The gender of nouns. Generic endings of nouns. Neutral nouns ending in -o

The main grammatical feature that is inherent in almost every part of speech is the category of gender. How many genders do nouns have and how to correctly determine this category in this part of speech? You will find answers to these and other questions in the article.

What is the gender of nouns?

The gender category of nouns in Russian- a grammatical feature indicating the generic (gender) belonging of an object (living being, phenomenon) called a noun or its absence. Gender is a constant grammatical feature of nouns and is studied in the 6th grade.

Features of the category of noun gender

There are three kinds of nouns in Russian:

• Male (he). Masculine nouns in the singular I. p. have the endings -а, -я, and zero.

  Examples of masculine nouns: dad, uncle, knife, table, hawk.

• Female (she). Feminine nouns in the singular I. p. have the endings -a, -я, and zero.

  Examples of feminine nouns: wife, nanny, night, glory, desert.

• Medium (it). Nouns of the neuter gender in the singular I. p. have the endings -o, -e.

  Examples of neuter nouns: swamp, gold, sun, lake, jam.

There is also a class of words, the so-called common gender, which, depending on the context, can be used in both masculine and feminine

(bore, sissy, crybaby, clever, greedy).

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How to determine the gender of a noun?

In animate nouns, the gender coincides with the gender of a living being, person (father, interlocutor - m.p., girlfriend, gossip - f. p).

For all nouns, gender can be determined by grammatical form adjective that agrees with the noun:

• masculine whose? which? (white snow, good advice);
• Feminine. Nouns agree with adjectives that answer questions - whose? which? (fresh newspaper, cheerful girlfriend);
• Neuter gender. Nouns agree with adjectives that answer questions - whose? which? (green field, tall building).

For the correct use of words, it is necessary to understand what kind they are. Here is coffee, for example, the middle masculine gender? If the average, then you need to say: "My coffee is cold." And if male - "My coffee is cold." How not to pass for an illiterate person, defining neuter gender?

What are neuter words? Examples

The division of parts of speech by gender (feminine, neuter and masculine) is inherent not only in the Russian language. Determines whether the ending of a word belongs to the neuter gender. Neutral nouns are usually inanimate, although there are exceptions:

• creature,
• animal,
• monster,
• deity,
• child,
• monster,
• person (official).

If a word comes from another language, has an ending in a vowel, is inanimate and, according to established tradition, does not decline, it is considered neuter.

Neutral nouns answer the question: whose is it? If you can say about a word: “It is mine,” then this is a neuter noun. There are two types of endings for such words:

1. -o, -e, -e, -e. These are, for example, such words: pots, lake, muffler, gun, understanding.
2. -me. For example, stirrup, crown, name.

Words of the middle gender can be not only nouns, but also adjectives, numerals and pronouns.

Coffee - it or he?

It seems that the word "coffee" does not obey the rule: it ends in "e", but it is not neuter, but masculine. exception? Not really. The fact is that the word, along with the drink, came to Russia with Peter the Great. Tea has long been known, and by analogy with this drink, the novelty was called "coffee". Then no one doubted that the word is masculine. His diminutive version of "coffee" is now beyond doubt.

Over time, the word "coffee" became obsolete, replaced by "coffee". The word became indeclinable. And here a paradox arose. According to the rules, this word should have a neuter gender. This is why, intuitively, people began to use "coffee" as a neuter word. There was a process that translated the word "metro" from the masculine to the middle. You probably remember Utyosov's song: "But the metro flashed with oak railings ..."

Why don't linguists recognize coffee as neuter? Because this word has a special meaning. Its use in the middle gender contradicts the literary tradition, therefore it is perceived as illiterate. Coffee is on the list of words for which literate Russian speakers are fighting. These are the words contract, calls, blinds, cottage cheese, provision and several others.

Although since 2002 colloquial speech you can say "my coffee", in writing only the masculine gender is recognized.

declination

Changing words by case is called declension. Words of the middle gender with an ending can be declined. For neuter nouns, the following rules exist (see table).

Common Mistakes

A typical mistake was the incorrect definition of the gender of some words. Due to the ending "o", which is pronounced as "a" in the unstressed version, some inflect such words in the feminine form. Example:

• The buffet sells pies with jammy, manga and dried apricots.
• We saw the natives living in bungalow.
• neighbors bought piano.

The correct options would be to use the highlighted words in the form of the middle gender. That is: with jam, with mango, in a bungalow, they bought a piano.

The second common mistake is trying to change indeclinable nouns in cases. Not only children get confused, and incredible words of feminine, masculine, neuter gender appear.

Words that do not change by case. Examples

In addition to inflected, there are also neuter words that are invariable in cases:

• arpeggio,
• video,
• graffiti,
• dragee,
• neckline,
• coupe,
• Cafe,
• mango,
• mini,
• neutrino,
• penalty,
• piano,
• rendezvous,
• solo,
• trio,
• Taxi,
• fuete,
• facsimile.

This list is far from complete. Therefore, if you have any difficulties, it is better to refer to dictionaries.

