What is a genus in relation to the Russian language, how many genera are in the Russian language and which ones are distinguished?
The gender category is inherent in such parts of speech as the noun and adjective. Genus is a category that groups word forms based on gender or lack thereof.
Pupils begin to get acquainted with this category in the elementary grades, gradually deepening and consolidating their knowledge. In the fifth grade, information about the genus is replenished and fixed on more complex material.
How many births in Russian?
The following system is presented in Russian:
- Feminine.
- Male gender.
- Neuter gender.
- Generic genus.
The gender of words used only in the plural is not determined.
How many genera does a noun have in Russian?
The gender category of nouns is constant. For example, the word "cat" refers to the male gender.
To determine the gender of a noun, we ask this word a semantic question: is it mine? She is mine? is it mine
| Semantic question | Kind | Gender indicator (in I. p. | Examples |
| My? | Male | Ends-a / s, as well as zero ending | Knife, hare, table |
| My? | Female | Ends-a / s, as well as zero ending | Cat, mom, dog, furniture |
| My? | Middle | Endings | Sun, tree, lake |
As can be seen from the table, gender is determined only in singular nouns. Nouns used only in the plural (trousers, glasses, sledges) are outside the category of gender.
When determining the kind of nouns for schoolchildren, words such as “znayka”, “clever”, “fidget” and the like often cause difficulties. For example: he was a big fidget and she was a big fidget. Do such words refer to the female or male gender? Here the question arises in the title: how many births are there in the Russian language? Scientists on this score have two points of view: some relate them to masculine or feminine, depending on the context, others distinguish such words in a special kind - general.
Non-declining foreign nouns also cause difficulties. By writing, they resemble words related to the middle gender. Indeed, most of them relate specifically to this genus, but there are (let's say) exceptions to the rule.
So, according to the literary norm, the noun "coffee" refers to the masculine gender. Wrong to say "my coffee." This is a mistake, the right option is “my coffee”.
The noun "euro", by analogy with other names of monetary units, refers to the masculine gender. According to the same principle, the nouns "suluguni", "sirocco", "penalty" refer to masculine. Based on the same analogy, the nouns “avenue”, “salami”, “kohlrabi” refer to the feminine gender.
If you have any doubts about the gender affiliation of a noun, then you should turn to the dictionaries of the Russian language.
How to determine the gender of an adjective?
Unlike a noun for which the gender category is immutable, for an adjective it is a variable category and is determined depending on the context. The rule by which the gender of this part of speech is determined is as follows: the gender of the adjective is established by a definable word, that is, by a noun.
For instance:
- The girl was wearing a beautiful (cf. p.) Dress. (“Dress” is mine, therefore it is a neuter gender, which means the adjective “beautiful” refers to the middle gender).
- He was a handsome (m.). Man. The street is beautiful (f. R.).
Non-adherent adjectives are also distinguished. For example: khaki pants.
Now you know the answer to the question of how many births are in the Russian language. We also examined their definition using examples. To be able to determine the gender of a noun or adjective is very important - this will help to avoid grammatical errors.