Neuter noun. How many genders are there in Russian? Features of determining gender for nouns and adjectives
In this lesson, you will learn what types of nouns are, practice determining the gender of nouns in the singular and plural, and observe the gender endings of nouns. Why is gender a constant feature of nouns? Which nouns cannot be gendered? Are there common nouns? You can get answers to these questions in class.
Introduction
Our ancestors, the ancient Slavs, once divided all things and beings into three classes - masculine, feminine, and "material" (or "material"). They deified many objects, giving them a feminine or masculine gender.
For example, the word child - material kind among the ancient Slavs. Children at all times did not have the right to own personal property. (V. Volina)
Did you know that there are languages in whichNouns have no gender. These are English, Finnish, Turkish, Chinese, Japanese and others.
There are languages in which nouns only havetwo kinds. These are French, Spanish, Italian.
There are languages in whichthere are many more genders than in our language.
For example, in many languages of the peoples of the Caucasus and Africa there can be up to 40 genders. They are called “classes” there. (N. Betenkova)
Lesson topic: “Gender of nouns. Gender endings of nouns."
How to find out the gender of nouns
Read the nouns. Which ones are called men and which ones are women?
Grandfather, mother, sister, father, grandmother, son, brother, granddaughter, uncle, aunt, daughter, great-grandfather, man, woman.
In Russian, nouns are masculine and feminine. What kind of words did we write in each column?
grandfather
dad
Brother
uncle
great-grandfather
man
These are masculine words, since you can substitute the word He.
These are feminine words, since you can substitute the word she.
What word can be substituted for these words?
Wheel, hollow, insect, towel - IT. These are neuter words.
Nouns There are masculine, feminine and neuter genders. The gender of nouns is determined by substituting pronouns.
To nouns masculine you can substitute words he, my.
To nouns feminine you can substitute words she, mine.
To nouns neuter you can substitute words it's mine.
Determining the gender of nouns in the plural
If it is necessary to determine the gender of a noun used in the plural, the word is first put in the singular, in the initial form. The initial form of a noun answers the questions who? What?
The cranes have flown away
And the rooks are already far away.
We didn’t have time to look back,
Blizzards swept the snow. (Vl. Prikhodko)
Cranes- plural, initial form - who? crane, he, m.r.
Rooks- plural, initial form - who? rook, he, m.r.
Blizzards- plural, beginning form - what? blizzard, she, f.r.
Snow- in units, beginning form - what? snow, he, m.r.
Why is gender a constant feature of nouns?
If a noun is, for example, feminine, can it be masculine or neuter?
Nouns are already born with masculine, feminine or neuter words. They do not change by birth. This is why gender is a constant feature of nouns.
March.
Sketched by the sky
White snowdrifts.
The sun burned them out
Doors and windows.(I. Zagraevskaya)
March- he, m.r.
Sky- it, s.r.
Snowdrifts- plural, beginning form - what? snowdrift, he, m.r.
Sun- it, s.r.
Doors- plural, beginning form - what? door, she, f.r.
Okonta- plural, beginning form - what? window, it, w.r.
Which nouns cannot be gendered?
Eyes, curlers, blinds, mustaches, sleds, skis, skates, vacations.
Eyes- What? eye, it, w.r.
Curlers, blinds
Mustache- What? mustache, he, m.r.
Sled- cannot be used in the singular.
Skis- What? ski, she, f.r.
Skates- What? horse, he, m.r.
Holidays- cannot be used in the singular.
For nouns that do not have a singular form, gender cannot be determined.
For example, trousers, tongs, scissors, day, cream, sawdust, ink, hide and seek, chess, yeast, pincers, twilight.
Common nouns
Interesting nouns: orphan, smart girl, crybaby.
Smart girl- who can be praised with this word, a boy or a girl?
Compare: He was an orphan. She was an orphan.
These nouns, depending on specific circumstances, can act as masculine nouns (He was so smart!), then as feminine nouns(She was so smart!)
These are nouns of a general kind.
Let's pick some more common nouns: ringleader, fidgety, quiet, why, arrogant, sweet tooth.
