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Russian noun practice: gender and plurals

Every Russian noun has a gender: a grammatical class, masculine, feminine or neuter, that decides the form of every word agreeing with it. You can almost always tell the gender from the last letter. Then test how nouns make their plural.

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онона́оно́ MASCULINEFEMININENEUTER –-а -я-о -е consonantvowel а, яvowel о, е столкни́гаокно́ tablebookwindow
The ending tells the gender. он, она́, оно́ are the words for “he”, “she” and “it”, and also mean “it” for things of that gender.
Sets
Gender from the ending Nouns ending in ь People and exceptions Plurals

Gender from the ending

Look at the last letter: a consonant means masculine, а or я feminine, о or е neuter. Noun gender guide →

  1. Which gender? dom house
  2. Which gender? LAM-pa lamp
  3. Which gender? MO-rye sea
  4. Which gender? ni-DYE-lya week
  5. Which gender? mu-ZYEY museum
  6. Which gender? SON-tse sun

Nouns ending in ь

A noun ending in the soft sign ь can be masculine or feminine; the ending does not tell you. Learn these with their gender. Two clues help: names of months are masculine, and nouns in -ость are feminine. Noun gender guide →

он · MASCULINEона́ · FEMININEслова́рь · день · янва́рьdictionary · day · JanuaryClue: all twelve months.ночь · мышь · ра́достьnight · mouse · joyClues: -чь, -шь, -жь, -щь, -ость.
The soft sign ь gives no gender on its own. These clues cover many words; learn the rest with он or она́ attached.
  1. Which gender? sla-VAR’ dictionary
  2. Which gender? noch night
  3. Which gender? sin-TYABR’ September
  4. Which gender? RA-dast’ joy

People and exceptions

Words for male people are masculine even when they end in а or я. A few nouns in -мя are neuter, and borrowed words ending in a vowel such as кафе́ or ра́дио are neuter and never change. Noun gender guide →

  1. Which gender? PA-pa dad
  2. Which gender? DYA-dya uncle
  3. Which gender? EE-mya first name
  4. Which gender? ka-FE café

Plurals

Masculine and feminine nouns take -ы, or -и after soft endings and after г, к, х, ж, ш, ч, щ (a spelling rule). Neuter nouns take -а or -я. Some common nouns are irregular. Plurals guide →

MASCULINE · FEMININENEUTERстол → столы́кни́га → кни́ги-ы, or -и after г к х ж ш ч щ and soft endingsокно́ → о́кнапо́ле → поля́-о → -а, -е → -я
Two plural patterns cover most nouns. Stress often moves in the plural, so learn both forms with their accent.
  1. Plural? stol table
  2. Plural? KNEE-ga book
  3. Plural? ak-NO window
  4. Plural? PO-lye field
  5. Plural? dom house
  6. Plural? chi-la-VYEK person