Russian nouns

Here's an overview of Russian nouns.

On separate pages you'll find:

• A comprehensive overview of the Russian cases
• Full declension tables of Russian nouns

Gender and number of Russian nouns

Gender

The Russian language has three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter.

You can typically tell the gender of a Russian noun based on its ending / last letter of the word:

• Masculine: a consonant or "й"
  • год = year
  • чай = tea
• Feminine: "а," "я," or "ия"
  • книга = book
  • семья = family
  • история = story
  • ночь = night
• Neuter: "о," "е," "ие," or "мя"
  • письмo = letter
  • солнце = sun
  • внимание = attention
  • время = time
  • in general, words with neuter endings all tend to be inanimate things
• Masculine or feminine: "ь"
  • день = day (masc.)
  • жизнь = life (fem.)
• And, of course, there are some exceptions:
  • папа = daddy (masc.)
  • дядя = uncle (masc.)
  • дедушка = grandfather (masc.)
  • мужчина = man (masc.)
  • кофе = coffee (masc.)
  • professions and occupations, whose gender depends on the gender of the person involved

Number

The plural form - or number - of Russian nouns follow these rules:

• Nouns ending in most consonants and the letter "а" have the plural ending, "ы."
  • банан → бананы
  • улица → улицы
• Nouns ending in "ь," "й," or "я" have the plural ending, "и."
  • двeрь → двери
  • музей → музеи
  • станция → станции
• Masculine and feminine nouns ending in "к," "г," "x," "ч," "щ," "ж," or "ш" have the plural ending, "и."
  • книга → книги
  • нож → ножи
  • парк → парки
• Neuter nouns ending in "o" have the plural ending, "а."
  • окно → окнa
• Neuter nouns ending in "е" have the plural ending, "я."
  • здание → здания

Irregular nouns and exceptions

Indeclinable nouns

Certain nouns in Russian do not decline - the word remains the same for different cases and number. They include:

• Abbreviations: СССР, США, ВИЧ
• Some foreign words: меню, кафе, мадам, мисс, маэстро
• Surnames ending in "аго," "ово," "их," "ых"
• Female surnames that end in a consonant: Мельник, Шмидт
• Ukrainian surnames ending in "ко," like Петренко, and Georgian surnames ending in "ия," like Данелия

Irregular plural forms of nouns