Gender endings of nouns
What endings can nouns have in the masculine, feminine and neuter gender?
dad A
Slav A
uncle I
You I
daughter A
natures A
Dash A
tet I
s.r.
movements e
fun e
belle e
Borodin O
lace O
canvas O
Complete the diagram: write the endings.
For nouns masculine more often endings -a, -i, and zero.
For nouns feminine endings -а, -я and zero.
For nouns Neuter endings -о, -е, -е.
(Some nouns ending -i, For example, dit I, flame I, time I ).
What do words have in common - masculine, feminine and neuter nouns?
In nouns masculine and feminine may have the same endings -a, -i, zero.
Is it possible to determine the gender of nouns only by the ending?
Solving a spelling problem at the end of nouns
Jam_, rainbow_, cave_, swamp_, clearing_, knee_, wheel_, patronymic_, lake_.
Knowing the gender of the noun, substituting words it, she, you can solve a spelling problem at the end, write the letter of an unstressed vowel correctly.
Jam_ ono, ending -o,
rainbow_ ona, ending -a,
caves_ ona, ending -a,
swamps_ ono, ending -o,
glade_ ona, ending -a,
knee_, wheel_, patronymic_, lake_ onό, ending -o.
Jam O, rainbow A, caves A, swamps O, clearing A, knees O, wheel O, middle names O, lakes O.
How are borrowed words distributed by gender?
In Russian the word Sun- neuter.
In German the word Sun- feminine (“di zonne”).
The English just say "san" ( Sun), without attributing this noun to any of the existing genders.
The French Sun- masculine (“le soleil”).
In Spanish "el sol" Sun- masculine.
How are words distributed by gender that came from other languages, that is borrowed words?
In Russian Borrowed words retain the gender they had in the foreign language.
This explains the fact that in modern Russian the words piano, coffee, kangaroo belong to the masculine gender;
somersault, chassis, domino- to the neuter gender, and the word shawl- to the feminine gender.
Nouns borrowed from languages that have no gender receive it in Russian: basketball, football(from English) - masculine.
We look for nouns, determine their gender
Test yourself. Find nouns and determine their gender.
Who wrote what?
Once upon a time there was no paper. The first manuscripts appeared on clay tablets. In the east, paper was replaced by ivory. Animal skin - parchment - was often used for writing. In Ancient Rus' they wrote on birch bark and birch bark.
paper- paper, liquid,
manuscripts- manuscript, journal,
on the signs- plate, w.r.,
in the east- east, m.r.,
paper- paper, liquid,
bone- f.r.,
for writing- letter, s.r.,
skin- leather, f.r.,
animals- animal, s.r.,
parchment- m.r.,
in Rus' - Rus, zh.r.,
on the bark- bark, f.r.,
birch bark- birch bark - f.r.
Conclusion
I will remember the feminine gender
And I will say: “She is mine.”
And I will remember the masculine gender
And again I will say: “He is mine.”
The neuter gender is mine!
This is your rule!(E. Semyonova)
In the lesson, you learned that if you need to determine the gender of a noun used in the plural, the word is first put in the singular, in the initial form.
Nouns do not change by gender.
For nouns that do not have a singular form, gender cannot be determined.
References
- M.S. Soloveychik, N. S. Kuzmenko “To the secrets of our language” Russian language: Textbook. 3rd grade: in 2 parts. - Smolensk: Association XXI century, 2010.
- M.S. Soloveychik, N. S. Kuzmenko “To the secrets of our language” Russian language: Workbook. 3rd grade: in 3 parts. - Smolensk: Association XXI century, 2010.
- T. V. Koreshkova Test tasks in the Russian language. 3rd grade: in 2 parts. - Smolensk: Association XXI century, 2011.
- T.V. Koreshkova Practice! Notebook for independent work in the Russian language for 3rd grade: in 2 parts. - Smolensk: Association XXI century, 2011.
- L.V. Mashevskaya, L.V. Danbitskaya Creative tasks in the Russian language. - St. Petersburg: KARO, 2003.
- G.T. Dyachkova Olympiad tasks in Russian. 3-4 grades. - Volgograd: Teacher, 2008.
