All Russian have a grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. Recognizing a noun’s gender is very important, not only because nouns of different genders take different endings, but also because the forms of other words, like adjectives, can be affected by the gender of the noun as well.
You can usually determine what gender a noun is by looking at its endings, though there are some exceptions:
masculine | | |
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feminine | | |
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neuter | | яблоко[YABlaka](an apple)
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In this post, we are going to discuss how to identify the gender of a noun and how that changes the rest of the sentence. We will also learn the three Russian genders and personal pronouns, and along the way we’ll discuss a number of exceptions.
What is grammatical gender?
All Russian nouns have a grammatical gender, whether they refer to something living (with a "real-world" gender) or to something not living (without a "real-world" gender). A noun's grammatical gender can determine its endings and can also influence how you build a sentence around it. But where does a noun's grammatical gender come from?
A noun's grammatical gender can come from its "natural gender," or the "real-world" gender of a person the noun stands for. Usually nouns for people that are male will be grammatically masculine and nouns for people that are female will be grammatically feminine (which is why we call it gender!). For example:
мама[MAma](mom) is grammatically feminine
сын[syn](son) is grammatically masculine
The names for common or domestic animals also often follow natural gender. For example:
кот[kot](male cat, tomcat) is grammatically masculine
кошка[KOSHka](female cat) is grammatically feminine
However, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance:
учитель[ooCHEEtel](instructor) is always grammatically masculine, even though an instructor might be male or female.
рыба[RYba](fish) is always grammatically feminine, even though a fish might be male or female.
For nouns that don’t have a “natural” gender (e.g. nouns for objects, plants, ideas, actions, etc.), grammatical gender is just assigned to each word, usually based on its ending.
You might expect that all nouns without a natural gender would be neuter, but this is not always the case! They can be grammatically neuter, but they can also be masculine or feminine. For example:
пальто[palTO](coat) and море[MOre](a sea) are neuter
музей[mooZE](museum) is masculine and книга[KNEEga](book) is feminine
So, to determine the grammatical gender of “inanimate” (non-living) nouns, you’ll have to look at the ending of the noun, not its meaning.
Why does a Russian noun's gender matter?
It is very important to know the gender of Russian nouns, because a noun’s gender impacts the endings we add to it when we make it plural or put it in different cases. But a noun’s gender also impacts the forms of other words that relate to the noun. The gender of these words “matches” or “agrees with” the gender of the noun. For example:
and question words match the gender of the noun they replace.
match the gender of the noun they describe.
in the past tense reflect the gender of their .
Remember: the noun is the boss in the Russian sentence! Let’s see some examples:
question word | Чей это телефон? chey Eta tiliFON? | Чья эта книга? chya Eta KNEEga? | Чьё это письмо? chyo Eta pisMO? |
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adjective | | красная машина KRASnaya maSHEEna | красное пальто KRASnoye palTO |
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past tense verb | Юрист работал с документами. YUrist raBOtal s dakooMENtami. The lawyer worked with documents. | Мама работала в офисе. MAma raBOtala v Ofisye. Mom worked at the office. | Правительство работало хорошо. praVEEtilstva raBOtala kharaSHO. The government worked well. |
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What are the grammatical genders in Russian?
The three grammatical genders in Russian are masculine, feminine, and neuter. Let’s look at each of the three grammatical genders closely to understand how to recognize a Russian noun in each group.
Masculine noun endings
Masculine nouns usually end in a or .
Consonant:
A soft sign: -ь
Feminine nouns can also end in a soft sign! Have a look at the section
below to learn more about how to tell the difference.
Some masculine nouns, like папа[PApa](dad), дедушка[DYEdooshka](grandpa), or дядя[DYAdya](uncle), use the endings that usually go with feminine nouns. However, we still consider them to be masculine nouns because the words that agree with them are always masculine. For example:
Он хороший папа.
khaROshyi PApa.
→ The noun, папа, ends in -а, like a feminine noun, but the adjective, хороший, has a masculine ending, so this noun is still grammatically masculine.
Though these are masculine nouns, when you’re “declining” these nouns (giving them different endings), you’ll need to follow the feminine patterns instead.
Feminine noun endings
Masculine nouns usually end in -а[a], -я[ya], or .
-а[a]:
-я[ya]:
A soft sign -ь:
Masculine nouns can also end in a soft sign! Have a look at the section
below to learn more about how to tell the difference.
