# 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
Russian language · Русский язык :
| Lessons | Introduction · Alphabet · Lesson 1 · Lesson 2 · Lesson 3 · Lesson 4 · Lesson 5 | (view) |
| Reference | Numbers · Cases (Nom. · Gen. · Dat. · Acc. · Inst. · Prep.) · Adjectives · Prepositions · Verbs (Aspect · Past · Future) · Pronouns (Personal · Possessive · Interrogative) · Cursive | |
| Appendices | Appendix · Alphabet · Internet · Cheat Sheet | |