All Russian speakers are accustomed to words divided into three categories of grammatical gender: masculine, feminine and neuter. But at the same time, there are languages in the world in which the category of gender is completely absent. And languages in which the number of genders is in the dozens.
In fact, most languages have no concept of gender at all. A typical example of this is. Although, there is another opinion - that the gender is present in any case, it’s just that the endings of the words do not change. Pronouns (he/she/it) and words like lion/lioness are also cited as evidence of gender in English. However, in in this case It's more about vocabulary.
There are no genders in many other languages. For example, . Moreover, in the overwhelming majority (about 3/4) modern languages there is no concept of grammatical gender.
This does not bother native speakers in any way. Moreover, in some cases, the absence of gender may even make life easier. For example, there is no need to solve riddles like: “coffee” and “whisky” are “he” or “it”. And schoolchildren do not have to memorize what gender a particular word belongs to.
On the other hand, in some cases gender can be used as a tool for disambiguation. For example, in Russian there are the words “friend” and “girlfriend”, while in English only “friend” - the gender here can be determined solely from the context.
The presence of gender in the target language can significantly complicate learning for a native speaker of a language that does not have such a concept. Also, many problems arise in cases where the births do not coincide. For example, the word “chair” in Russian is masculine, while in French (chaise) it is feminine. There are many such examples.
IN various languages The gender of a noun can influence other words in a sentence. For example, in Russian the verb changes: “the cat ran”, but “the cat ran”. At the same time, depending on the gender, the article changes, but not the verb. At the same time, there are languages in which changes can be literally total. For example, not only verbs can agree by gender (and even in all tenses), but also adverbs with prepositions.
Some languages have two genders. For example, in Swedish, masculine and feminine genders were so similar that over time they merged into one common gender. As a result, the language has only neuter and common gender. The situation is similar in language. IN Arabic also there are only two genders - masculine and feminine.
Languages with genders can be divided into 4 main types:
- Masculine and feminine ( , Albanian...);
- Male, female and neuter gender ( , …);
- General and neuter gender (,...);
- Animate and inanimate (Basque, some extinct languages).
In some languages it is very easy to determine what gender a word is. For example, in (with rare exceptions) all masculine words end in -o, and female- on -a. In Russian there are no clear boundaries. In addition, often words that mean the same thing can have different genders. A typical example: the word “potato” is masculine, and “potato” is feminine.
There are also languages in which the number of genders is so large that they use the concept of “class”. Moreover, the number of such classes can exceed several dozen. For example, there may be classes of plants, animals, objects, etc. There are especially many languages with such features in Africa. Moreover, in them the class of the noun often influences not only the verb, but in general almost all the words in the sentence.
However, all the languages of the world have one thing in common - a noun cannot arbitrarily change its gender (class). Unless it changes over time. This usually happens with words of foreign origin that have already had time to “get comfortable.”
The reasons for the emergence of division into clans are not known, because all this happened in very ancient times. It is only clear that the basis of everything was the way of life primitive people and their needs. But which ones exactly, one can only guess. Scientists are building various assumptions, looking more or less convincing.
And we can’t help but mention one more important aspect - grammatical gender, its presence or absence, has a huge impact on the culture of the people who are native speakers.
The gender of a noun refers to its lexico-grammatical categories. Morphological character kind is manifested in the ability of this part of speech to be combined with dependent words. Nouns belonging to different genders differ from each other case endings in declension, word-formation structure and some lexical features. There are three forms of gender in the Russian language - masculine, feminine and neuter.
You will need
- - analyzed word;
- - linguistic dictionary or study guide.
Instructions
When determining the feminine gender of inanimate nouns, keep in mind that they have endings in the form nominative case singular -а, -я (wall, will) and zero if the noun ends in soft sign(rye). For animate nouns the defining feature is that they are female creatures (girl, cat). To avoid confusing the endings of feminine and masculine nouns, substitute the pronouns “she, mine” to check. For example, a song (she, mine).
Determine the masculine gender of nouns by ending initial form: zero for words ending in a consonant (house, table), -a, -ya - for animate nouns naming male creatures (uncle, Seryozha). In order not to confuse the gender of nouns ending in a soft sign, also substitute the pronoun “he, my” (stump, day) to check.
