Gender of nouns is a grammatical category, manifested in the ability of nouns to be combined with specific forms consistent words. The category of gender can be expressed semantically (that is, in meaning, only in animate nouns), grammatically and syntactically. Semantically, all nouns are male, female and average. Words indicating animals and male persons are masculine (brother, grandfather, student, goose, rooster, horse); nouns naming animals and female persons (sister, grandmother, student, goose, chicken, horse) - to the feminine gender; animals and persons regardless of gender (bogeyman, monster, face (human), child) - to the neuter gender.
The gender of nouns is expressed grammatically by ending in the nominative case. This category of gender is characteristic of both animate and inanimate inflected nouns. In this case, in addition to the 3 main genera, a general genus is also distinguished. The differences between them are presented in the table:
|
Masculine |
Feminine |
Neuter gender |
Common gender |
|
The ending is zero, the stem ends with a hard consonant or -th (chair, hero); The ending is zero, the stem ends with a soft consonant, and in the genitive case the endings are -а, -я (horse - horse, doctor - doctor, ivy - ivy). |
The ending -a, -ya (hand, earth), except for words naming male persons (servant, governor) and words with the suffix –in, indicating an augmentative subjective assessment (domina, mostina); The ending is zero, the stem ends with a consonant, and in the genitive case the ending is -i (rye - rye, tish - tishi, notebook - notebooks). |
Ending -o, -e (grain, sea); The words child, monster, monster, face; 10 different inflected nouns na -mya (tribe, time, name, banner, seed, stirrup, udder, crown, burden, flame); Some are inflexible inanimate nouns foreign language origin(taboo, taxi, jury, stew, interview, sconce). |
The endings -a, -ya, in words naming male and female persons (sleepyhead, grumpy, dirty, bully, stutterer, couch potato, orphan, suck-up, roar, ignorant). |
The gender of nouns can be determined syntactically by the form of the agreed word, which depends on the noun. Thus, participles, adjectives, ordinal numbers that agree with masculine nouns end in -y, -y, -oy (beautiful garden, singing boy, fighting soldier); with feminine nouns - on -aya, -aya (beautiful street, summer time); with neuter nouns - on -oe, -ee (beautiful sky, winter morning). Also, the gender of nouns is determined using the ending of the predicate, expressed by a verb in the past tense in the subjunctive or indicative mood, or participle or short adjective. Masculine – the predicate has a zero ending (the rain has passed, the plan has been completed); feminine– ending -a (the work is finished, the moon has risen); neuter gender– ending -o (the letter was received, the sun rose).
There are also indeclinable nouns. Most of them belong to the neuter gender (depot, interview and all substantivized indeclinable nouns like “hello”, “hurray”, “yes”, “tomorrow”, “I don’t want”). The following cases are exceptions:
Ga (hectare), coffee, poppies, penalty, suluguni, sirocco, equ, tornado, shimmy, as well as names of languages (Bengali, Urdu, Suomi, Pashto, Hindi) are masculine;
Avenue, bere, salami, kohlrabi are feminine.
Genus indeclinable nouns, such as geographical names, the names of newspapers and magazines can be determined by the gender of the noun with the meaning of a generic concept (full (lake) Ontario, Japanese (city) Tokyo, wide (river) Mississippi, published (newspaper) “The Times”). The gender of abbreviations must be determined by the gender of the main word (MSU - masculine - Moscow State University; UN - feminine - United Nations; CIS - neuter - Commonwealth independent states). It is impossible to establish the gender of nouns that are not used in the singular, but only in the plural, since they do not have a gender category (trousers, pitchforks, pasta, manger).
2. Determination of the type of abbreviations
Abbreviation as a way of forming new words by shortening the original complex phrase is relatively new for the Russian language. The beginning of mass abbreviation dates back to the 20s of the twentieth century, when many new institutions with long names appeared in the young Soviet Republic. At the same time, there was a need to denote them in abbreviations. For example: Moscow Art Theater, RSFSR, NEP; ROSTA windows(Russian Telegraph Agency.
