Questions tagged [род]

For questions about grammatical gender of Russian nouns or general questions about gendered words in Russian, including appropriate translation equivalents of foreign words from languages that don't have the category of gender.

Nouns in Russian language are assigned a grammatical gender (male, female or neuter), often with no direct relation to the meaning of the word. An adjective in Russian must agree with the gender of the noun to which it is applied.

In English, nouns do not have a grammatical gender, but many nouns can refer to masculine or feminine animate objects (mother/father, actor/actress).

49 questions
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Words in "common gender"

In addition to the masculine, feminine, and neuter genders, there are words of "common gender" (слова общего рода) that nearly all decline like a feminine noun but are applied to both men and women. What I find striking about these words is that…
KCd
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Why is “had no choice” translated as «не было выбора» and not «не был выбора»?

Было is neuter gender. But выбор is masculine gender (выбора is genitive case of выбор?). Is there a grammatical reason or even historical reason I missed out? Additional background: I’m a beginner Russian language learner and my tutor translated…
Vincent Tan
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Rules for attaching gender to foreign company names

If we use name of a foreign company as a single word f.e. Samsung, Ford, Microsoft, IBM, Shell, and even StackOverflow, what gender form the following verb should take? Should it be Samsung предложил or Samsung предложила? Should the gender be…
farfareast
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Why is the Gentive in Question—что нового? итд

что нового? что интересного? I've read a lot about grammar this year, and nothing seems to fit with this usage. Is it an abbreviation of some fuller phrase from the past? Many times if one can find the origins of a phrase one can understand its…
VCH250
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What gender is "колибри"?

Neuter (такси, пари... — ends in И) Masculine (кенгуру, фламинго — indeclinable animal names) Or is it feminine because it's a bird (птица)? Or maybe due to some other causes.
Alexander
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Rules for determining grammatical gender in Russian

How do you work out whether a Russian word is masculine, feminine, or neuter?
Sepid.Nsr
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"Website": in Russia they say "Мой сайт". In Canada many say "Моя сайт"... Wonder why

I've noticed that my Russian-speaking Canadian friends who left Russia before the Internet era always say "моя сайт", "красивая сайт". People in Russia say "мой". Same I hear from Russians in Israel. Not sure about USA guys. What could make people…
tivnet
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Genders - Nouns with "ь"

Is there a way to tell which are feminine or masculine if most nouns end with "ь"?
SolacunaRT
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Which grammatical situations depend on the literal gender of a speaker?

Recently, a friend accused me of misgendering myself by using "feminine" verb endings. I am aware of many situations where there are verb endings for the grammatical gender of the noun, but when should I worry about inflecting words with my literal…
MrSynAckSter
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How to conflate feminine and masculine last names for a couple?

I am writing an English letter to a married Russian couple, and they've got the same root for their last name, with a '-a' suffix for hers. Is there an acceptable way to address them both without writing out both names in full? For example, for a…
l0b0
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Двойной род - это норма?

К примеру, возьмём слово "матриарх". Это слово мужского рода, но означает женщину. Как согласовываются с ним прилагательные и глаголы прошлого времени? Мне кажется, в текстах любят использовать с такими словами глаголы в женском роде и…
Anton Duzenko
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Is there a rule for figuring out the gender of a word?

I am having a hard time with understanding why the word "врач" belongs to the second declension. The reason for that is that it's not obvious to me that the gender of врач is always masculine which is that subtle difference that keeps it from being…
Trident D'Gao
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Girlfriend vs friend

As far as I know, the word "girlfriend" in Russian is ambiguous. As well as the word for "female friend". If I say ты хорошая подруга am I telling just "you're a good friend" with no ambiguity? If I say я хочу, чтобы ты стала моей подругой is it…
swrutra
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Согласование рода

Эта игра что надо или Это игра что надо
BrainsFeeder
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