Nouns & Grammatical Gender
Three Genders in Russian
Every Russian noun has a grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Gender affects adjective endings, pronouns, and verb agreement.
How to Identify Gender by Ending
| Ending | Gender | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| consonant | Masculine | стол (stol) (table), брат (brat) (brother), город (GO-rod) (city) |
| -й | Masculine | музей (moo-ZYEY) (museum), трамвай (tram-VAY) (tram) |
| -а / -я | Feminine | книга (KNEEga) (book), земля (zyem-LYA) (land) |
| -ь | Could be either! | день (dyen’) (m) but ночь (noch’) (f) |
| -о / -е | Neuter | окно (ak-NO) (window), море (MO-rye) (sea) |
| -мя | Neuter | время (VRYEma) (time), имя (EE-mya) (name) |
⚠️ Words ending in -ь are the trickiest — must be memorized!
Common Nouns by Gender
Masculine: дом (dom) (house), человек (chye-la-VYEK) (person), язык (yi-ZIK) (language), учитель (oo-CHI-tyel’) (teacher)
Feminine: женщина (ZHEN-shchi-na) (woman), страна (stra-NA) (country), школа (SHKO-la) (school), семья (syem’-YA) (family)
Neuter: дитя (di-TYA) (child), слово (SLO-va) (word), письмо (pis’-MO) (letter), здание (ZDA-ni-ye) (building)
Pronouns by Gender
| Gender | Pronoun | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | он | on | he / it |
| Feminine | она | a-NA | she / it |
| Neuter | оно | a-NO | it |
| Plural | они | a-NI | they |
Practice
What gender is стол (table)?
Masculine — ends in a consonant
What gender is книга (book)?
Feminine — ends in -а
What is the tricky ending that could be either masculine or feminine?
-ь (soft sign) — must memorize: день (m) but ночь (f)