Abbreviation as a method of word formation does not disappear; the number of abbreviations is growing, despite the protests of writers, journalists, and other representatives of the Russian-speaking intelligentsia, who from the very beginning criticized complex abbreviated words for their cumbersome, often dissonant nature. This method remains one of the most powerful and persistent language processes modernity, as it reflects the dynamic nature modern history. The abbreviation is not actually Russian, but in a universal way word formation, characteristic of many national languages.
At the first stage of their formation, abbreviations demonstrated the meaning of the gender of the core word of the original phrase. So, Moscow Art Theater is consistent in the masculine gender in accordance with the gender of the reference word (Moscow Art Academic theater them. M. Gorky); RSFSR– in women's (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic); housing department– neuter (housing and maintenance control).
However, over almost a century of active functioning, abbreviations have been divided into two groups according to the method of formation, which acquire the meaning of gender in different ways.
Letter abbreviations, educated with the help initial letters of the original name, retain the meaning of the gender of the stem word. For example: MSU, KPP, USSR, ICTs - male; ORT, CIS, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Design Bureau - average; LDPR, GTS, FSB – female. From the very beginning of its formation, a letter abbreviation acquires the status neologism- such a new word that does not fit into grammatical system given national language. Indeed, neoplasms like NTV, CSKA, EVM, GRU, UMPO does not correspond to the phonetic appearance of the Russian word, since in their structure there is no harmonious alternation of vowels and consonants. These words are pronounced by letter: Ministry of Emergency Situations[um-che-es], checkpoint[ka-pe-pe]. Therefore, alphabetic abbreviations fall into the category of unchangeable words, and to determine their type it is necessary to “reveal” their outer shell - decipher it, restoring the original phrase, find the core word and only after that carry out coordination with dependent words in accordance with the gender of the stem word. For example: take me to the first checkpoint(checkpoint); GTS(city telephone exchange) has not yet concluded an agreement with the new enterprise; UMPO(Ufa Engine Production Association) completely restored the previous volume of production orders.
Sound abbreviations are formed by merging the initial sounds of the original name: university, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, registry office, hydroelectric power station, housing office, ROE, GUNO, Labor Code, NOTES, RIO, traffic police, media, FIFA, TsGALI. Sound abbreviations show significant variations in gender.
If the appearance of a new word is a harmonious alternation of vowels and consonants, such as SGS, SGSG, SGSS, then the abbreviation quickly adapts to language environment, speakers begin to change this word in number and case, and also form new derivatives from it. This is what happened with abbreviations. University, Civil Registry Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Central Election Commission. Due to the frequency of use, some sound abbreviations were written using lowercase letters, since the speakers have almost completely lost their connection appearance with the content of the original name. Compare: study in technical university, best universities countries, university textbooks; go to the new registry office, documents from the registry office; The Russian Foreign Ministry stated...; representatives of the Central Election Commission.
Another reason for fluctuations in grammatical gender was the very difficulty of etymological deciphering the original phrase, which served as the basis for the creation of one or another abbreviation. K. S. Gorbachevich, author of the textbook “Norms of the Modern Russian Literary Language,” interviewed dozens of people (of course, not medical specialists) regarding the grammatical gender of the well-known abbreviation ROE. Compare: take blood for ROE, he has an elevated ROE. Almost everyone classified this compound word as neuter (according to formal sign). Few people remembered (and some did not know) about the core word of the abbreviation: ROE - reaction erythrocyte sedimentation. Here K. S. Gorbachevich notes: “Apparently, the rule itself, which prescribes an abbreviation to have the grammatical gender of its core word, needs to be revised.”
Thus, the type of sound abbreviations, similar in phonetic structure to ordinary Russian words, is determined formally - by the last sound of the stem. Nouns Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Housing Office, University, Registry Office, BAM, similar to monosyllabic masculine words such as house, poppy, ace, century, cake, function as masculine names: our housing office(housing maintenance office), prestigious university(higher education institution), city registry office(civil registration), unfinished BAM(Baikal-Amur Mainline). Nouns ROE, ESR, RONO, RIO were automatically related to neuter names, such as hay, window, sky: increased ESR(erythrocyte sedimentation rate) , RONO(district department public education) sent documents, RIO(editorial and publishing department) provided comments. IN Lately sound abbreviations appeared, having the form of a feminine noun: TEA(Freight forwarding agency), ASTA(astatic ammeter). They are used in the text as feminine names: TEA was created; ACTA was used in the study.
