In this lesson we are talking about the Russian plurals. Like in English, to make a plural form from a Russian noun you need to modify its ending. Unlike in English, there are a few possible endings depending on the gender and the ending the noun has in its singular form. So let’s see how it works: Study the lesson »
One of the main differences between Russian and English is the fact that every Russian noun belongs to one of the 3 genders: masculine, feminine or neuter.
Knowing the gender of a noun is important as it affects the endings the noun takes in different cases.
It’s quite easy to figure out the gender when we are talking about people, but what to do when the noun is inanimate? The answer is: look at the word’s ending.
Feminine nouns
The feminine nouns end in -А, -Я or -Ь.
Examples:
– кни́га [knée-ga] – book
– неде́ля [nee-dyé-lya] – week
– ночь [noch’] – night
Neuter nouns
The neuter nouns end in -O, -Е. Examples:
– о́блако [ób-la-ka] – cloud
– зна́ние [zná-nee-ye] – knowledge
– со́лнце [són-tse] – sun
Masculine nouns
The masculine nouns often have no ending, i.e. the last letter is a consonant. Sometimes they end on -Ь (as the feminine nouns, do not get confused). Examples:
– день [dyen’] – day
– год [got] – year
Exceptions
There is also a number of exceptions. For example, some words are masculine despite their endings:
– пáпа [pá-pa] – dad
– дя́дя [dyá-dya] – uncle
– ко́фе [kó-fye] – coffee
These words are neuter despite ending in -Я:
– вре́мя [vryé-mya] – time
– и́мя [ée-mya] – name
Some words can be masculine and feminine at the same time:
– колле́га [kal-lyé-ga] – colleague
– копу́ша [ka-pú-sha] – slowpoke
Now, you are familiar with the gender in Russian and know how to determine a gender of a Russian noun. Practice all these words with the audio recording. And come back to learn Russian in the next lesson!