How is your progress in learning Russian language? If you learn Russian yourself, you can check out the 7 best way to learn Russian for free or 14 best way to learn it online. Talking about the gender of a noun, many languages in the world have a gender for a noun. One of them is Russian. It’s very important because many aspects of Russian language such as pronouns, verbs and tenses depend on the gender of the noun. There are three genders in Russian: masculine, feminine, and neutral. The noun is divided into two categories, animate and inanimate. The animate noun is the living object, like human and animal. The inanimate noun is the nonliving object, like stone, car, and home. The spesific rule about gender of nouns as you can see below.
The Rule For Masculine Noun
Most masculine nouns have a consonant ending, or the last letter -й
For Example:
- Сын – Son
- Берег – Bank, shore, coast
- Снег – Snow
- Волос – Hair
- Хлеб – Bread
- Музей – museum
There is a masculine noun with letter ending –a, –я, it refers to men
For Example:
- Папа– Father
- Дядя– Uncle
- Мужчина – Man
- Дедушка – Grandfather
- Саша – Sasha
There is a masculine noun that ends with a soft sign –ь
For Example:
- Король – King
- Учитель – Teacher
- Февраль – February
- Выключатель – Switch
- Дождь – Rain
Note: If the word has a suffix –тель, it is a masculine noun.
There are some exeption in masculine noun.
When we are talking about город ‘city’, such as: Джакарта, Токио, and Чешме. The cities are masculine because they are part of the город (masculine noun)
When we are talking about ветер ‘wind’, торнадо – tornado. It is a masculine.
Кофе in Russian language is a masculine even thought the last letter is – е
The Rule For Feminine Noun
Mostly, the feminine noun in Russian have the last letter –a or-я
For Example:
- Улыбка – Smile
- Сестра – Sister
- Станция – Station
- Музыка – Music
- Птица – Bird
- Тетя – Aunt
- Девочка – Girl
There is a feminine noun that ends with a soft sign –ь
For Example:
- Мать – Mother
- Молодость– Youth
- Ночь – Nigh
- Кровать – Bed
- Площадь – Square
Note: When the word has suffix –ость, it is masculine nouns.
In addition, some feminine nouns have different endings depending on the main words
For example:
медресе – madrasah, feminine because that is a школа (school)
авеню – avenue, because it is a улица (street)
The Rule For Neutral Nouns
Most neutral nouns have last letter: -е, -о, -ё
For Example:
- Зеркало – Mirror
- Искусство – Art
- Сердце – Heart
- Бельё – Linen
- Отношение – Relationship
If the words are borrowed from other languages and have the last ending -и, -у, -ю, -э
For Example:
- Такси – Taxi
- Каноэ – Canoe
- Меню – Menu
That is the rule of masculine, feminine, and neutral nouns. The more you read, write and practice, you will find it easier to know the gender of a noun. For practice, you can try dividing each gender from a list of 150 basic Russian words for beginners. After knowing the difference in gender, you can relate it with Russian cases, like genitive, accusative, and dative case. You can also find tips on how to learn Russian language easily in a day here.