Homework
- For these nouns, select nouns that are close in meaning. Please indicate gender.
Ring - ...
Strengthening -…
Border -...
Bay - …
Luck - …
Curtain -…
Duty - …
Silence -...
Words for reference: heat, fortress, bay, success, silence, duty, ring, darkness, curtain, boundary. - Read the text. Determine the gender of nouns.
Pretender.
A large gorilla lives in the Prague Zoo. One morning the monkey suddenly fell ill. She refused to eat and moaned. The doctor decided that the animal had eaten too much. The gorilla was given medicine and left. The monkey recovered instantly. During the inspection, she pulled out a key from the caretaker's pocket. She opened the cage for them and began to walk around the zoo.
- Read the text. Find the nouns and write them in 3 columns:
m.r., f. r. , Wed r.
Petya is dreaming.
If only there was soap
It came
In the mornings to my bed
And it would wash me itself -
That would be nice!
If, let's say,
Wizard
Gave me such a textbook
So that he would
I could do it myself
Answer any lesson...
If only I had a pen,
So that I can solve the problem,
Write any dictation... (B. Zakhoder)
- Internet portal Oldskola1.narod.ru ().
- Internet portal School-collection.edu.ru ().
- Internet portal Gramota.ru ().
- Internet portal Russisch-fuer-kinder.de ().
In the Russian language, the gender of nouns is determined on two grounds: by the ending of the nominative singular and by the meaning of the noun, namely, by the attribution of persons and animals called by this noun to their natural gender. Knowing what gender a particular noun belongs to is necessary in order to correctly change it by case and correctly combine it with other words in a sentence. That is why in dictionaries, indications of gender are a mandatory characteristic of nouns.
It is customary to distinguish five groups of noun words according to their gender:
Masculine nouns;
Feminine nouns;
Neuter nouns;
Common nouns;
Nouns whose gender cannot be determined.
TO masculine includes nouns ending in hard consonant stem or on th (house, father, balance, bank, barter, credit, tea, region), all nouns in -tel (teacher, writer, switch, indicator), month names(January, February, April, June, July, September, October, November, December), borrowed nouns with base on -l, -ny, -ry (ensemble, shampoo, piano, lobby, calendar).
TO feminine -a, -i (wife, land, idea, game, computer science, migration, company, function), nouns ending in soft consonant stem (life, steel, night), as well as nouns ending in hard sizzling (youth, lies, rye, gouache, retouching, nonsense, falsehood, wilderness).
TO neuter include nouns ending -o, -e (window, business, field, bankruptcy, godlessness, good, wealth, department, religion, application, lending, distribution), as well as all nouns in -me (time, crown, burden, stirrup, udder, name, banner, flame, tribe, seed) and noun child .
The exception is nouns ending -a, -i and nouns ending in zero soft consonant, which are masculine because they denote male persons: uncle, young man, Muscovite, cabin boy, bear. TO masculine also applies to the noun journeyman .
To nouns general kind include words denoting persons both male and female and usually having evaluative meaning: crybaby, bully, smart girl, good fellow, greedy, glutton, sleepyhead, sneak.
General nouns denoting males agree with the masculine forms of adjectives, pronouns and past tense or subjunctive verbs, and nouns denoting females agree with the corresponding feminine forms. Wed: He's so smart! She's so smart! What a crybaby our Seryozha is! What a crybaby our Masha is! He is an orphan. She is an orphan. My colleague carefully read the documents. My colleague carefully read the documents.
It is necessary to distinguish the use of words of a general gender from nouns with an evaluative meaning, but not related to words of a general gender and characterizing a person, cf.: bungler(common gender: What a bungler Misha! What a bungler Masha!)– hat(feminine: What a hat our Misha is! What a hat is our Masha!); cunning(common gender: What a cunning Kolya! What a cunning Olya!)– fox(feminine: What a fox our Kolya is!).