How to remember words without endings: a game

In order not to make mistakes in declension, there is a simple and fun way to check. Try to put these words in several different cases. If it turns out funny and ridiculous, then this word does not decline in cases.

• Kangaroo put on pince-nez (wrong, there is no such word, you need to put “pince-nez”).
• To get to the cafe, I took a taxi (it would be correct: "taxi").
• We gorged ourselves on creme brulee, blancmange and jelly beans (that's right: "creme brulee, blancmange and jelly beans").
• Let's meet near the depot and go to watch the film "Dynama" (you need: "near the depot, the movie" Dynamo ").
• I am dissatisfied with a passe-partout with a photo and a panel (it would be competently like this: “passe-partout with a photo and a panel”).

Play this game with your kids. It is simple, the main thing is not to forget that these words do not decline in cases. Regular games with words develop intelligence and replenish vocabulary. Soon the child will feel how to build a phrase and use words, and will not make mistakes.

Neuter gender

The position of the middle gender in modern Russian is peculiar. The means of expression of the neuter gender are relatively poor. The composition of the class of words of the middle gender gradually narrowed and continues to narrow. For example, diminutive, affectionate and derogatory words and forms in -ko (Demidko), -ya (Vanya, tel), in -lo (ate) and other words related to

to people and animals, moved into the class of words of the masculine or general

(male-female) gender. The category of the person is not combined with the middle gender. The most abstract idea of ​​the category of non-person (being, deity) is combined with the neuter gender. Nouns of the neuter gender are only metaphorical, either in the function of the predicate, or as the general characteristics(monster, monster, monster) can be applied to male or female living beings. The unstable, intermediate position of the middle gender also affects the system of declension of nouns. In the singular, neuter words change as masculine forms. The coincidence of the nominative and accusative cases in one form also emphasizes the proximity of the categories of the neuter gender to the group of inanimate masculine nouns. The neuter gender acts as an abstract form of impersonal objectivity.

In plural neuter forms oscillate between different types declensions, having completely lost their grammatical individuality (ears - ears; deeds - deeds; fields - fields and seas - seas, mirrors - mirrors; windows - windows). With the exception of the form of the nominative-accusative case with the accent on the ending -a, they are mostly closer to the feminine declension.

The peculiar impersonality, abstract or fictitious objectivity of the neuter form is manifested, first of all, in the fact that other parts of speech used in the meaning of a noun belong to the class of words of the neuter gender.

The forms of the middle gender in borrowed nouns also differ in peculiar features. There are no productive neuter suffixes that would designate an object without any special connotation at all in modern Russian. The endings -o, -e, as a sign of the neuter gender, are not directly attached to the stem. The group of non-suffix words of the middle gender with the ending -o, -e is replenished only with borrowings from other languages. Meanwhile, these borrowed words in -o, -e (bureau, coat, coffee) from an etymological point of view have only an outward resemblance to words of the middle gender. After all, in them the final -o, -e usually refer to the base, and are not endings. The neuter gender becomes a repository for borrowed words that, in their sound or morphological appearance, do not correspond to the typical forms of Russian nouns.

The extinction of the neuter gender in the category of nouns is in line with the general process of semantic depersonalization and devastation of the neuter forms in the modern Russian language. From the content category, the neuter gender in certain types of words and forms is relegated to the role of a packaging means.

This is expressed:

1) that impersonal forms verbs in the past tense coincide with the neuter form;

2) in the fact that the impersonal forms of the category of state (arising from participles of the passive voice and from adjectives and adverbs) coincide with the corresponding forms of the middle gender: “She is stuffy, bored, annoying ... so annoying that she even wants to cry, but why again unknown. “She was ashamed, and bitter, and it hurt her”;

3) in the fact that with impersonal words there can be pronominal particles of the neuter gender this, it (that). “I didn’t ask her about any details, and so it turned out that there was no need to worry”;

4) the fact that one of the most productive categories of adverbs in the Russian language ends in -o, -e, i.e., in morphemes denoting the neuter form in the classes of nouns and adjectives, is not without significance, although, as is known, the category of gender (as well as case and number) is completely alien to the dialect. "May be, heart mothers sensed that together with a newborn baby appeared into the world dark, inexhaustible grief that hung over the cradle to accompany new life down to the grave."

« Family in which a blind boy was born, It was few».

“At the time when in the village house appeared and became grow new creature, in uncle Maxim's short-cropped hair, silver gray was already breaking through.

most characteristic morphological feature the noun is the category of gender. All nouns, with a few exceptions, belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter.

In addition, among the words ending in -а (-я), there are nouns with the meaning of a person, which can be assigned, depending on gender, to masculine, then to the feminine: This master is a talented self-taught and This weaver is a talented self-taught. These words belong to the so-called common gender (bully, touchy, slut, razinya, dormouse, crybaby, etc.).

Morphologically, the gender of nouns is determined by the nature of the stem and ending. Syntactically, the gender of a noun is determined by the form of the adjective agreed with it: green bush, green grass, green plant.

