The gender of Russian nouns
It’s quite easy to figure out the gender if we are talking about people, but what do we do if the subject is inanimate? The answer is: look at the word’s ending.
The feminine nouns end in -А, -Я or -Ь.
– кни́га [knée-ga] – book
– неде́ля [nee-dyé-lya] – week
– ночь [noch’] – night
The neuter nouns end in -O, -Е or -МЯ. Examples:
– о́блако [ób-la-ka] – cloud
– зна́ние [zná-nee-ye] – knowledge
– со́лнце [són-tse] – sun
The masculine nouns often have no ending, i.e. the last letter is a consonant. Sometimes they end on -Ь. Examples:
– день [dyen’] – day
– год [got] – year
There is also a number of exceptions. For example, some words are masculine despite their endings:
пáпа [pá-pa] – dad
дя́дя [dyá-dya] – uncle
ко́фе [kó-fye] – coffee
These words are neuter despite ending in -Я:
– вре́мя [vryé-mya] – time
– и́мя [ée-mya] – name *
Some words can be masculine and feminine at the same time:
колле́га [kal-lyé-ga] – colleague
копу́ша [ka-pú-sha] – slowpoke
* Temporarily not in the audio
Now you know how to determine the gender of Russian nouns. Practice all these words with the audio recording. And come back to learn Russian with us!
More lessons on the Russian nouns
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