Neuter noun endings
Neuter nouns usually end in -o[o], -е[ye], or the suffix -мя[mya]. Most “indeclinable” nouns are also neuter, but we’ll talk more about those below.
-o[o]:
-е[ye]:
-мя[mya]:
There are only about ten words that have the suffix
-мя. You might want to memorize them so that you do not confuse them with feminine nouns. For a list, download our
noun gender reference sheet at the bottom of the page!
How to identify the gender of Russian nouns that end in a soft sign?
Did you notice that both masculine and feminine nouns in Russian can end in a ? In most cases, you will just need to memorize which nouns are which gender.
However, there are a few suffixes which can help you to recognize the gender of a noun even if it ends in a soft sign:
For nouns that don’t end in one of the suffixes above, it can help to memorize them along with adjectives or possessive pronouns, as these will carry the gender of the noun in their endings. For example:
длинная ночь DLEEnaya noch → feminine adjective ending | → masculine adjective ending |
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What are common gender nouns in Russian?
There is a small group of nouns in Russian that can be either masculine or feminine. These nouns end only in -а[a] or -я[ya]. For instance:
Though these always take feminine endings, their gender (in terms of agreement) usually depends on the situation and context. For example:
masculine agreementcommon gender noun
Он такой умница!
on taKOY OOMnitsa!
He is such a smart person!
feminine agreementcommon gender noun
Она большая умница!
aNA balSHAya OOMnitsa!
She is a very smart person!
We can decide whether adjectives and personal or possessive pronouns will have masculine or feminine endings, depending on the natural gender of that noun.
femininecommon gender noun
Наша новая коллега Джессика хорошо говорит по-французски.
NAsha NOvaya kaLYEga Jessica kharaSHO gavaREET pa-franTSOOZki.
Our new colleague Jessica speaks French well.
masculinecommon gender noun
Mой коллега Том сейчас в Париже.
moy kaLYEga Tom siCHAS v paREEzhe.
My colleague Tom is in Paris now.
What are “indeclinable” Russian nouns?
Indeclinable nouns in Russian are nouns that never change their endings. This means that they only have one form. So, an indeclinable noun will look exactly the same in the singular or plural and in all the different .
The majority of indeclinable nouns in Russian are “borrowed” words, meaning that they are nouns that originally come from another language. They also usually end with -э/-е, -о, -и, -у/-ю, or stressed -а/-я. Here are some examples:
Some native Russian words are also indeclinable, but these are mostly abbreviations, like СССР[es-es-es-er](USSR), or surnames ending in particular sounds. Surnames ending in -аго[aga], -ово[ova], -их[eekh], -ых[ikh] are usually indeclinable, as are feminine surnames ending in a consonant.
What is the gender of indeclinable nouns in Russian?
Most indeclinable nouns are neuter. However, there are a growing number of indeclinable nouns that are masculine or feminine, so it would be a good idea to look these up in a dictionary.
Though you can’t tell the gender of an indeclinable noun by looking at the noun ending, you can see their gender in the form of the adjectives we use to describe them or the pronouns we use to replace them. Here are some examples:
Neuter indeclinable nouns are described by neuter adjectives:
московское метро masKOVskaye mitRO | |
жёлтое такси ZHYOLtaye takSEE | |
Masculine indeclinable nouns are described by masculine adjectives:
маленький кенгуру mAlinkiy kingooROO | |
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Feminine indeclinable nouns are described by feminine adjectives:
железная леди zhiLYEZnaya LYEdi | |
длинная Колорадо DLEEnaya KalaRAda | long (f.) Colorado (river) |
Here are a few general rules that can help you guess the gender of an indeclinable noun in Russian (but remember, they won’t hold in all cases!)
Names or words for people follow natural gender (masculine or feminine).
Names for careers are mostly masculine, with a few exceptions.
Words for animals are mostly masculine, though if they end with an “i” sound they may be feminine.
Names of states, countries, islands, cars, languages, types of storms (e.g. “tornado”), and drinks are mostly masculine.
Names for rivers are mostly feminine.
But if you want to really be sure of the gender of an indeclinable noun, look it up in a dictionary!
How to choose the right personal pronoun in Russian?