When determining the gender of nouns denoting persons and animals, it is very important to take into account the natural gender of the latter:
TO masculine male persons and animals: grandfather, father, uncle, bull, horse, lion;
- nouns that mean names of persons by occupation: educator, doctor, teacher, lawyer, judge, engineer, banker, manager, entrepreneur, systems engineer, assistant, director, head;
- To feminine are nouns that mean female persons and animals: aunt, niece, granddaughter, mother, actress, wolf, lioness, bear, sheep, goat, chicken.
Considerable difficulties arise when using nouns denoting persons by occupation or profession.
Masculine nouns denoting male and female persons doctor, engineer, technologist, banker, assistant, manager, businessman, as a rule, they agree with adjectives in the masculine form (i.e., by ending), and with verbs - in the masculine or feminine form, depending on whether the person is male or female (i.e., by meaning). For example: Experienced lawyer Ivanova won the case.– Experienced lawyer Ivanov won the case; The local doctor Smirnova visited the patient.– The local doctor Smirnov visited the patient.
In Russian there are nouns, the genus of which cannot be determined. These include words Not having singular forms: cream, ink, memoirs, sleigh, scissors, trousers, vacations, chess, name days, christenings, wakes, farewells, Cordillera, Sochi.
Considerable difficulties in the aspect of speech culture are presented by nouns (usually borrowed from other languages) that do not change by case (highway, subway, coffee etc.). They are called unyielding. Attempts to change such words lead to gross errors like: He returned for his coat. The gender of such words cannot be determined by the ending; it is determined by the meaning of the word, associated in most cases with the concept animate/inanimate.
Most inanimate indeclinable nouns are neuter words (foyer, cinema, coat, highway, khaki, pince-nez, bouclé).
Animate indeclinable nouns can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the gender they denote, that is, they relate to the gender of a real person or animal. Wed: a magnificent maestro, a military attache, a famous impresario, a charming lady, a courteous lady; my counterpart– my counterpart; your protégé– your protégé; gray kangaroo– gray kangaroo, bright cockatoo– bright cockatoo.
There are exceptions to this general rule:
1) indeclinable nouns that have a generic name in the Russian language correspond to the gender of the latter: salami- and. r. (sausage), kohlrabi- and. r. (cabbage);
2) sometimes the gender of an indeclinable noun is determined by the gender of the word, which is common and inflected for such nouns: Avenue is defined as a feminine noun because it correlates with the feminine noun being inflected street, argo– with a synonymous masculine noun jargon, suluguni– with a masculine noun (cheese), aloe– m.r. (flower), Hindi– m.r. (language), Capri– m.r. (island), Mississippi- and. r. (river), Tbilisi– m.r. (city);
3) noun coffee– masculine, although recently in colloquial speech it is acceptable to use it as a neuter noun: delicious coffee And delicious coffee, one coffee And one coffee;
4) the names of the letters refer to neuter words: Russian A, capital B; names of sounds – neuter or masculine: unstressed A– unstressed A; Note names are neuter: long E;
5) the gender of complex abbreviated indeclinable nouns depends, as a rule, on the gender of the reference word of the phrase: UN- and. r. (Organization United Nations), RGPU– m.r. (Russian State Pedagogical university).
In the Russian language, nouns are actively used, which are formed as a result of adding two words. Such compound nouns can be animate or inanimate (Governor General, female astronaut, conference room). For animate nouns, gender is determined by the word indicating the gender of the person (female astronaut- and. r.; miracle hero– m.r.). In inanimate nouns, gender is determined by the gender of the first word. (museum-apartment– m.r.; robe dress- Wed r.; amphibious aircraft– m.r.; boarding school- and. r.). If a compound noun contains an indeclinable noun, then the gender is determined by the gender of the inflected word (cafe-dining room- and. r.; comedy-buff- and. r.; taxi car– m.r.).
Gender of nouns formed using suffixes -ish-, -ishk-, determined by the gender of the noun from which these nouns are derived (voice – little voice: m.r.; oar – oar looking for e: Wed r.; snake - snake looking for A: and. r.; Brother - Brother ish ka: m.r.; letter - letters ish to: Wed p; newspaper - newspaper: w. r.).
Gender of nouns.