The contradiction that arises between the etymological meaning of the gender (the meaning of the gender of the core word) and the new formal motivation of the gender leads to such a phenomenon as fluctuations in the use of one or another gender. For example: Ministry of Foreign Affairs(Ministry of Foreign Affairs) stated And stated; ITAR-TASS(Information Telegraph Agency of Russia - Telegraph Agency of Sovereign Countries) reported And reported. Observations show that the inflected option predominates in colloquial speech. It gradually replaces the indeclinable version when using sound abbreviations. However, in strict official documents the meaning of the gender of the core word and the indeclinable variant are retained. Compare: Foreign Ministry statement(in official document) – documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs(V oral speech).
If a sound abbreviation has no analogies in the language, that is, does not correspond in its sound structure to ordinary nouns, such neologisms retain the meaning of the gender of the core word and function as immutable names. For example: modernized automated control system (automated system management), ultrasound scheduled(ultrasonography), UN(United Nations) organized a press conference, UGATU(Ufa State Aviation Technical University) sent the documents.
For borrowed sound abbreviations, the gender is most often determined by external form: wonderful FIAT(tracing paper from Italian FabrikaitalianadiautomobilediTorino), DEFA released New film (from German DeutscheFilmatellier– studio). The exception is NATO, w(North Atlantic Treaty Organization from English NorthAtlanticTreatyOrganization) And UNESCO(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization from English United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization).
Thus, the holistic perception of a sound abbreviation as independent word, easily subsumed by a morphological feature (the final sound of the stem) under one or another categorial-gender category of nouns, as well as the difficulty of establishing a core word (sometimes completely forgetting it) lead to a significant shift in abbreviations in relation to gender.
One of pressing problems speech culture is the creation of dissonant abbreviations and compound words. IN Soviet time such abbreviations as scrub (school worker), Minbumdrevprom(Ministry of Paper and Wood Processing Industry), UzODKS(Uzbek Friendship Society and cultural connection with foreign countries). Cacophonous neologisms still appear today (State Traffic Safety Inspectorate, RUBOP, Paper Products). To eliminate this problem, it is necessary to remember that an abbreviation is the result of the word-creating activity of the speakers themselves. Dissonant abbreviations appear due to indifferent attitude their creators to language and speech, and in general - as a result of the aesthetic illegibility of the native speaker.
Gender of nouns
(das Geschlecht der Substantive)
Noun in German, just like in Russian, can be masculine (Maskulinum), feminine (Femininum) and neuter (Neutrum).
It varies by case and has singular (Singular) and plural (Plural) forms. The gender of nouns in German and Russian can be the same.
Compare:
der Tisch - table
die Tasse - cup
das Fenster - window
Often the gender of nouns does not match. Compare: der Staat - state, das Buch - book, die Stadt - city.
The gender of nouns in German can be determined by meaning and suffixes.
Determining the gender of nouns by meaning
TO masculine relate:
1. Words meaning:
a) masculine persons:
der Mann - man, der Held - hero, der Junge - boy;
b) masculine animals: der Bär - bear, der Lowe - a lion.
2. Titles
a) seasons:
der Winter - winter, der Frühling - spring, der Sommer - summer, der Herbst - autumn;
b) months:
der Januar - January, der February - February, der März - March and etc.;
c) days of the week:
der Montag - Monday, der Dienstag - Tuesday, der Mittwoch - Wednesday and etc.;
d) parts of the day:
der Tag - day, der Abend - evening, der Morgen - morning.
3. Titles heavenly bodies(common and proper nouns): der Stern - star, der Planet - planet, der Mond - moon, der Mars - Mars, but: die Venus - Venus.
4. Names of parts of the world:
der Norden - north, der Süden - south, der Osten - East, der Westen - west.
5. Names of many mountains:
der Ural - Ural, der Harz - Harz, der Olymp - Olympus.
6. Names of precipitation:
der Regen - rain der Schnee - snow, der Hagel - hail
7. Names of monetary units:
der Rubel - ruble der Schilling - shilling, der Pfennig - pfenning, but die Mark - brand, die Kopeke - kopek, die Krone - crown.
