I’d say that in 3/4 of cases the noun would be feminine, the rest are masculine. ЧАЙ ИЛИ КО́ФЕ – tea or coffee It is best to learn the words and the way they sound in different cases by heart. Both in Russian and English we have personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we,...) and possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, our,...) Case system for russian pronouns. There are 6 cases in Russian language, the first one – the Nominative case – is the original form of the word. It’s quite tricky when you see a soft sign in the ending. The nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals may have different case forms in the sentence. Now you can connect two or more words together. САЛФЕ́ТКА – napkin All Russian nouns belong to one of the three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter. ЛО́ББИ – lobby КАКА́О – cocoa A noun names a person, animal, phenomenon, thing, substance, etc. КАРАНДА́Ш – pencil ХОЛОДИ́ЛЬНИК – fridge Let’s learn Russian conjunctions И (and) and ИЛИ (or). РОССИ́Я – Russia СО́ЛНЦЕ – sun КЛАСС – class. – all the months: ЯНВА́РЬ, ФЕВРА́ЛЬ, МАРТ, АПРЕ́ЛЬ, МАЙ, ИЮ́НЬ, ИЮ́ЛЬ, А́ВГУСТ, СЕНТЯ́БРЬ, ОКТЯ́БРЬ, НОЯ́БРЬ, ДЕКА́БРЬ). In Russian, it’s fairly easy to understand what category the word belongs to. However the task is complicated by numerous exceptions you need to memorize. СИТУА́ЦИЯ – situation – most nouns in -БЬ, -ВЬ, -ДЬ, -ЗЬ, СЬ, -РЬ, -ТЬ (except for ДОЖДЬ – rain, КНЯЗЬ – prince, НО́ГОТЬ – nail, МЕДВЕ́ДЬ – bear and others). ШО́У – show УПРАЖНЕ́НИЕ – exercise ЖЕЛЕ́ – jelly МОСКВА́ ИЛИ ПАРИ́Ж – Moscow or Paris, СУП И ДЕСЕ́РТ – soup and dessert ЛА́МПА – lamp НОЧЬ (night), ПО́МОЩЬ (help), АПТЕ́КАРЬ (apothecary), ВЕ́РНОСТЬ (devotion), КОРОЛЕ́ВА (queen), ПРИНЦЕ́ССА (princess), МАТЬ (mother), КНИ́ГА (book), СТУДЕ́НТ (student), БРОШЬ (brooch), ЛЕ́ДИ (lady), ДИВА́Н (sofa), СТУЛ (chair), МАГАЗИ́Н (store), ЛЕ́СТНИЦА (stairs), НОУТБУ́К (laptop), САЛФЕ́ТКА (napkin), АЛЬБО́М (album), ГЛУБЬ (depth), ЗЕ́РКАЛО (mirror), ЭКРА́Н (screen), КРУ́ЖКА (mug), БЛЮ́ДЦЕ (saucer), ЛО́ЖКА (spoon), РУБА́ШКА (shirt), КА́РТА (nap), КО́ФЕ (coffee), СА́ХАР (sugar). Real Russian Club. МАШИ́НА И МОТОЦИ́КЛ – car and bike. Masculine nouns ending in a consonant add -ы in the plural. АМПЛУА́ – role. Hard and Soft Nouns. КОРЗИ́НА – basket ДОМ – house Below is a simple process to determing the gender of most Russian nouns. And practice with short sentences from Russian Lesson 1, Russian Lesson 2 and Russian Lesson 3. Why is it important? When later we start using adjectives and verbs, it is the gender that affects the endings. ПА́ПА И МА́МА – Mom and Dad All Russian nouns belong to one of the three genders: masculine, feminine, neuter. РА́ЛЛИ – rally A little practice and you’ll start feeling the right gender naturally. – most nouns in -АРЬ: ПЕКАРЬ (baker), ВРАТА́РЬ, ДИКА́РЬ. РАГУ́ – stew СЕМЬЯ́ – family Actually, adjectives ending in ж, ч, ш, щ, such as свежий (fresh), горячий (hot), хороший (good), общий (general, common), are soft. лето --> лете (the ending -о becomes -е) стол --> столе (the ending -е is added) Very often the case of a noun is connected with a preposition which stands before it. РУ́ЧКА – pen ТАКСИ́ – taxi ЗАВО́Д – factory О́ФИС – office ЖЮРИ́ – jury Also remember that words ВРЕ́МЯ (time) and И́МЯ (name) are neuter, too. КО́МНАТА – room. МОСКВА́ – Moscow Don’t think about it too much. ТЕЛЕФО́Н – phone А́НГЛИЯ (England), ВЬЕТНА́М (Vietnam), АМЕРИКА (America), ИРА́Н (Iran), ЛО́НДОН (London), ВЕНЕ́ЦИЯ (Venice), МАДРИ́Д (Madrid), ВЕ́НА (Vienna), БРАТИСЛА́ВА (Bratislava), БУДАПЕ́ШТ (Budapest), БРАЗИ́ЛИЯ (Brazil), АРГЕНТИ́НА (Argentina), ИРА́К (Iraq), РИМ (Rome), ПЕТЕРБУ́РГ (Petersburg), БЕРЛИ́Н (Berlin). The endings of Russian words change depending on the case they are in. – most nouns in -ТЕЛЬ (УЧИ́ТЕЛЬ – teacher, СТРОИ́ТЕЛЬ – builder, КРАСИ́ТЕЛЬ – dye). КУПЕ́ – compartment МУЖЧИ́НА ИЛИ ЖЕ́НЩИНА – man or woman You'll find below two tables: possessive and personal pronouns. ДЕ́РЕВО – tree Below we offer to your attention tables with endings per case and links to related lessons. Why is it important? The general rule to determine the gender is to analyze the noun ending. ГАЗЕ́ТА – newspaper ВЕЧЕР – evening Some guidelines for you below. Try to apply them to the words you already know. When later we start using adjectives and verbs, it is the gender that affects the endings. – «natural» gender again: МАТЬ (mother), ДОЧЬ (daughter), СВЕКРО́ВЬ (mother-in-law), – all nouns in -ЖЬ, -ЧЬ, -ШЬ, -ЩЬ, -ЗНЬ, -МЬ, -ПЬ, -ФЬ, – all nouns in -СТЬ, except for ГОСТЬ (guest) and ТЕСТЬ (father-in-law). МО́РЕ – sea ВИНО́ – wine РЕСТОРА́Н – restaurant Basic Plural Endings. Verbs and participles can be reflexive, i.e. ЗИМА́ – winter Updated November 03, 2019 The Russian language has six cases to show what function a noun has in a sentence: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental, and prepositional. СМЕТА́НА – sour cream This is accomplished through a system of grammatical cases where nouns, pronouns, and adjectives change their endings depending on their role in the sentence. ЗО́ЛОТО – gold ПРЕЗЕНТА́ЦИЯ – presentation have reflexive suffix -ся/-сь appended after ending. In Russian, it’s fairly easy to understand what category the word belongs to. МАШИ́НА – car ПИ́ЦЦА – pizza БОРЩ – borscht МУЗЕ́Й – museum Each table shows the 6 Russian cases and their endings. ПИ́ВО – beer – «natural» masculines: ЦАРЬ – tsar, КОРО́ЛЬ – king, ЗЯТЬ – son-in-law, ПА́РЕНЬ – lad. СТОЛ – table МИКРОФО́Н – microphone МЕ́СТО – place ОКНО́ – window ЕДА́ – food Other nouns replace their characteristic endings by those indicated in the table. Grammatical conjugation is subject to three persons in two numbers and two simple tenses (present/future and past), with periphrastic forms for the future and subjunctive, as well as imperative forms and present/past participles, distinguished by adjectival and adverbial usage (see adjectival participle and adverbial participle). ЛИЦО́ – face. СЕ́РДЦЕ – heart РЕЗЮМЕ́ – resume, CV Thus, to understand Russian speech and speak Russian correctly, it is necessary to learn how to use cases in Russian. Our course covers each of the Russian case in detail. ТЕЛЕВИ́ЗОР – TV-set © 2017 All Rights Reserved. ШОКОЛА́Д – chocolate МЕНЮ́ – menu In Russian grammar, the system of declension is elaborate and complex.Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, demonstratives, most numerals and other particles are declined for two grammatical numbers (singular and plural) and six grammatical cases (see below); some of these parts of speech in the singular are also declined by three grammatical genders (masculine, feminine and neuter). If it seems too difficult and confusing, don’t worry! У́ТРО – morning ЧАЙ – tea There are three genders in Russian: masculine, feminine and neutral. The so-called "mixed adjectives" have both hard and soft endings. ЗДА́НИЕ – building СТУЛ – chair There are two numbers in Russian: the singular and the plural. The endings in хорошая, русский, etc., simply follow the "spelling rule" (see "Pronunciation").