Genus
-
This is the ability of nouns to be combined with forms of compatible words specific for each generic variety:
my house, my hat, my window
.
Based on gender nouns are divided into three groups:
1 | 2 | 3 |
Masculine nouns |
Feminine nouns |
Neuter nouns |
house | water | face |
horse | Earth | sea |
sparrow | dust | tribe |
uncle | rye | gorge |
In addition, there is a small group common nouns, which can serve as expressive names for both male and female persons ( crybaby, touchy-feely, good fellow, upstart, grabber).
The grammatical meaning of gender is created by the system of case endings of a given noun in the singular. Hence, gender of nouns distinguished only in the singular.
TO masculine include:
- nouns with a base on a hard or soft consonant and a zero ending in the nominative case(table, horse, reeds, knife, crying) ;
- -a(s) type grandfather, uncle;
- some nouns ending -o, -e type shed, bread, little house;
- noun journeyman.
TO feminine applies:
- most nouns ending -a(-i) ( grass, aunt, earth) in the nominative case;
- part of nouns with a base on a soft consonant, as well as on zh and sh and zero ending in the nominative case(laziness, rye, quiet ).
TO neuter include:
- nouns ending in -о, -е in the nominative case (window, field);
- ten nouns per -me ( burden, time, tribe, flame, stirrup etc.);
- noun child.
Nouns doctor, professor, architect, deputy, guide, author, naming a person by profession or type of activity, refer to masculine.
However, they can also refer to females. The agreement of definitions in this case is subject to the following rules:
- a non-separate definition should be given in the form masculine, For example: A young doctor, Sergeeva, appeared at our site. A new version of the law article was proposed by the young deputy Petrova;
- a separate definition, standing after a proper name, must be put in the form feminine, For example: Professor Petrova, already known to the interns, successfully operated on the patient.
The predicate must be put in the form feminine, If:
- the form of the predicate is the only indicator that we are talking about a woman, and it is important for the writer to emphasize this, for example: The school principal turned out to be a good mother.
in a sentence there is a proper noun placed before the predicate, for example: Director Sidorova received an award. Guide Petrova took students through the oldest streets of Moscow ;
Some nouns with endings -a (-я) can serve as expressive names for both male and female persons. These are common nouns , For example: crybaby, touchy, sneak, slob, quiet.
Common nouns | agreement with the masculine gender | agreement with the feminine gender |
crybaby | Little Misha loves to cry, just like a crybaby. | Our Natasha is not a crybaby. |
touch-me-not | Oleg is touchy and afraid of injections. | The little girl, when her hair was combed, behaved as if she were untouchable. |
sneak | Oh, what a sneak you are, Vanya! | Dasha constantly complained about someone, for which the children called her a sneak. |
slob | Student Victor is a slob. Scatters his things everywhere. | Our Tanya is a slob. Forgets to wash. |
dirty guy | The kitten is a big mess. Got dirty with sour cream. | Ira is dirty. Doesn't clean his shoes. |
quiet | Quiet Petya never raised his hand in class. | The quiet fox was waiting for the hare, hiding behind the tree. |
gourmet | Seryozha is a gourmet. He loves candy very much. | Yulia the gourmet will not leave the table without tasting dessert. |
white-handed | Stanislav does not like to work, he is a white-handed person. | Larisa is not white at all. |
couch potato | Our couch potato, as always, was shirking work. | The cat Murka is a big couch potato. |
1. Nouns belong to one of three childbirth: male, female, average.
The gender of a noun can be determined by agreeing with it the possessive pronoun my:
my son, my governor, my curtain, my little house - masculine;
my wife, my wall, my night - feminine,
my window, my sky, my animal - neuter.
In addition, for most nouns denoting people, gender can be determined by gender - my apprentice, my grandfather(masculine); my mother, my sister(feminine).
2. Genus unchangeable nouns is defined as follows.
The gender of uninflected nouns that name people is determined by gender.
Brave hidalgo, refined lady.
Nouns denoting professions and occupations are masculine.
Military attaché, night porter.
Unchangeable nouns that name animals are masculine, although when referring to a female they can be used as feminine nouns.
