#0050. Noun gender

1. A noun in Russian is in the nominative case when it is the subject of the sentence, or when it simply names a thing or a person. In these situations you don't need to put an ending on the noun. The noun looks exactly as it is in a dictionary.

2. Nouns in Russian can be classified as belonging to one of three genders: masculine, faminine, or neuter. All nouns in Russian have gender.

3. In English, gender reflects the sex of the being to which the noun refers. In Russian, gender is a grammatical category.

4. It is very easy to tell the gender of a noun in Russian. The ending of the noun in the dictionary form will most often tell you its gender.

5. Masculine nouns in Russian end in a consonant:
   

   дом

   журнал

   парк

   Иван

6. Nouns that refer to male beings are masculine, even if they don't end in a consonant:

   папа

   дядя

   Ваня

7. Feminine nouns in Russian end in the vowels -а or -я.

   книга

   газета

   квартира

   Нина

   Анна

   тётя

8. Nouns that refer to females are feminine, even if they don't end in one of these two letters.

9. Neuter nouns in Russian end in -o or -e.

   письмо

   море