Basic Russian Grammar, Omission of the Verb "to be" and Articles, Personal Pronouns and Gender Flashcards
Does the Russian language have an equivalent for “am”, “is” or “are”?
No, so Russian equivalent for “I am a lecturer” would be “Я лектор”.
Does the Russian language use any definite (“the”) or indefinite (“a”) articles?
No.
“I am an English woman” would be translated “Я англичанка” (I English woman”).
“The tea” or “a tea” would be translated “Чай”.
Can personal pronouns can be used in place of a noun?
Yes, for example, “boy” (noun) or “he” (personal pronoun).
я
ya - I (or “I am”)
Remember! In Russian “я” is never a capital letter unless it is the beginning of a sentence
ты
ty - you (informal, singular)
он
on - he
она
ona - she
ona
ono - it
мы
my - we
вы
vy - you
formal, singular - then use a capital letter “Вы”, or plural - for group of people use “вы”
они
oni - they
What are the three gender categories of Russian nouns?
masculine - мужской (m), feminine - женский (f), neuter - средний (n)
What letters do most masculine nouns end in?
Most masculine nouns end in a consonant or -й.
(Notice that the pronoun “он” (“he”) also ends with a consonant).
Examples: город - city, брат - brother, магазин - shop, музей - museum
What letters do most feminine nouns end in?
Most feminine nouns end in -а or -я.
(Notice that the pronoun “она” (“she”) also ends with -a).
Examples: Москва - Moscow, дружба - friendship, книга - book, семья - family
What letters do most neuter nouns end in?
Most neuter nouns end in -o or -e.
(Notice that the pronoun “оно” (“it”) also ends with -o).
Examples: утро - morning, письмо - letter, слово - word
What word is an exception and belongs to two gender categories?
coffee / кофе
Masculine and neuter are both acceptable.
What is the “awkward group”?
Nouns ending with -ь (soft sign).
Most of those are feminine but many are masculine, so it is necessary to learn the gender with each soft sign noun.
For example, all nouns ending with -чь, -жь, -шь are feminine.
Examples: мать - mother (f), ночь - night (f), дочь - daughter (f), конь - stallion (m), царь - tsar (m), день - day (m), автомобиль - automobile (m), тетрадь - exercise book (f).
What is the gender category of nouns of foreign origin with endings -и, -у, and -ю?
Neuter unless they denote people.
Examples: такси - taxi (n), Мэри - Mary (f).
It is generally true that nouns denoting males are masculine and nouns denoting females are feminine. Thus Russian does not normally need equivalents of Mr/Mrs/Ms to show a person’s sex. The ending is enough: А.Смирнов is a man, while Т.Смирнова is a woman.