Australian kangaroo, funny chimpanzee, small hummingbird.
The chimpanzee was feeding her babies.
Exceptions: tsetse, iwasi- feminine.
Unchangeable inanimate nouns are neuter.
Night taxi, delicious stew, new blinds.
Exceptions: coffee, penalty, sirocco(masculine) avenue, salami(feminine).
3. A special group consists of nouns general kind, which can refer to both male and female people.
What a slob you are! What a slob you are!
Nouns of the general gender characterize a person, usually give an evaluative characteristic of a person, have the endings -а, -я and belong to the 1st declension.
A slob, a ringleader, a singer, a hard worker, a dirty guy, a dude, a drunkard, a sissy, a sleepyhead, a crybaby.
Pay attention!
Some 2nd declension nouns with a zero ending, naming persons by profession ( doctor, professor, associate professor, driver etc.), although they can be used in relation to female persons, are still masculine nouns!
4. The gender of nouns is determined by the singular form. If a noun does not have a singular form, it cannot be classified into any of the three genders.
Manger, pasta, trousers, pitchforks.
B) Number of a noun
1. Most nouns have two numbers - the only thing And plural. In the singular form, a noun denotes one object; in the plural form, it denotes several objects.
Pencil - pencils; doctor - doctors.
2. Only one form(singular or plural) have real, collective, abstract and some concrete nouns.
Only the form singular have:
most material nouns;
Oil, cement, sugar, pearls, sour cream, milk.
most abstract nouns;
Joy, goodness, grief, fun, redness, running, gray hair.
most collective nouns;
Teaching, students, foliage, animals, crows, children.
most proper names.
Voronezh, Caucasus, Caspian Sea, Ural.
Pay attention!
In some cases, nouns that have only a singular form can form plural forms. But such education is necessarily associated with a change in the meaning of the word:
1) at real
a) types, varieties of substance:
wine - dessert wines, oil - technical oils;
b) the value of the large space covered by this substance:
water - ocean waters, sand - Karakum sands;
2) at distracted of nouns the plural form has the meaning:
a) various manifestations of qualities, properties, states:
opportunity - new opportunities, joy - our joys;
b) duration, frequency and degree of manifestation of a sign, condition, action:
frost - prolonged frosts, pain - severe pain, scream - screams.
Only the form plural have:
- some collective nouns;
Money, finance, wilds.
some real nouns;
Ink, sawdust, cleaning.
some abstract nouns;
Name days, elections, attacks, intrigues, beatings.
some proper names;
Karakum, Carpathians, novel “Demons”.
words denoting paired objects, that is, objects consisting of two parts;
Glasses, trousers, sleigh, gates, scissors, pliers.
some names of periods of time.
Twilight, day, weekdays, holidays.
Pay attention!
For nouns that only have a plural form, not only the gender, but also the declension is not determined!
C) Case and declension of nouns
1. There are six in Russian cases:
All cases except the nominative are called indirect.
Pay attention!
1) To correctly determine the case of a noun, you need to find the word on which the noun depends and ask a question about the noun from this word, and it is better to use both questions at the same time.
Wed: He trusted his friend: he believed[to whom? what?] friend - D. p.
The form I. p. usually has a subject, and such a noun does not depend on other members of the sentence, but is connected with the predicate.
Wed: I have[Who? what?] friend - I. p.
2) It is especially important to ask both questions if the noun is in the nominative, genitive or accusative case, since animate nouns have the same questions in the genitive and accusative cases (who?), and inanimate nouns have the same questions in the nominative and accusative cases (what?).
3) If a noun has a preposition, then the question must be asked using this preposition.
Wed: He looked at the book: he looked[to whom? into what?] in the book.
4) A preposition can be separated from a noun by an adjective or pronoun. Note that a preposition is associated with a noun, not a noun-dependent modifier.
Wed: He was quarreling with his friend: quarreling[with whom? with what?] with a friend.
2. Changing nouns by case and number is called declination.
Immutable nouns ( coat, citro, metro, taxi, kangaroo, UN, traffic police) have no declination! Their number and case can be determined in phrases and sentences on the question.