TO feminine relate:
l. Words meaning:
a) female persons:
die Frau - woman, die Mutter - mother, die Tochter - daughter;
b) female animals:
die Kuh - cow, die Katze - cat, but das Huhn - chicken, das Schaf - sheep;
and the names of most of the trees and flowers:
die Tanne - spruce, die Linde - Linden, die Tulpe - tulip.
2. Names of many fruits and berries:
die Birne - pear, die Tomate - tomato, die Nuß - nut, but der Apfel - apple, der Pfirsich - peach.
3. Most of ship names:
die Russia - Russia, die Titanik - Titanic.
TO neuter relate :
1. Names of children and cubs:
das Kind - child, das Lamm - lamb, das Ferkel - piglet.
2. Names of most countries:
das Russland - Russia, das Germany - Germany, das Österreich - Austria, das Frankreich - France.
3. Names of cities: (das) Moskau, (das) Berlin, (das) Wien.
Determining gender by form (by suffixes)
TO male
-er, -ner, -ler, -ling, -el, -at, -et, -ant, -ent, -ist, -ismus, -är, -ier, -eur, -or, -ot, -it .
For example:
der Flieger - pilot, der Redner - speaker, der Poet - poet, der Jüngling - young man, der Graduate - graduate student, der Student - student, der Official - Officer, der Ingenieur - engineer, der Professor - Professor, der Patriot - patriot.
TO female Gender includes nouns with suffixes:
-in, -ung, -heit, -keit, -schaft, -el, -ei, -ie, -ik, -ion, -tion, -tät, -ur.
For example: die Lehrerin - teacher, die Bildung - education, die Freiheit - Liberty, die Tapferkeit - bravery, die Studentenschaft - students, die Malerei - painting, die Poesie - poetry, die Politic - policy, die Union - union, die Universität - university, die Natur - nature.
TO average Gender includes nouns with suffixes:
-chen, -lein, -tel, -um, -ment, -nis.
For example: das Mädchen - girl, das Tischchen - table, das Büchlein - little book, das Drittel - third, das Studio - studies, das Parliament - parliament, das Ereignis - event.
Determining the gender of a noun
| Rule | Wrong option | Correct option |
| 1. Indeclinable (unchangeable by case) nouns that mean: | ||
| Inanimate objects- belong to the neuter gender. Exceptions: avenue, broccoli, salami, kohlrabi(f.r); penalty(m.r.); coffee(m.i.s.r.) | Beautiful sconce, fashionable cap | Beautiful sconce, fashionable cap |
| Person - refers to the masculine or feminine gender, depending on the real gender of the designated person. Note: counterpart, protégé - words general kind | nice bourgeois dear fraulein | nice bourgeois dear fraulein |
| Animals are masculine. Exceptions: 1) Iwasi, Tsetse– female birth; 2) the feminine gender may include designations of a female animal (such as kangaroo feeding baby) | little pony big zebu | little Pony big zebu |
| Geographical concepts- belong to the same genus as common nouns, denoting generic concepts. For example: Sochi – m.r. (because it’s a city), Eri - s.r. (because lake ). But: Mali - s.r. (because the state) and w.r. (because country) | old Tbilisi | old Tbilisi |
| The names of press organs belong to the same gender as the corresponding noun denoting generic concept. For example: "Figaro Literary"– m.r. (because it's a magazine), "News Chronicle"– f.r. (because newspaper) | these "Humanite" | this "Humanité" |
| 2. Indeclinable abbreviations refer to the same thing grammatical gender, as key word in a phrase. For example: MSU – m.r. (because university); NPP– f.r. (because it is a station). | ||
| distant USA | distant USA | |
| 3. Declinable abbreviations (such as TASS, VAK, TUZ) are masculine | ||
| TASS reported... | TASS reported... | |
| 4. Gender of inflected nouns with zero ending type swan, shampoo is defined in the dictionary. For example: piano, tulle, shampoo– m.r.; corn, parcel, utensil– f.r. Note: report card– m.r., but in a phrase table of ranks– f.r. | ||
| admiring the swan old callus | admiring the swan old callus |
How to determine the gender of a noun?
How is the gender of nouns determined?
Ksyushenka
The gender of nouns is quite easy to determine.
Nouns female genders end in and I.(My Mother- the most best mom in the world. Noun - Mother refers to feminine nouns).
