Russian/Grammar/Gender
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[edit] Gender
Russian nouns are either masculine, feminine, or neuter. You can usually identify a noun's gender by its ending:
Masculine nouns end in a consonant. Remember that й is a consonant.
Feminine nouns end in а or я.
Neuter nouns end in о or е.
Nouns ending in ь can be masculine or feminine. There's no rule, you just have to memorize the gender of these words.
[edit] Plural
Plural nouns can be treated as a fourth gender.
Masculine and feminine nouns generally add ы (if masculine) or change а to ы (if feminine). Those are called the "hard endings." Words with "soft endings" й (masculine), я (feminine), and ь (masculine or feminine) add и (if masculine) or change я to и (if feminine).
Neuter nouns change о to а ("hard ending"), and change е to я ("soft ending").
[edit] 7-Letter Spelling Rule
However, г, ж, к, х, ч, ш, and щ, you use и, not ы. This 7-letter spelling rule also applies to adjectives. As a memory aid, ч, ш, and щ are together in the alphabet, and г, к, and х are pronounced at the back of the mouth.
[edit] Exceptional plurals
Some masculine nouns drop the last vowel before adding ы or и. E.g., подарок (present or gift) becomes подарки.
Some masculine nouns add stressed a for plural. E.g., дом (house) becomes дома́ (houses).
Words of foreign origin ending in o, и, or у don't change between singular and plural. E.g., радио means "radio" or "radios." Note that foreign nouns with these endings also don't change in prepositional case (e.g., Colorado, Kentucky, and Peru). Not a book title page. Please remove {{alphabetical}} from this page.