He was sitting[in whom? what?] V coat - singular, prepositional case; He came[without whom? without what?] without coat - singular, genitive case.
3. The declension of modified nouns is determined by the form nominative singular. Most singular nouns are divided into three types of declension.
The type of declension is determined by the initial form (singular, nominative case):
1st class | -a, -i | Feminine, masculine and common nouns with endings -а, -я. | Spring, earth, line, uncle, ruler, dirty one. |
2nd class | zero | Masculine nouns ending in zero. | House□ , edge□ , ball□ , planetarium□ . |
-o, -e | All nouns end in -o, -e. | Window, field, suspicion- neuter gender; wolf, apprentice- masculine. | |
3rd class | zero | Feminine nouns ending in zero. | Mother□ , daughter□ , night□ , steppe□ . |
4. Ten neuter nouns ending in -мя (ending -я): time, burden, stirrup, tribe, flame, banner, crown, seed, name, udder, as well as nouns way, child refer to divergent(they have endings of different declensions).
5. The noun person has different roots in the singular and plural ( man - people), therefore has different types of declension in singular and plural:
person (singular) - declined as a 2nd declension noun;
people (plural) - declined as a 3rd declension noun.
6. Substantive adjectives and participles (nouns formed by moving from one part of speech to another: ice cream, dining room, living room, maid etc.) do not belong to any of the three types of declension. They continue to decline, just as adjectives and participles decline!
D) Declension patterns for nouns
1st declension
Case | Singular | Plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I. p. | Mother | Nanny | Aria | Moms | Nannies | Arias |
R. p. | Moms | Nannies | Arias | Mom | Nian | Arius |
D. p. | To mom | Nanny | Arias | Moms | Nannies | Ariam |
V. p. | Mom | Nanny | Aria | Mom | Nian | Arias |
etc. | Mom | Nanny(s) | Aria(s) | By moms | Nannies | Arias |
P. p. | About mom | About the nanny | About the aria | About moms | About nannies | About arias |
Pay attention!
Nouns of the 1st declension ending in -iya: army, aria, symphony, Maria and others - in the dative case and prepositional case of the singular they have the ending -i, like nouns of the 3rd declension.
Wed: to the army, about the aria, to the symphony, about the symphony, to Mary, about Mary.
For nouns ending in -ya: Marya, liar, cell
Wed: to Marya, oh Marya.
2nd declension. Masculine
Case | Singular | Plural | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
I. p. | House | Horse | Cue | At home | Horses | cues |
R. p. | At home | Horse | Kiya | Houses | Horses | Kyiv |
D. p. | Home | horse | Kiyu | Home | Horses | Kiyam |
V. p. | House | Horse | Cue | At home | Horses | cues |
etc. | Home | Horse | cue | Homes | Horses | Kiyami |
P. p. | About the house | About the horse | About the cue | About houses | About horses | About cues |
Pay attention!
Nouns of the 2nd declension ending in -iy (zero ending): cue, radium, proletarian, planetarium and others - in the single prepositional case they have the ending -i, like nouns of the 3rd declension.
Wed: about radium, about the planetarium.
For nouns ending in -ey, -ai (zero ending): edge, sparrow etc. - this rule does not apply (!).
Wed: about the edge, about the sparrow.
2nd declension. Neuter
Indeclinable nouns
Case | Singular | Plural | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
I. p. | Time | Path | Time | Paths |
R. p. | Time | Paths | Times | Ways |
D. p. | Time | Paths | From time to time | Ways |
V. p. | Time | Path | Time | Paths |
etc. | Time | By | At times | In ways |
P. p. | About time | About the path | About times | About the paths |
Pay attention!
In indirect cases, nouns ending in -mya have the suffix -en- ( time, seed, name).
Exception form the plural forms of the genitive case of nouns seed, stirrup - no seeds, no stirrups.
How to determine the gender of nouns?
Correctly determining the gender of nouns allows you to avoid errors in their agreement with verbs in the past tense form ( the coffee has cooled down or cooled down) and adjectives ( the coffee is delicious or delicious).
