Gender

Gender: Nouns are classified in Russian according to three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. The grammatical gender of a noun, which is constant, can usually be identified by its ending in the nominative case, that is, the dictionary form of the noun.

1. The endings used to mark masculine nouns are:

hard -ø (zero ending or nouns ending in consonants) – стол (table)

soft -ь  - словарь (dictionary)

soft -й – музей (museum)

2. The endings used to mark feminine nouns are:

hard -a – квартира (flat)

soft -я – кухня (kitchen)

soft -ь – площадь (square)

soft -ия – лекция (lecture)

3. The endings used to mark neuter nouns are:

hard -o – окно (window)

soft -e – море (sea)

soft -ие – здание (building)

soft -мя – время (time)

Number:

In English the singular and plural of nouns are usually distinguished by use of the ending -s: book → books; dog → dogs. Likewise in Russian the plural of nouns is marked by an ending:

1. The plural endings used to mark masculine nouns are:

стол→ столы

словарь→ словари

музей→ музеи

2. The plural endings used to mark feminine nouns are:

квартира→ квартиры

кухня→ кухни

площадь→ площади

лекция→ лекции

3. The plural endings used to mark neuter nouns are:

окно→ окна

море→ моря

общежитие→ общежития

Note the spelling rule:

The letters г, к, x, and ж, ч, ш, щ can never be followed by -ы. The nominative plural of nouns ending in these letters always ends in -и; e.g. врачи, книги, руки, ноги, товарищи.

A few nouns have plural forms which are not related to the singular forms: человек → люди; ребѐнок → дети.