Nouns male genders end in hard consonant.(Today I dreamed of a beautiful dream. Noun - dream refers to masculine nouns).
Nouns average genders end in oh, yeah (Window it was open and you could hear him talking to someone. Noun - window refers to neuter nouns).
However, we should not forget about the gender of indeclinable nouns.
Here is information from Russian grammar for foreigners:
In general, indeed, the gender in most cases is determined by the ending. However, there are very, very many exceptions, so there is no need to talk about rules at all. Eg:
Masculine: nouns ending in:
- hard consonant - gender, chair;
- soft consonant (including th) - nail, fire, January, hero; ( what about "baldness"?)
- zh, sh, h, shch (without a soft sign) - knife, pencil, key, cloak.
Feminine: nouns ending in:
a) -a, -i, -iya - country, land, party ( But what about the man, uncle, Vanya?);
b) soft consonant - spruce, bed, square, laziness ( what about the stump?);
c) f, w, h, sch (with a soft sign) - rye, mouse, night, speech, help.
Neuter: nouns ending in:
a) -o, -e, -e, -ie - window, towel, gun, splendor;
b) -me - time, banner, flame.
So, the rules are best met by neuter nouns, and in order to determine the masculine and feminine gender, foreigners are advised to consult the instructions in the dictionary.
Nelli4ka
Need to ask a question regarding specific word, the genus of which must be determined: WHOSE / WHOSE / WHOSE is it / she / he, respectively?
I remember how we asked this question in class in chorus and also answered it together: it’s mine (neuter), she’s mine (feminine) or he’s mine (male).
The ending of the noun will not be particularly helpful in this matter, since, for example, often masculine words also have the so-called “feminine” ending “a”: manA, grandfather, etc.
Vladsandrovich
At school we were taught this:
If the word has a possessive form - HE IS MINE, then this is of course masculine.
If this very form sounds like - SHE IS MINE, then this is certain feminine.
And finally, if the word fits the wording - IT'S MINE, then this is certain neuter gender.
gender is determined by ending
female gender - ending ah, zero (you can substitute it as mine)
masculine - zero ending (HE'S MY)
neuter - ending zero, ee (it's mine)
Ni-nochka
In order to understand how to determine the gender of a noun, for clarity, let's use this picture
Now we see that to determine the gender of a noun, we can at help auxiliary words . But this is not the only thing that will help us. To determine the gender, we can also use hints in the form of the ending of a word. As a rule, feminine nouns have an ending in the form of “a” or “ya”, the neuter one has the endings “e” or “i”, but the masculine one either does not have an ending at all, or ends in “b” or a consonant.
But. In any rule, there is what is called an exception. When determining the gender of a noun, there are also “buts”, that is, exceptions that must be remembered.
Azamatik
Determining the gender of nouns by their ending is not entirely correct.
And all because many words that end in a vowel (for example, -a-, -ya-, etc.)) are not always feminine.
And nouns that end with soft sign, can be either feminine or masculine.
To determine the gender of a noun, it is best to resort to the help of other parts of speech: an adjective or a pronoun.
Dad is mine; strict dad (masculine); the horse is mine; gray horse (masculine); the shadow is mine; small shadow (feminine), etc.
Thus, auxiliary words will help determine the gender of a noun.
In order to determine the gender of a particular noun, you simply need to agree or simply apply the pronouns with it: mine, mine or my, or replace it with the word: he, she or it:
Thus, we get one of the three genders that exist in the Russian language.
For greater clarity and memorization, I will give below a table diagram, by referring to which you can quickly and correctly determine the desired genus.
Moreljuba
In order to determine the gender of a noun, it is worth resorting to the use of auxiliary words, which will help determine the gender of the noun.
As for such auxiliary words, they are listed in this tablet:
It turns out that if we take the word “man”, then to determine the gender we substitute the auxiliary word “he is a man” and we get the masculine gender accordingly.
Well-read Doug
Back in school, we were taught to determine the gender of a noun by asking the appropriate question to it.
Example: Pen whose? - My! This means that the noun “handle” is feminine.
Chair whose? - My! Here the noun chair is masculine. There is also the neuter gender and it answers the question " whose". For example, the task " whose"? My!
Dimasonus
The gender of a noun is determined by the ending of the word.
