Russian/Grammar/Gender

This page explains the concept of gender in language. If you have studied another language that has gender, such as French or Spanish, and so are familiar with grammatical gender, feel free to skip this section. What gender is 'Gender' is a way of categorising nouns in a language. In most languages, words are described as being 'masculine' or 'feminine', and a lot of languages, including Russian, also have words described as 'neuter' (i.e., neutral, or no gender). In languages like French, the gender of a particular word is mostly arbitrary: there's nothing in the word peau ('skin') that tells us it's a feminine word, and so a word's gender is largely just something you have to learn. Fortunately, in Russian, gender can be predicted. Like most other things in Russian, the gender of a noun is denoted by what letters are on the end of the word: Masculine nouns end in a consonant: б, в, г, д, ж, з, й к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х, ч, ц, ш, or щ. Notice that й is a consonant. For example, кролик (KRO-leek, 'rabbit') ends in a consonant, -к, so it is a masculine word. Feminine nouns end in а or я. For example, собака (so-BA-ka, 'dog') ends in an -a, so it is a feminine word. Neuter nouns end in о or е. For example, письмо (pees-MO, 'letter') ends in an -o, so it is grammatically neuter. Nouns ending in -ь can be either masculine or feminine. These just have to be memorised. So, in Russian, nouns have an intrinsic property called 'gender', which comes in three types: masculine, feminine, and neuter. But why is this important? What gender is for To learn Russian, you have to be able to know the gender of a noun when you use it. When you modify a noun with an adjective ('nice dog', 'Red Square', 'old door'), the adjective changes its ending to match the gender of the word it's modifying. So although adjectives don't have an intrinsic gender, they have a number of different endings they can use to match the gender of their noun. The same is true for possessive pronouns: the 'my' in 'my dog' (моя собака) and 'my table' (мой стол) are different, as the gender of 'dog' (собака, f) and 'table' (стол, m) are different. Personal pronouns (I, we, they, etc) don't usually have any inherent gender, instead taking on the gender of the thing they're referring to - though third-person singular pronouns do have specific genders: он ('he'), она ('she'), and оно ('it'). Gender also influences how you form the past tense of verbs: The 'wrote' in 'He wrote' (он написал) and 'she wrote' (она написала) are different, as the genders of the subject of the verb, 'he' and 'she', are different. Gender affects a lot of different parts of Russian grammar, and so is an important part of learning Russian. Fortunately, it's easy to learn, and easy to use. Plurals Russian uses plurals in much the same way as English. The rules for forming the plural depend on which grammatical case the word is in. However, the important thing here is that the rules are largely the same for all nouns, regardless of gender. This carries over into adjectives too: the endings they take on when their noun is plural, are independent of gender. There's no 'masculine plural' and 'feminine plural' - there's just, 'plural'. As such, it is perhaps easiest to think of plurals as a 'fourth gender', and this is the way summary tables in this Wikibook will be presented. Examples This section lists some common words by their gender. Masculine Стол - Table Стул - Chair Театр - Theatre Музей - Museum Мужчина - Man Брат - Brother Сын - Son Отец - Father Муж - Husband Дядя - Uncle (though it has a 'feminine' ending and conjugates like a feminine noun, 'uncle' is 'inherently' masculine, and so дядя is too) Поезд - Train Самолёт - Plane Дом - House/Home Магазин - Shop Город - City Кролик - Rabbit Конь - Horse (An adult male horse) Feminine Лошадь - Mare (An adult female horse) Книга - Book Машина - Car Гитара - Guitar Россия - Russia Англия - England Франция - France (Note that countries often end in -ия, which makes them decline in unusual ways) Женщина - Woman Сестра - Sister Дочь - Daughter Мать - Mother Жена - Wife Тётя - Aunt Весна - Spring Земля - Earth Дверь - Door Мебель - Furniture Жизнь - Life Тетрадь - Notebook Neuter Солнце - Sun Небо - Sky Окно - Window Письмо - Letter Лето - Summer Золото - Gold Молоко - Milk Мясо - Meat Тело - Body Равновесие - Balance Кресло - Armchair Море - Sea Платье - Dress Plural Столы - Tables Стулья - Chairs Театры - Theaters Музеи - Museums Мужчины - Men Братья - Brothers Сыновья/Сыны - Sons Отцы - Fathers Мужья - Husbands Дяди - Uncles Поезда - Trains Самолёты - Planes Дома - Houses Магазины - Shops Города - Cities Кролики - Rabbits Кони - Horses (Adult male horses) Лошади - Horses Книги - Books Машины - Cars Гитары - Guitars Женщины - Women Сёстры - Sisters Дочери - Daughters Матери - Mothers Жены - Wives Тёти - Aunts Письма - Letters Тела - Bodies