In Russian, the personal pronouns -он[on](he), -она[aNA](she), and -оно[aNO](it) match the grammatical gender of the noun they replace. So we use -он[on](he) and -она[aNA](she) for ALL masculine and feminine nouns, not just to refer to humans.
→ дом is a masculine noun
→ книга is a feminine noun
Let’s see how it works in the sentence:
Вот мой дом. Он большой.
vot moy dom. On balSHOY.
Here is my house. It is big.
lit. …He is big.
Вот моя машина. Она старая.
vot maYA maSHEEna. aNA STAraya.
Here is my car. It is old.
lit. …She is old.
Вот моё пальто. Оно синее.
vot maYO palTO. aNO SEEniye.
Here is my coat. It is blue.
lit. …She is old.
This might be confusing because, in English, inanimate nouns take only one pronoun: “it.” Just remember that in Russian, the “it” will correspond to the grammatical gender of the object described.
What gender are professions in Russian?
In Russian, the noun you use to describe a profession will usually be always masculine or always feminine. The nouns for professions do not change to match the natural gender of the person who they stand for.
For example, these nouns for professions are always feminine:
While these professions are always masculine:
You'll notice that these genders roughly align with the natural genders of the individuals who would have historically done these jobs.
But even though nouns for professions are generally always masculine or always feminine, other parts of the sentence might still reflect the natural gender of the person performing the job.
If you want to replace one of these words with a pronoun, you can replace it with a pronoun that matches the grammatical gender OR you can replace it with a pronoun that matches the natural gender of the person.
Она профессор.
aNA praFYEsar.
→ This is OK even though “профессор” is a masculine noun
The ending of the verbs in the past tense or of short adjectives describing the noun can also indicate the personal gender of the indicated person.
Космонафт полетел в космос. kasmaNAFT paliTYEL v KOSmas. The (male) astronaut went to space. | Космонафт полетела в космос. kasmaNAFT paliTYEla v KOSmas. The (female) astronaut went (f.) to space. |
Библиотекарь очень занят сегодня. bibliaTYEkar Ochin ZAnyat siVOdnya. The (male) librarian is very busy today. | Библиотекарь очень занята сегодня. bibliaTYEkar Ochin ZAnyat siVOdnya. The (female) librarian is very busy today. |
However, normal adjectives still always agree with the grammatical gender of the noun describing the profession, regardless of if the person doing that job is male or female. Let’s look at some examples:
long adjective (masculine)masculine profession
Светлана Иванова - наш лучший архитектор.
SvitLAna IvaNOva - nash LOOchshyi arkhiTYEKtar.
Svetlana Ivanova is our best architect.
Она известный профессор в этом университете.
aNA izVEsnyi praFYEsar v Etam univirsiTYEtye.
She is a famous professor in this university.
Его жена талантливый врач.
iVO zhiNA taLANtlivyi vrach.
His wife is a talented doctor.
There are some nouns naming people or occupations that also have a feminine form. While the masculine form can still be used in all cases, the feminine form is only used when a woman performs the job. The feminine form is usually created from the masculine one by adding or replacing suffixes. For example:
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преподаватель pripadaVAtil | преподавательница pripadaVAtilnitsa | |
The word судья[sooDYA](judge) is particularly interesting!
It is a grammatically masculine noun, but it is part of the group of masculine nouns that take feminine endings, so it looks feminine.
However, because it is a noun for a profession, we can use it with either masculine or feminine pronouns, past tense verbs, or short adjectives, depending on the natural gender of your judge!
So the only thing about судья that always looks masculine are the long adjectives that describe it!
Summary
It is important to learn about gender in Russian because…
All nouns in Russian have a gender.
There are three genders in Russian: masculine, feminine, and neuter.
Masculine nouns end in the consonant or soft sign (with some exceptions)
Feminine nouns end in the vowel -а[a] / -я[ya] or a soft sign
Neuter nouns end in the vowel -о[o] / -e[ye] or suffix -мя[mya]
It is important to know the gender of the noun to build a grammatically correct sentence.
The pronouns -он[on](he, it), -она[aNA](she, it), -оно[aNO](it) stand not only for people but also for things.
A lot of nouns naming professions are masculine in Russian.
There are some suffixes that help us to denote the gender of the noun like -тель[tel] and -ость[ost].
Time for practice! Click below to download our gender of Russian nouns activity sheet or print out our Russian noun gender reference sheet to help you study.
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