How to determine gender in the Russian language? What are the exceptions in these categories? And what are the most common Russian words which end on the soft sign?
The gender in the Russian language.
Unlike in English, all Russian nouns are divided into three groups: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Every single noun (person, place, or thing) in Russian is determined by the last letter in the word (or last two letters sometimes).
the gender in the Russian Language
The Masculine ones
The words which end on a consonant or ‘й’ are masculine:
телефóн – [ telifón ] – a phone
герóй – [ ghiróy ] – a hero
We consider the words like ‘пáпа‘ (a daddy), ‘дéдушка‘ (a grandpa), ‘дя́дя‘ (an uncle), ‘ю́ноша‘ (a young man), ‘мужчи́на‘ ( a man) are masculine as well.
How about the Feminine
The words which end on the letters ‘а’ and ‘я’ are feminine.
дáма – [ dáma ] – a lady
сéрия – [ syériya ] – an episode
The neuter in Russian
The words which end on the letters ‘о’, ‘е’ and ‘мя’ are neuter.
мóре – [ móre ] – the sea
окнó – [ aknó ] – a window
и́мя – [ ímya ] – a name
врéмя – [ vryémya ] – time
If you enjoy practicing the vocabulary in the Quizlet you can find some words to practice here.
Still, we have the words which can end on ‘ь‘ and we have to be very careful, determining their gender. They can be either masculine or feminine.
These words must be looked up in the dictionary as there is no rule on how to know what gender they are.
The gender in the Russian language
These are the most common words that you can see while practicing the A0-A1 levels in the Russian language.
feminine
дóчь – [ doch ] – a daughter
нóчь – [ noch ] – a night
мáть – [ mat ] – a mother
двéрь – [ dvyer ] – a door
мышь – [ mysh ] – a mouse
жизнь – [ zhizn ] – a life
пóмощь – [ pómasch ] – help
masculine
дéнь – [ dyen ] – a day
пáрень – [ páryen ] – a boyfriend / a young man
As you can see, most of the words which end on ‘ь’ are feminine here.
IMPORTANT! TEST PRACTICE: In the boxes, choose ONLY the answers which seem correct. When finished, you will get the answers and their explanations.
Exercise 1:
1.ча́шка (a cup)
feminine
2.день (day / afternoon)
masculine
3.блю́до ( a dish)
neuter
4.мать (mother)
feminine
5.пиани́но (a piano)
neuter
Exercise 2:
1.семья́ (family)
feminine
2.друг (a friend)
masculine
3.плáмя (a fire)
neuter
4.сок (juice)
masculine
5.зуб (a tooth)
masculine
Exercise 3:
1.собáка (a dog)
feminine
2.динозáвр (a dinosaur)
masculine
3.стол (a table)
masculine
4.доктор (a doctor)
masculine
5.преподаватель (a teacher)
masculine
Exercise 4:
1.ночь (a night)
feminine
2.лáмпа (a lamp)
feminine
3.стих (a poem)
masculine
4.зóна (a zone)
feminine
5.матч (a match)
masculine
IMPORTANT! TEST PRACTICE: In the boxes below determine the gender of the following words in the questions and type the feminine, masculine or neuter. When finished, you can check your answers by clicking on the GREEN CHECK button below.
