There are three genders in Russian: masculine, feminine and neuter. You can tell them apart by their ending.
masculine: masculine nouns end in a consonant, or in -й, or -ь: го́род (a town), друг (a friend), музе́й (a museum), учи́тель (a teacher) etc.
feminine: feminine nouns end in -a or in -я or -ь: ла́мпа (a lamp), подру́га (a girl friend), семья́ (a family), дверь (a door) etc.
neuter: neuter nouns end in -o or in -e or in -мя: окно́ (a window), со́лнце (the sun), вре́мя (time) etc.
- Some masculine nouns that refer to people end in -a or -я. They decline like feminine nouns, but words that refer to them (adjectives for example) are masculine. This applies equally to masculine diminutive name forms that end in -a :
Example: мужчи́на (a man), де́душка (grandfather), дя́дя (uncle), ю́ноша (young man), Серёжа (Серге́й), Пе́тя (Пётр), Са́ша (Алекса́ндр), Ми́ша (Михаи́л)
- Nouns that end in -ь can be either feminine or masculine.
masculine: день (the day) Кремль (the Kremlin) гость (the guest) слова́рь (the dictionary) дождь (the rain) жи́тель (the inhabitant)
feminine: мать, дочь (mother, daughter) но́вость (a piece of news) тетра́дь (the exercise book) соль (salt) о́сень (autumn) ночь (the night)
- Certain nouns that denote a profession have no feminine form: адвока́т (a lawyer), врач (a doctor), исто́рик (a historian), инжене́р (an engineer) etc.
Example:
- Он инжене́р. - He is an engineer.
- Она инжене́р. - She is an engineer.
When such nouns are used with the name of a person and a verb in the past tense, the verb agrees with the name of the person.
Example:
- Инжене́р Петро́ва пришла́. - Engineer Petrova has arrived.
- The word колле́га can be masculine or feminine:
Example:
- Это мой коллега Виктор. - This is my colleague Victor.
- Это моя коллега Ольга. - This is my colleague Olga.
- There are invariable nouns, usually nouns of foreign origin. Most of these nouns are neuter: пальто́ (a coat), кино́ (the cinema), метро́ (the metro), but ко́фе (coffee) is masculine.
- The gender of invariable proper nouns (geographical names, newspaper titles, etc.) corresponds to the gender of the noun denoting the category to which they belong:
Example:
- Далёкий Ка́при (о́стров: island) (far away Capri)
- Но́вый “Пари́ Матч” (журнал: magazine) (the new Paris Match)