Masculine nouns include: all nouns with a stem in -i and a solid consonant (on -zh and -sh there can also be feminine words) with a zero ending in the nominative singular; nouns with a base in a soft consonant, as well as in -zh and -sh, having the ending -а (-я) in the genitive case of the singular; some animate nouns on -a (-i); nouns with the suffix -ushk-, -ishk-, -ish- and endings -я, -о, -е, formed from masculine nouns: our boy, a small vozishko; ... A great writer will come out of Gorky (Ch.); the words apprentice (derived from the word master), path also belong to the masculine gender.

Feminine nouns include: most of the words with the ending -а (-я) in the nominative singular; nouns with a basis in a soft consonant and in -zh, -sh, in which the ending in the genitive case of the singular is -i (an exception is the word way - masculine).

The nouns of the middle gender include: nouns with the ending -о (-е) in the nominative singular; ten words per -mya: name, time, tribe, banner, burden, seed, stirrup, crown, flame and udder; word child.

General nouns include nouns (with the meaning of a person) in -а (-я): grump, bully, egoza, ignoramus, touchy, miser, disheveled, etc. The gender of these nouns is determined depending on their specific use in speech. So, if the words of the general gender are used to refer to males, they act as a masculine noun: "He is such a fidget, this restless boy," the mother complained. If words of the general gender are used to refer to females, then they act as feminine nouns: What a naughty one you are! Most of these words serve as a means of expressive characterization. They are used mainly in colloquial style speech.

Words with formal masculine characteristics (names of persons by profession, position, occupation), which are now widely used also for naming females, should not be mixed with nouns of the general gender. These words, grammatically, did not become words of a general gender, but remained masculine words: the new judge Ivanova, the famous sculptor Mukhina, Nikolaeva-Tereshkova - a woman cosmonaut. Many of these words do not have parallel feminine forms at all: associate professor, teacher, agronomist, master, candidate of science, etc. Some words have a parallel feminine form, but are used to refer to the wife of a person of the corresponding profession or rank: professor, director, colonel and etc. The same parallel formations can designate a female person by profession and occupation (often used with a contemptuous connotation). They are used only in colloquial, and sometimes in colloquial styles of speech (doctor, doctor, agronomist, conductor, cashier, librarian, etc.).

A few words denoting a profession have only feminine forms: manicurist, typist (working on a typewriter), ballerina. There are no masculine correlative words for these nouns. Instead of the words typist, ballerina, milkmaid, descriptive phrases are used to refer to males: an employee typing on a typewriter; ballet dancer; machine milking master, etc.

Nouns used only in the plural do not have a gender category (scissors, tongs). In determining the gender of some nouns (comparatively few), fluctuations are sometimes observed. So, individual nouns, usually used in the masculine form, are sometimes used in the feminine form: shoe - shoe (in common speech), rail - rail (in colloquial speech), banknote - banknote, gelatin - gelatin (in professional speech ) and others. For the present, masculine forms are more characteristic.

Gender category in separate words (usually foreign origin) may change. For example, a number of words used in the modern general literary language as masculine nouns were previously used in the feminine form: black piano - black piano, green poplar - green poplar (see M.Yu. Lermontov: Behind the high poplar I see there window), a sanatorium - a sanatorium, etc. (see A.S. Novikov-Priboy: Fights with a storm on the high seas can correct anyone better than any sanatorium).

Some nouns in the modern general literary language are used as feminine nouns, while in other styles of speech they can be used in masculine. Sometimes the masculine forms are not a stylistic parallel form, but are more or less obsolete. This includes, for example, such nouns as shoe - shoe, arabesque - arabesque, thick veil - thick veil, old corn - old corn, cataract - cataract, clearing - clearing, etc. Individual nouns can have parallel forms of feminine and masculine, semantically and stylistically indistinguishable: shutter - shutter, stack - stack, giraffe - giraffe. Finally, some indeclinable nouns, usually used in the modern language as neuter nouns, used to admit a masculine form (obsolete forms): fluffy boa - fluffy boa (see A.S. Pushkin: He is happy if she throws a fluffy boa on shoulder); my cocoa (see I.S. Turgenev: It's time for me to drink my cocoa), etc.

According to the existing rules, all indeclinable nouns of foreign origin, denoting inanimate objects, most often belong to the middle gender: communique, taxi, metro, cinema, sconce, muffler, cocoa, etc. Other genders: coffee (m. R.), sirocco ( m.), avenue (female), Gobi (female), kohlrabi (female), etc. Indeclinable animate nouns are, as a rule, masculine: kangaroo, chimpanzee, etc. d. However, if the word is used to name female animals, then it acts as a feminine noun: a kangaroo (chimpanzee) fed a cub. Indeclinable nouns denoting men are masculine: attache, rentier, dandy; denoting women - to the feminine: lady, madam, miss, etc.

Genus indeclinable nouns, which are foreign geographical names (names of cities, rivers, lakes, mountains, etc.), is determined by correlating it with the genus of that common noun, whose name is a proper name: green Batumi (city), stormy Mississippi (river), distant Capri (island), modern Helsinki (city), etc. The gender of nouns, which are the names of newspapers, magazines, collections, etc., is also determined: "Humanite" (newspaper) issued a refutation; "Weltbühne" (magazine) published an article, and so on.