Determine neuter nouns by the endings of the initial form -о, -е and by substituting the pronouns “it, mine” (field, window). Please note that the group indeclinable nouns, ending in the combination -mya, also refers to the neuter gender (tribe, seed, etc.). Among neuter nouns there are almost no animate ones, their number is very small (child, creature, animal).
Among nouns, there are several special groups, the determination of gender in which is difficult. These include common nouns, indeclinables and compound words.
Correlate the meanings of common nouns with their belonging to animate objects of the female or male gender. For example, a slob girl (feminine), an arrogant boy (masculine). General nouns include those that denote the qualities of people (glutton, ignorant, crybaby) or the names of persons by profession, position, occupation (architect Ivanov - architect Ivanova).
Keep in mind that the gender indeclinable nouns associated with their animateness/inanimateness, species/ generic concept. For animate indeclinable nouns, determine gender by gender (Monsieur, Miss). Nouns that give names to animals and birds are masculine (pony, kangaroo, cockatoo). Inanimate ones usually belong to the neuter gender (coat, muffler). Exceptions are words whose gender is determined by association with generic names: kohlrabi - cabbage (feminine), Hindi - language (masculine), etc.
General nouns in Russian form a special group. Its definition is based on the grammatical uniqueness of words, which is based on a change in gender depending on the gender of the specified person.
Gender of nouns
There are a total of 4 genders for nouns in Russian: neuter, masculine and feminine. The last three are easy to determine by the ending or semantic context. But what to do if the word can mean both male and female? This problem occurs with the words “bully”, “cunning”, “rogue”, “wretch”, “touchy”, “sleepy”, “mediocre”, “inhuman”, “hurry”, “piggy”, “bully”, etc. which may change.
It is traditionally believed that there are only three genders in the Russian language, they include masculine, feminine and neuter. To determine the gender of some common words it was customary to refer to the context. The names of professions, for example, are divided into parallel names: saleswoman-saleswoman, teacher-teacher, schoolboy-schoolgirl, pilot-pilot, cook-cook, writer-writer, athlete-athlete, leader-leader. At the same time, in official documents The masculine gender of these words is more often used for women. And there are also those designated exclusively masculine examples of common nouns: gynecologist, lawyer, linguist, philologist, correspondent, ambassador, academician, judge, toastmaster, surgeon, doctor, therapist, paramedic, foreman, courier, curator, appraiser, insurer, diplomat, politician, employee, specialist, worker . Now there is a trend similar words refer to the general gender, since they can be applied to both men and women.
Ambiguity of opinions
Disputes about recognizing the existence of a common genus have been going on since the 17th century. Then similar words were mentioned in the grammars of Zizaniy and Smotrytsky. Lomonosov singled out such nouns, pointing out their formal characteristics. Later, researchers began to doubt their existence, defining such nouns as words with alternating gender, depending on what was implied.
So to this day, opinions are divided; some scientists consider common nouns in the Russian language to be separate homonym words different kinds, and the other recognizes them in a separate group.
Surnames
Some words can be classified as words of general gender inflexible surnames foreign origin and Russian surnames with -о and -ы/х. Sagan, Depardieu, Reno, Rabelais, Dumas, Verdi, Maurois, Hugo, Defieux, Michon, Tussaud, Picasso and others. All this among foreign names. Among the Slavic surnames of the common family, the following are often found: Tkachenko, Yurchenko, Nesterenko, Prokhorenko, Chernykh, Makarenko, Ravenskikh, Kucherenko, Dolgikh, Savchenko, Sedykh, Kutsykh and others.
Nationalities
The names of some nationalities are defined as words of a general gender. These include: Khanty, Mansi, Quechua, Komi, Gujarati, Hezhe, Mari, Sami. The fact is that “Mari” and “Mari” already exist, but the word “Mari” will be common to the entire nation or nationality.
According to the same principle, the names of breeds (Sivka, Okapi, Bulanka), as well as representatives of groups (vis-a-vis), are also included in the general genus.
Informal proper names
In addition to surnames, there is an interesting separate category proper names related to the topic of the article. These are abbreviations for official names, which often cause confusion during gender determination.
The name "Sasha" can belong to both Alexandra and Alexander, and the name "Valya" is used to call both the girl Valentina and the boy Valentin. Other such names include “Zhenya” from Evgeniy and Evgeniya, “Slava” from Yaroslav and Yaroslava, Vladislav and Vladislava, “Vasya” from Vasily and Vasilisa.