Since most often the grammatical gender of nouns does not directly correlate with the lexical meaning of the word, whether a noun is masculine, neuter or feminine has to be memorized (memorized). This is most difficult for those who study Russian as a foreign language.
Native speakers of Russian have difficulty determining grammatical gender with the following types of words:
- the largest group is indeclinable borrowed nouns: coffee, cocoa, Bordeaux, whiskey, brandy, boa, brie, argot, euro, Esperanto;
- foreign language geographical names: Monaco, Limpopo, Tokyo, Helsinki, Tartu, Capri, Chile, Yellow River;
- abbreviations: UN, UNESCO, NATO, CIS, PRO, VAK, TASS, GLONASS.
- some nouns ending in -Л in the form im. n. (doubts arise whether these words should be attributed to the second or third declension): tulle, callus, polish, roofing felt, valve.
- nouns, plural form including which usually denotes a pair of shoes: shoes, boots, slippers, sandals etc.
- compound nouns.
Let's look at each of these types of words in more detail.
1. Gender of indeclinable borrowed nouns
Most indeclinable nouns that look similar to indeclinable neuter nouns (such as sea And window), belong to the neuter gender: aromatic cocoa, aged Bordeaux, heady Chardonnay, hot cappuccino, locomotive depot, new coat, wicker flowerpot.
Word coffee strict literary norm prescribes the use of a masculine noun: the strong coffee has already cooled down. However, in casual oral speech, agreement in the neuter gender is acceptable: the coffee is cold.
It should be noted that there are many exceptions to this rule related to the influence of various analogies (such as the presence of a commonly used inflected Russian synonym; the possibility of substituting an inflected word denoting a generic concept, etc.). Thus, the masculine gender includes the words Euro(since most names of monetary units are masculine, cf.: dollar, ruble, pound, franc, tugrik...), bri, suluguni(the influence of the generic concept cheese), sirocco(the influence of the word wind), penalty(influence of the Russian synonym penalty kick). The feminine gender includes words Avenue(cf. street), kohlrabi(cabbage), salami(sausage), etc.
Some words can be used in two genders. Such words include, for example, nouns that look similar to inflected nouns in the plural form. h.: aged whiskey And aged whiskey; Armenian brandy And Armenian brandy. Therefore, in all doubtful cases, to determine the gender of a word, you should consult Russian dictionaries.
2. Gender of foreign-language geographical names
Most often, the gender of such names is determined by the generic word: distant (principality) Monaco, wide (river) Limpopo, densely populated (city) Tokyo. If you can use two different generic words, then agreement options are possible: independent (state) Haiti, independent (country) Haiti, distant (island) Haiti, beautiful (city) Brescia And beautiful (province) Brescia.
In some cases, the gender of a noun is established by tradition, so a dictionary check is required.
3. Gender of compound words (abbreviations)
The gender of abbreviations is usually determined by the reference word in the decoding of the abbreviation or by the generic word: NATO (alliance) decided, Moscow State University (university) accepted new students, the CIS (commonwealth) took the initiative, UNESCO (organization) declared 2009 the Year of Gogol.
More information about the correct use of abbreviations in the text can be found in the article How to use abbreviations correctly
4. Gender of nouns ending in -Л
The second declension and the masculine gender include, in particular, the following words: aerosol, polish, lampoon, vaudeville, quantile, quartile, endgame, tulle, roofing felt, flat.
The third declension and feminine gender include words such as mezzanine, callus, rosin, vacuole, triplet.
Gender affiliation and belonging to the second or third declension are checked in such cases in dictionary order. For example, you can use dictionaries in the “Word Check” section on our portal.
5. Names of shoes and paired items
Things to remember:
And also: gaiters - one gaiter, leggings - one gaiter, sideburns - one sideburn, leggings - one legging.
BUT: knee socks - one golf, rails - one rail, adjustments - one adjustment.
In addition, there is a bigender noun high boots. If in plural h. The emphasis falls on the end of the word (high boots, -o c), then the singular form is one ounce If in plural h. the emphasis falls on the stem ( u nty), form named after p.un. h. - at nta.
6. Compound nouns