a vowel or -ь and include the following groups:

I. Nouns ending in a consonant letter or -й, except nouns described in Feminine nouns - I. and Neuter nouns - I.

Examples

студент - student

диплом - diploma

музей - museum

II. Nouns ending in a vowel:

  1. Nouns ending in -a/-я that refer to male persons, so the grammatical gender of these nouns is determined the biological gender. They may be subdivided into the following groups:

    - Names of male persons. There are a few names ending in -a in Russian, and usually names of males end in a consonant or -й. However, diminutive forms of Russian masculine names will have -а/-я on its end.

    Examples

    Никита - Nikita, Russian full name

    Саша - Sasha, diminutive from Александр

    - Nouns that denote male persons. These is a group of originally masculine nouns: дедушка grandfather, дядя uncle, мужчина man, папа dad, юноша young person.

  2. Some nouns ending in a vowel denoting places names. These are indeclinable names of geographical places borrowed from other languages. In such instances, consultation with dictionary is recommended, since it is not formally obvious whether the noun is declinable or indeclinable. The grammatical gender of these nouns may depend on the gender of Russian generic words denoting the relevant class. Take a look of the following groups of words:

    - Indeclinable names of cities. They are masculine because the generic word город city is masculine in Russian.

    Examples

    Калгари - Calgary

    Гонолулу - Honolulu

    Сан-Тропе - Saint-Tropez

    Токио - Tokyo

    Алма-Аты - Almaty

    - Indeclinable names of islands. They are masculine because the generic word остров island is masculine in Russian.

    Examples

    Капри - Capri

    Антигуа - Antigua

    Корфу - Corfu

  3. Nouns denoting animals and birds ending in -е, -и, -o, etc. These are indeclinable words borrowed from other languages.

    Examples

    шимпанзе - chimpanzee

    какаду - cockatoo

    пони - pony

    фламинго - flamingo

  4. Some nouns denoting male persons ending in -е, -и, -o, etc. These are indeclinable words borrowed from other languages.

    Examples:

    конферансье - compere

    рефери - referee

  5. Some indeclinable nouns denoting nonliving objects the grammatical gender of which often depends on the gender of Russian generic words denoting the relevant class. These are words borrowed from other languages that usually require consultation with dictionary to ascertain their gender.

    Examples

    кофе - cofee, masculine, but may behave as neuter in colloquial Russian

    торнадо - tornado, masculine because the generic word ветер winter is masculine

    хинди - Hindi, masculine because the generic word язык language is masculine

    пенальти - eleven-metre penalty kick, masculine because the generic word удар kick is masculine

    экю - ecu

III. Some nouns ending in -ь. There are only a few characteristics that allow to determine the gender of Russian nouns ending in -ь, that is why consultation with dictionary is recommended to ascertain their gender. Among masculine nouns ending in -ь, the following words have common features and may be united in the following groups:

  • - nouns denoting male persons.

    Examples

    учитель - teacher

    вратарь - goalkeeper

    парень - guy, fellow

    король - king

  • - months

    Examples

    январь - January

    февраль - February

    июнь - June

  • - nouns ending in -тель

    Examples

    выключатель - switch, button switch

    двигатель - engine, motor

Feminine nouns

Russian feminine nouns end in a consonant, a vowel or -ь and include the following groups:

I. Nouns ending in a consonant or -й which are indeclinable foreign names and surnames of women, names of newspapers, and loanwords мадам madam, мисс Miss, миссис Missis

Examples

Элен - Helen

Шмидт - Schmidt, surname

Таймс - Times, name of newspaper

II. The following groups of nouns ending in a vowel:

  1. The vast majority of nouns ending in -a/-я, except those that are described in Masculine Nouns - II, and Neuter Nouns - II.

    Examples

    лампа - lamp

    станция - station

  2. Some nouns ending in -o, -ю, -и, -е etc. which are mainly indeclinable words borrowed from other languages. In such instances, consultation with dictionary is recommended to ascertain their gender. This group of feminine nouns includes:

    - Indeclinable nouns denoting female persons.

    Example

    леди - lady

    - Indeclinable nouns denoting names of rivers.

    Example

    Конго - Congo

    Янцзы - Yangtze

    Миссисипи - Mississippi

    - Some indeclinable nouns denoting nonliving objects the grammatical gender of which depends on the gender of Russian generic words denoting the relevant class.

    Example

    авеню - avenue, feminine because the generic word улица street is feminine

    салями - salami, feminine because the generic word колбаса sausage is feminine

    медресе - madrasah, feminine because the generic word школа school is feminine

    кольраби - kohlrabi, feminine because the generic word капуста cabbage is feminine

III. Some nouns ending in -ь. There are only a few characteristics that allow to determine the gender of Russian nouns ending in -ь, that is why consultation with dictionary is recommended to ascertain their gender. Among feminine nouns ending in -ь, the following words have common features and can be grouped according to the following criteria:

  • - nouns denoting female persons

    Examples

    мать - mother

    дочь - daughter

  • - nouns ending in -жь, -шь, -чь, -щь.

    Examples

    ночь - night

    рожь - rye

    помощь - help

    брошь - brooch

  • - nouns ending in -ость, -есть

    Examples

    молодость - youth

    свежесть - freshness

Neuter nouns

Neuter nouns end in a vowel or a consonant (rare) and include the following groups:

I. Neuter nouns ending in a consonant are rare, it may be indeclinable nouns denoting names of lakes borrowed from other languages. Consultation with dictionary is recommended to ascertain the gender of these nouns. They are neuter, because the generic word озеро lake is neuter in Russian.

Example

Гурон - Huron (lake)

II. The following nouns ending in a vowel:

  1. The vast majority of nouns ending in -е, -о, -ё, except those that are described in Masculine Nouns I.2, and Feminine Nouns II.2.

    Examples

    окно - window

    море - sea

    бельё - linen

  2. Some nouns ending in -a, which are indeclinable nouns borrowed from other languages and denote nonliving objects. In such instances, consultation with dictionary is recommended to ascertain their gender.

    Examples

    боа - boa

    па - pas, step

  3. The following nouns ending in -я:

    - 11 nouns ending in -мя: бремя burden, время time, вымя udder, знамя banner, flag, племя tribe, имя name, пламя flame, полымя flame (archaic), семя seed, semen, стремя stirrup, темя cinciput

    - noun дитя child

  4. Nouns ending in -и, -у, -э, -ю which are indeclinable nouns borrowed from other languages and denote nonliving objects.

    Examples

    такси - taxi

    рагу - ragout

    каноэ - canoe

    меню - menu