1.There are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. They can be told apart by their ending.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
| Consonant: друг, пенал | А: мама, дача | О: окно, письмо |
| Й: музей, санаторий | Я: семья, тëтя | Е: море, горе |
| Ь: портфель, учитель | Ь: дверь, тетрадь | МЯ: время, семя |
2. Some masculine nouns referred to people end in –A or –Я are declined like feminine nouns, but adjectives and pronouns referred to them are masculine. This is equally applied to Russian masculine names and their diminutive forms.
| Example | Translation |
| дедушка | grandfather |
| дядя | uncle |
| Саша (Александр) | Sasha (diminutive form from Alexander) |
3. Nouns that end in –ь can be both masculine and feminine. They must be looked up in the dictionary.
| Masculine words | Translation | Feminine words | Translation | ||||
| словарь | dictionary | дочь | daughter | ||||
| Кремль | Kremlin | осень | autumn | дождь | rain | соль | salt |
4. Certain nouns have no feminine form. They usually denote a profession.
| Example | Translation |
| инженер | engineer |
| адвокат | lawyer |
| врач | doctor |
5. The word коллега сan be masculine or feminine.
| Example | Translation |
| Это мой коллега Иван Петров. | This is my colleague Ivan Petrov. |
| Это моя коллега Светлана Николаева. | This is my colleague Svetlana Nikolaeva. |
6. There are some invariable nouns, most of them are nouns of foreign origin. They are usually neuter.
| Example | Translation |
| метро | metro |
| кино | cinema |
| пальто | coat |
| такси | taxi |
7. The word кофе can be both masculine and neuter.
| Example | Translation |
| Чëрный кофе: мужской род | Black coffee: masculine |
| Крепкое кофе: средний род | Strong coffee: neuter |
8. The gender of invariable proper nouns (geographical names, newspaper and magazine titles, etc.) corresponds to the gender of the noun denoting the category they belong to.
| Example | Translation |
| Красивый Сочи: Сочи - город, слово «город» мужского рода. | Beautiful Sochi: Sochi is a city, the word “city” is masculine in Russian. |
| Длинная По: По-река, слово «река» женского рода. | Long Po: Po is a river, the word “river” is feminine in Russian. |
9. Make these quizzes online:
1. Quiz 1: http://www.divshare.com/direct/13398883-dac.htm
2. Quiz 2: http://www.divshare.com/direct/13398866-313.htm
3. Quiz 3: http://www.divshare.com/direct/13398867-403.htm