Evaluative, characterizing words
However, for the first time about the existence common nouns the question arose due to evaluative words affecting the character or traits of a person. In direct speech, when using them, it can be more difficult to track the gender of the recipient of the remark, for example: “You are a bully!” Here the word "bully" can be addressed as female, and for men. These also include words of the general kind “bully”, “rogue”, “clever”, “well done”, “tramp”, “egoza”, “cripple”, “stinker”, “big”, “little fellow”, “ disheveled."
In fact, there are a lot of similar evaluative words. They can be both positive and negative meaning. However, such words should not be confused with an assessment as a result of metaphorical transfer, due to which they retain the original gender: crow, fox, rag, ulcer, beluga, goat, cow, deer, woodpecker, seal.
To words of general gender with negative and positive value include: idiot, bigot, reptile, thug, baby, child, baby, quiet, invisible, poor thing, couch potato, dirty guy, big guy, sweet tooth, neat, greedy, curmudgeon, chatterer, beast, star, idle talker, mumbler, arrogant, scoundrel, klutz, weasel, ask, hard worker, hard worker, ignorant, onlooker, drunkard, sweetheart, cudgel, imagined, hillbilly, slob, sleepyhead, sneak, whim, liar, scavenger, fidget, toastmaster, swashbuckler, rake.
An example of use is clearly shown in fiction: “A little son came to his father” (Mayakovsky), “There lived an artist Tube, a musician Guslya and other kids: Toropyzhka, Grumpy, Silent, Donut, Rasteryayka, two brothers - Avoska and Neboska. And the most famous among them was a kid named Dunno " (Nosov). Perhaps, it is the works of Nikolai Nosov that will become a real collection of words with a common gender.
The fewest words in this group are occupied by neutrally expressed ones, such as: right-handed, left-handed, colleague, namesake, orphan. The gender of such words is also common.
How to determine gender in common gender?
Common gender nouns in the Russian language are determined by the impossibility of confidently indicating gender in the absence of pronouns and generic endings adjectives. Words that can be classified as either masculine or feminine will be included in this group.
In order to determine the gender of a noun, accompanying words are most often used demonstrative pronouns“this, this, that, that”, endings of adjectives -aya, -y/iy. But if the name of a profession, position or rank is determined with a consonant ending “sergeant, doctor, doctor, director” and others, then the adjective can only be masculine, but the predicate is expressed feminine. “The doctor prescribed the drug” and “An attractive doctor came out of hospital", "The sergeant gave the order" and "The strict sergeant allowed me to rest", "This Marina Nikolaevna is an exemplary teacher!" and "An exemplary teacher conducted public lesson", "The cheerful puppeteer gave a performance" and "The old master sat down on the porch." The predicate does not have to show gender, then the task of determining gender becomes more complicated: "The teacher conducts a lesson", "The specialist makes a decision."
Variety of examples
Thanks to the examples, it becomes clear that a wide variety of words can be found among common nouns, such as “daredevil”, “bully”, “bred”, “forester”, “old-timer”, “tail”, “six”, “ignorant”, “boring”, “white-handed”, “slut”, “weeper”, “dirty”, “little one”. And other words. But they are all united by ambiguity in the definition of gender. Orphan, stylist, marketer, comrade, coordinator, curator, Russian specialist, linguist, shirt, foreman, kid, judge, kolobrodina, feisty, razin, protégé, roar, singer, muffin, bombard, dunce, stupid, suck-up, upstart, youngster, fearful, poor thing, lame, charming, first-grader, high school student, eleven-year-old - all these nouns can be used in relation to both genders.
The wide cultural distribution of common nouns in the Russian language is also interesting. For example, they were widely used in proverbs and sayings:
- A healthy man in food, but a cripple in work.
- For every simpleton there is a deceiver.
- A reveler in his youth is modest in his old age.
- A drunkard is like a chicken, where he steps, he will peck.
And in literature:
- “So a strange deal took place, after which the tramp and the millionaire parted, quite satisfied with each other” (Green).
- “Good girl, one orphan” (Bazhenov).
- “Your cleanliness, as doctors say, is sterile” (Dubov).
