| nom. | gen. | dat. | acc. | inst. | prep. |
In this post we’ll learn about the nominative case and how to identify gender. These steps are crucial to know and among the major stepping stones to mastering Russian.
| In Russian there are six cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, instrumental and prepositional. |
| The nominative case is the first case and the most crucial to know in order to master Russian. |
| Each case in Russian has a certain function. The nominative case’s function is to show who or what the subject is. The nominative case is also the base form for all Russian nouns, thus all nouns in dictionaries are presented in this form. |
Now, let’s move on to gender.
| In Russian there are three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Knowing the gender of a noun is key to declining it properly. |
The good news is that it’s very easy to tell a noun’s gender – just follow a couple of simple rules down below.
| The purpose of this post is simply to show how this case is formed. To learn this case’s uses, click here. |
| Masculine |
| end in a consonant, the letter й, and the soft sign. |
| consonant | мост [bridge] дом [house] ключ [key] снег [snow] компьютер [computer] стол [table] слон [elephant] сад [garden] нос [nose] экран [screen] |
| –й | трамвай [tram] май [May] рай [paradise] урожай [harvest] музей [museum] |
| –ь | огонь [fire] дождь [rain] медведь [bear] Кремль [Kremlin] |
| Feminine |
| end in the letter a, the letter я, and the soft sign. |
| –a | книга [book] вода [water] звезда [star] голова [head] корова [cow] музыка [music] |
| –я | неделя [week] земля [Earth] статья [article] |
| –ь | помощь [help] вещь [thing] Сибирь [Siberia] |
| As you’ve observed, both masculine and feminine nouns can end in the soft sign. Check the notes below for help on this little curveball. |
| Neuter |
| end in either the letter е or the letter о |
| –е | море [sea] платье [dress] здание [building] рождение [birth] |
| –о | озеро [place] пальто [coat] сило [strength] мыло [soap] вино [wine] пиво [beer] |
| Additional Notes and Exceptions |
Note: if you’re a beginner, maybe you shouldn’t worry about all this extra information I’ve written below. Perhaps you just focus on what I’ve written above and that’s all.
- As you can see, nouns ending in the soft sign can either be masculine or feminine, which means these words must be learned by heart. Most of these nouns are feminine, but there are plenty of masculine ones. I’ve compiled an extensive list here if you’re interested.
- Most neuter nouns come from foreign languages, such as кино [movie theater], which comes from the German word Kino.
- It’s rare, but nouns ending in –ё like жильё [dwelling] are neuter.
- There is a small group of words in Russian which end in –мя. There are only 10 words in the entire Russian language that end like this, and they are all neuter. Of the 10, the 2 most commonly used are время [time] and имя [name]. If you want to know more, click here [link to come].
- Nouns ending in –ия/ие decline differently from nouns that end in –я and –е. Please keep this in mind!
- There are exceptions to the rules given: кофе [coffee] is actually masculine (but can less commonly be neuter) and some nouns with feminine endings are actually masculine: папа [dad], дядя [uncle], дедушка [grandpa].
- It’s extremely rare, but some nouns end in –и or –у. These nouns are from foreign languages and their gender must be learned: киви (kiwi) is feminine, but кенгугу (kangaroo) is masculine. Another thing to note is that nouns with these endings don’t decline. Go figure!
| Last Edited: 11/26/2025. |
My Slavic Studies 