Thread: Animate masculine problem

Originally Posted by justinwyllie

But am I correct in thinking that the animate masculine applies because the noun is masculine? I.e. the animate masculine rule is based on the gender of the noun and not the gender of the person referred to?

You are right.
Moreover, I don’t quite understand what the opposite would look like. While masculine nouns have only two forms for nominative, accusative, and genitive, feminine nouns have all three forms different:

	mas. anim.	mas. inanim.	fem.
nom.	преподаватель	учебник	учительница
acc.	преподавателя	учебник	учительницу
gen.	преподавателя	учебника	учительницы

The word преподаватель being a masculine noun just doesn’t have that separate accusative form.

Thanks SoftSign.

That makes it very clear: преподаватель just doesn't have the separate accusative. It has to be -Я even if the person referred to is female.

However what happens when the noun is feminine and does have the accusative ending? For example:

личность

Я наблюдаю личность / личности depending on the gender of the 'individual'? Or - always личность because (like the other way round) it is the gender of the noun which counts? I suspect личность in any case?

Thanks again.