- “Hillbilly! - What? - She recoiled” (Shargunov).
There are many such examples in the literature. Determining the general gender of the words listed in the exercise is one of the tasks in the Russian language lesson that is easy to cope with.
What is gender in relation to the Russian language, how many genders are there in the Russian language and which ones are distinguished?
Schoolchildren begin to become familiar with this category in primary school, gradually deepening and consolidating your knowledge. In the fifth grade, information about the genus is replenished and consolidated on more complex material.
How many genders are there in Russian?
The following system is presented in Russian:
- Feminine gender.
- Masculine.
- Neuter gender.
- Common gender.
The gender of words used only in plural.
How many genders does a noun have in Russian?
To determine the gender of a noun, set to this word semantic question: is it mine? She is mine? is it mine?
As can be seen from the table, gender is determined only for nouns in singular. Nouns used only in the plural (trousers, glasses, sleigh) are outside the category of gender.
When determining the gender of nouns, schoolchildren often have difficulty with words like “knowledgeable”, “clever”, “fidget” and the like. For example: he was a big fidget and she was a big fidget. Are these words feminine or masculine? This is where the question posed in the title arises: how many genders are there in the Russian language? Scientists have two points of view on this matter: some classify them as masculine or feminine, depending on the context, others identify such words in special kind- general.
Indeclinable foreign language nouns also cause difficulties. In writing, they resemble words related to the neuter gender. Indeed, most of them belong precisely to this genus, but there are (let's say) exceptions to the rule.
Yes, according to literary norm, the noun "coffee" is masculine. It would be incorrect to say “my coffee.” This is a mistake, the correct option is “my coffee”.
The noun "euro", by analogy with other names monetary units, refers to the masculine gender. By the same principle, the nouns “suluguni”, “sirocco”, “penalty” refer to the masculine. Based on the same analogy, the nouns "avenue", "salami", "kohlrabi" are feminine.
If you have any doubts about the gender of a noun, you should consult Russian dictionaries.
How to determine the gender of an adjective?
Unlike a noun, for which the gender category is unchangeable, for an adjective it is a changeable category and is determined depending on the context. The rule by which the gender of this part of speech is determined is in the following way: the gender of the adjective is determined by the word it defines, that is, by the noun.
For example:
- The girl was wearing a beautiful (s.r.) dress. (“Dress” is mine, therefore it is neuter, which means the adjective “beautiful” is neuter).
- He was a handsome (m.) man. The street is beautiful (f.r.).
Indeclinable adjectives are also distinguished. For example: khaki pants.
Now you know the answer to the question of how many genders there are in the Russian language. We also analyzed their definition using examples. It is very important to be able to determine the gender of a noun or adjective - this will help to avoid grammatical errors.
The main grammatical feature that is inherent in almost every part of speech is the category of gender. How many genders do nouns have and how to determine correctly this category this part of speech? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article.
What is the gender of nouns?
Category of gender of nouns in Russian– a grammatical sign indicating the gender (gender) of the object (living creature, phenomenon) called by the noun or its absence. Gender is permanent grammatical feature nouns and is studied in 6th grade.
Features of the category of gender of nouns
There are three types of nouns in the Russian language:
- Male (he). Masculine nouns in the singular I. p. have the endings -a, -я, and zero.
Examples of masculine nouns: dad, uncle, knife, table, hawk.
- Female (she). Feminine nouns in the singular I. p. have the endings -a, -я, and zero.
Examples of feminine nouns: wife, nanny, night, glory, desert.
- Average (it). Neuter nouns in the singular I. p. have endings -о, -е.
Examples of neuter nouns: swamp, gold, sun, lake, jam.
There is also a class of words, the so-called general gender, which, depending on the context, can be used in both masculine and feminine genders
(boring, sissy, crybaby, smart, greedy).
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How to determine the gender of a noun?
For animate nouns, the gender coincides with the gender of a living creature, a person (father, interlocutor - m.r., girlfriend, gossip - f.r.).
For all nouns, gender can be determined by grammatical form an adjective that agrees with a noun:
- Masculine whose? Which? ( White snow, good advice);
- Feminine. Nouns agree with adjectives that answer questions - whose? which? (fresh newspaper, cheerful friend);
- Neuter gender. Nouns agree with adjectives that answer questions - whose? which? (green field, tall building).