GENDER
There are
three genders in Russian: masculine, feminine and neuter. You can tell them apart by their ending.
masculine: masculine nouns end in a consonant, or in
-й, or
-ь: го́род (
a town), друг (
a friend), музе́й (
a museum), учи́тель (
a teacher) etc.
feminine: feminine nouns end in
-a or in
-я or
-ь: ла́мпа (
a lamp), подру́га (
a girl friend), семья́ (
a family), дверь (
a door) etc.
neuter: neuter nouns end in
-o or in
-e or in
-мя: окно́ (
a window), со́лнце (
the sun), вре́мя (
time) etc.
- Some masculine nouns that refer to people end in -a or -я. They decline like feminine nouns, but words that refer to them (adjectives for example) are masculine. This applies equally to masculine diminutive name forms that end in -a :
Example:
мужчи́на (a man), де́душка (grandfather), дя́дя (uncle), ю́ноша (young man), Серёжа (Серге́й), Пе́тя (Пётр), Са́ша (Алекса́ндр), Ми́ша (Михаи́л)
- Nouns that end in -ь can be either feminine or masculine.
[col type=”half”]
masculine
день (the day)
Кремль (the Kremlin)
гость (the guest)
слова́рь (the dictionary)
дождь (the rain)
жи́тель (the inhabitant)
[/col]
[col type=”half last”]
feminine
мать, дочь (mother, daughter)
но́вость (a piece of news)
тетра́дь (the exercise book)
соль (salt)
о́сень (autumn)
ночь (the night)
[/col]
- Certain nouns that denote a profession have no feminine form: адвока́т (a lawyer), врач (a doctor), исто́рик (a historian), инжене́р (an engineer) etc.
Example:
Он инжене́р.
He is an engineer. Она инжене́р.
She is an engineer.
When such nouns are used with the name of a person and a verb in the past tense, the verb agrees with the name of the person:
Example:
Инжене́р Петро́в
а пришл
а́.
Engineer Petrova has arrived.
- The word колле́га can be masculine or feminine:
Example:
Это
мой коллега Виктор.
This is my colleague Victor.
Это
моя коллега Ольга.
This is my colleague Olga.
- There are invariable nouns, usually nouns of foreign origin. Most of these nouns are neuter: пальто́ (a coat), кино́ (the cinema), метро́ (the metro), but ко́фе (coffee) is masculine.
- The gender of invariable proper nouns (geographical names, newspaper titles, etc.) corresponds to the gender of the noun denoting the category to which they belong:
Example:
Далёкий Ка́при (о́стров:
island) (
far away Capri)
Но́вый “Пари́ Матч” (журнал:
magazine) (
the new Paris Match)