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