The feminine gender has the endings a\я_\ Additional question: she is mine
The masculine gender ends in _\ (zero). Helpful question: he's mine
The neuter gender has the ending u\e_. Additional question: it's mine.
The gender of a noun refers to its lexico-grammatical categories. Morphological character gender 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 a soft sign (rye). For animate nouns, the defining feature is that they belong to 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 of indeclinable nouns is related to their animate/inanimate nature, specific/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.
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, we ask a semantic question about this word: is it mine? She is mine? is it mine?
As can be seen from the table, gender is determined only for singular nouns. 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 of monetary units, is masculine. 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.
Everyone probably knows the joke about “coffee” and “whiskey” (usually found in the version with “ministry” and swear word"shit"). But for some words the gender is really difficult to determine. Now you will know everything.
For those preparing for the main school exam
Right: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a statement
MFA is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. And as we know, the type of abbreviation is used according to the main word - in our case it is “ministry”. That is, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a statement. But no. If you type into Google or Yandex in the “news” tab of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, everything there will be exclusively masculine. Because MFA is such an established abbreviation that it has almost become a masculine noun. And hence the masculine gender of the predicate. But at the same time, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Education and Science remain words of the neuter gender.
Right: I saw what strong tsunami was?
Co natural disasters Not everything is clear either. It seems that a tornado is definitely “it”, of the neuter kind. Because it ends in -o. Well, it means “tornado.” A tsunami is a wave. That means "she". But no. In fact, “tornado” is masculine. And the “tsunami”, although it is a wave, is average. Do not be surprised. It happens.
Right: one cappuccino
The debate of the century among coffee lovers. It's really complicated here. With coffee, everything is clear and understandable: there was “one coffee” - some could not remember and said “one coffee” - then the dictionaries allowed the use of both options in oral speech. But at the same time, there is only one literary option left: coffee is it. And it’s better to always say that. True coffee lovers will agree with us.
And now about the varieties. The fact is that back in the 2005 edition spelling dictionary“cappuccino” and “glaze” (if you rolled your eyes because we didn’t write double letters- urgently read the coffee literacy issue) were exclusively neuter. Dot. No other options were even given. But “espresso” - attention! – at the same time was masculine. Yes, one cappuccino and one espresso. Absurd. The compilers of the dictionary came to their senses and after some time made all these words (and “coffee” too) of two genders: both masculine and neuter. Well, to be sure they weren't mistaken. It’s strange that they haven’t thought about women’s yet. But real coffee lovers believe that, after all, all this is masculine (by pure chance, “Literacy on the Chalk” also turned out to be a coffee lover - and he can’t advise writing and speaking any other way).
Right: She's a great barista
No, we are not going to do another issue of “coffee literacy” (we can hardly restrain ourselves and it will definitely happen soon). But we can’t say enough about the barista. Firstly, he is a coffee maker, that is, a specialist in preparing coffee. Not to be confused with a bartender. And secondly, he has a completely unambiguous gender - masculine. Even if the barista is a girl.
Right: would you like to try my tiramisu?
Let’s admit: everything here is not as simple as with a barista. And even more difficult than with cappuccino. But we'll take the risk. Tiramisu is defined in different ways: it is a cake, a pastry, and a confectionery product. But this is also a dessert - it doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about cake or pastry. And here is the very case when determining the genus just helps to think about what it is. Well, except that it’s very tasty.
Right: look at my graffiti on the wall
Scissors, curlers, graffiti. What do all these words have in common? No, it is useless to count the number of letters - everyone is different. Looking for some patterns in writing is also an activity. Useless. These words have a special gender, because they are not masculine, feminine, or even neuter, as we are used to. Graffiti, scissors and curlers are used only in the plural form (come across the clever term pluralia tantum- it is the same). So if you want to brag about graffiti, you will have to speak in the plural, even if you depicted just one thing.
Right: the cat chewed my slipper
It so happened that the strongest doubts in the genus are in the words about shoes. Slipper or sneaker, shoe or shoe, sneaker or sneaker. Coincidence or not, but a slipper, shoe and sneaker without a pair are feminine. Although their male appearance is also very popular. Sometimes even more popular than the right one. And don't let cats chew your slippers or do something worse.
