How to determine gender of the Russian noun?

Russian words are divided randomly into three groups. We call these groups “genders” because there masculine, feminine and neuter group.

You will need to know the gender because it affects how words are formed. ( you’ll need to use cases, plurals etc)

 How to determine gender of the Russian noun? That’s not so difficult!

Gender of Russian nouns

You can usually determine the gender of a noun by its ending.

 Here are some basic rules, although exceptions exist:

1) Nouns ending in consonants /  й / ь (soft sign) are masculine.

For example: музей (museum), стол (table), журнал (magazine)

There few exceptions:
 Words like папа  (father), дедушка  (grandfather), мужчина (man), дядя (daddy) are masculine
 (because of their physical gender)


2) Nouns ending in -а, -я, -ия/ ь (soft sign) are feminine. 

 For example: Россия ( Russia) невеста (bride), конфета ( candy)


3) Nouns ending in -о, -е, -ие , мя are neutral. 

For example: море (sea), окно (window), место (place), время (time)

 So, I think that everything is clear. The only ending “shared” by more than one gender is the soft sign (ь).

These are the only nouns where you have to learn the gender, but they are a small group (mostly feminine)


 Tips: To determine gender of the Russian noun find the nominative singular form of the noun in your dictionary.
All dictionaries list nouns in the nominative singular form (except for nouns that are always plural).

Is my explanation clear?  Please feel free to ask questions.