Language/Russian/Grammar/Nouns

Russian Grammar - Nouns

Hi Russian learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will dive into the fascinating world of Russian nouns. You will learn about gender, cases, declension patterns, and exceptions. Moreover, we will share cultural information and fun facts that will enrich your understanding of the Russian language and its speakers. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to recognize and use Russian nouns accurately and confidently. Let's get started!

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: Use of the verb быть in the past, Russian Grammar → Russian Pronouns → Noun-Adjective Agreement, Кое То Нибудь & Comparatives and Superlatives.

Gender

Like many Slavic and Romance languages, Russian has grammatical gender. Each noun belongs to one of three genders: feminine, masculine, or neuter. The gender of a noun determines its declension pattern in the accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, and prepositional cases. Moreover, the gender of adjectives and pronouns agrees with the gender of the noun they modify or replace. Therefore, it is essential to learn the gender of Russian nouns as early as possible.

Some general rules can help you guess the gender of a noun based on its suffix. However, there are also many exceptions and irregularities that you need to memorize or learn through exposure. Here are some examples of commonly used suffixes and their corresponding genders:

Suffix	Gender	Example
-а; -я	Feminine	мама (mama) - mother; Россия (Rossiya) - Russia
-о; -е; -ие	Neuter	молоко (moloko) - milk; окно (okno) - window; здание (zdanie) - building
-ий; -ой	Masculine	папа (papa) - father; дом (dom) - house; музей (muzey) - museum

However, there are many exceptions to these suffixes that you will encounter when learning Russian nouns. One interesting fact is that some Russian nouns have both masculine and feminine forms, depending on their meaning or context. For example, the noun доктор (doktor) can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the gender of the person who practices medicine or holds the degree of doctorate. Another example is the word студент (student), which can be either masculine or feminine, depending on the gender of the person who studies.

Cases

Russian has six cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, and prepositional. Each case serves a specific function and changes the ending of nouns, adjectives, pronouns, and numerals. Here is a summary of the main functions of each case:

• Nominative: marks the subject of a sentence or a predicate nominative;
• Accusative: marks the direct object of a transitive verb or the object of some prepositions;
• Genitive: marks possession, negation, comparison, and some prepositions;
• Dative: marks the indirect object of a verb, recipients of actions, and some prepositions;
• Instrumental: marks the means or instrument of an action, some prepositions, and formal titles;
• Prepositional: marks the location, time, and certain prepositions.

Each gender has its declension pattern, which involves changing the endings of the noun depending on the case, number, and animacy. Some nouns have hard stem endings, while others have soft stem endings, depending on the last consonant of the stem. Moreover, some nouns have irregular declension patterns, which you need to memorize or learn through exposure.

Here is a dialogue that illustrates the use of cases in Russian:

• Person 1: Привет! Как ты? (Privet! Kak ty?) - Hi! How are you?
• Person 2: Хорошо, спасибо. А ты? (Khorosho, spasibo. A ty?) - Good, thank you. And you?
• Person 1: Я тоже хорошо. Ты знаешь, где метро? (Ya tozhe khorosho. Ty znaesh', gde metro?) - I'm good too. Do you know where the subway is?
• Person 2: Да, конечно. Метро находится рядом со зданием университета. (Da, konechno. Metro nakhoditsya ryadom so zdaniyem universiteta.) - Yes, of course. The subway is located near the university building.

As you can see, the nouns метро (metro), здание (zdanie), and университет (universitet) change their endings depending on their case and function in the sentence.

Here are some examples of declension patterns for each gender in the singular form:

Masculine

Russian	Pronunciation	English
дом	dom	house
день	den'	day
папа	papa	father

Feminine

Russian	Pronunciation	English
мама	mama	mother
Россия	Rossiya	Russia
книга	kniga	book

Neuter

Russian	Pronunciation	English
молоко	moloko	milk
окно	okno	window
здание	zdanie	building

Exceptions and Irregularities

As we mentioned earlier, Russian has many exceptions and irregularities in the gender and declension of nouns. Here are some examples:

• Some nouns have the same form in the nominative and accusative cases. For example, мышь (mysh') - mouse; and купе (kupe) - compartment.
• Some feminine and neuter nouns have no ending in the nominative case. For example, метро (metro) - subway; and море (more) - sea.
• Some masculine and neuter nouns have a zero ending in the accusative case. For example, яблоко (yabloko) - apple; and молоко (moloko) - milk.
• Some nouns have hard or soft stem alternations in different cases. For example, стол (stol) - table; and зуб (zub) - tooth.
• Some nouns have irregular declensions that must be memorized. For example, человек (chelovek) - person; and нож (nozh) - knife.

The good news is that most irregular nouns are frequently used in everyday language and therefore easier to remember. Moreover, as you gain more exposure to Russian, you will internalize the patterns and exceptions naturally.

Practice

To improve your Russian Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions! Here are some exercises you can do to practice Russian nouns:

1. Identify the gender and case of the following nouns: кот (kot) - cat; погода (pogoda) - weather; машина (mashina) - car; майка (mayka) - T-shirt. 2. Choose the correct form of the noun in the following sentences: Я видел (кошка/кота) на улице. Моя (папа/мама) говорит по-французски. У меня нет (ручка/ручки) для написания. 3. Create your own sentences using different cases and nouns. Share them with a friend or a tutor. 4. Read Russian books, watch Russian movies, or listen to Russian music to immerse yourself in the language and culture.

Sources

• Russian grammar - Wikipedia
• Cases of Russian Nouns - Russian Language
• The 6 Cases in Russian Grammar

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Other Lessons

• Very important rules
• Punctuation
• Pronouns
• To and же particles in Russian
• Perfective Imperfective
• Future Tense
• Questions
• Adjectives
• Negation
• Common Mistakes