Right: I can't find the shoe
Even within sports shoes there is no consensus. For example, for some reason a sneaker without a pair is a girl, but a single sneaker is already a boy. So if you suddenly lost it, then it’s a sneaker, not a sneaker. But a sneaker!
Right: where is your sandal?
We're done with shoes. But here it is interesting word, which is simply impossible not to make out. We usually pronounce it in the plural - and even then incorrectly: sandals. We are losing last letter"and" at the end. And then in writing. Still, it’s not so common for us to double vowels. But we are more concerned about the fate of the singular: sandal, sandal or sandal? According to the old good tradition, of course, the feminine gender is sandal (and sandal is Genitive in plural).
Right: reserved seat / rail
For those who are traveling by train, have recently arrived or are about to leave. You definitely need to know these words so as not to embarrass yourself in front of the conductor. Let's start with the fact that the word “reserved seat” does not exist. Even if you called it a “reserved seat car”. In fact, a “reserved seat” (from the German platzkarte - seat map) means a boarding ticket. And yes, it is feminine. And let us also remember the children's rhyme: “Rails, rails, sleepers, sleepers, the train was traveling late.” To ensure that the train runs smoothly, remember: the sleeper is mine, but the rail is unexpectedly mine.
1. Noun. m.r., denoting female persons by profession, occupation (doctor, professor, accountant, cashier, director, deputy, foreman, etc.) are noun m.r.
Larisa Markovna - our scientific supervisor (m.b.) - asked to do the work on time.
Doctor (m.r.) Egorova, a leading specialist in genetics, has released a new monograph.
2. Nouns formed with the help of the suffixes -ish- and -ishk- belong to the same genus as the nouns from which they are formed: house (m.r.) - little house (m.r.), fire (m.r.) - conflagration (m.r.), cat (m.r.) - cat (m.r.).
3. Type of abbreviations(of complex abbreviated words) is most often determined by the reference word:
USPTU - the reference word “university” (m.r.) - USNTU (m.r.)
Hydroelectric power station - the reference word “station” (f.r.) - Hydroelectric power station (liquid)
4. In the Russian language there is a small group of nouns that have options m.r. and f.r.: shutter (m.r.) and shutter (zh.r.), hall (m.r.) and hall (zh.r.), banknotes (m.r.) and banknote (zh.r.).
5. A genus of borrowed indeclinable nouns. determined by the meaning of the word. Most undecided inanimate noun of foreign language origin include to Wed: bureau, depot, jelly, mango, subway, coat, puree, fillet, jury, foyer, interview, etc.
EXCL.: nouns, the gender of which is determined by the gender of Russian words that are similar in meaning:
Avenue (street) - residential district;
Kohlrabi (cabbage) - fat;
Penalty (free kick) - m.r.;
Salami (sausage) - female;
Ivasi (fish) - female;
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Coffee - m.r.
6. Animated borrowed indeclinable nouns. refer to m.r. or to f.r. depending on gender designated person:
M.R.: attache, bourgeois, dandy, entertainer, croupier, impresario, maestro, rentier, porter.
J.R.: Frau, lady, madam, miss, lady.
7. Animated borrowed indeclinable nouns denoting animals, insects, birds, relate to m.r., unless it is specifically stated that a female is meant:
white cockatoo (m.b.), little pony (m.b.), pink flamingo (m.b.)
BUT! The hummingbird (f.) laid a small egg.
8. Borrowed indeclinable nouns denoting geographical names have the same gender as noun. - generic concept (lake, city, mountain):
Mississippi(river) - river; lively Montevideo(city) - m.r.
9. NO KIND for nouns that do not have a singular form: gates, trousers, sleigh, yeast, scissors, name day, holidays, canopy, glasses, wallpaper, cream, day and etc.
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Tasks and exercises for self-control:
Make up phrases using the “adj. + noun.” Determine the gender of nouns.
Avenue, aerosol, parcel, meringue, borjomi, sconce, bourgeois, veil, riding breeches, house, jury, Ivasi, ingénue, cockatoo, kohlrabi, contralto, coffee, lady, salmon, menu, corn, mocha, mole, pemoxol, penalty, pony, purse, salami, travesty, tulle, flamingo, foyer, tsetse, shampoo.