Thread: gosh, how can you guess the gender of some words?

i'm talking about words that end with an accent (b) such as:

nogot'
kogot'
mysh'
spravedlivost'

am i right when i'm saying words that end with "ost'" are all feminine?
for other words that end with a ' (b), i really have no idea. i'm always opting for masculine (since before the accent stand a consonants) but i'm know i'm wrong (mouse is an example of that).

I think there is some rule about this which I don't remember.
But it looks like all the words that end -ь (with the exception of those ending with -оть) are feminine, because I can't think out any other masculine noun.
Feminine: тетрадь, плеть, ночь, ложь, вещь, вошь, моль, кровь, изморозь, изморось (but лось - masc. ), топь, etc.

Nope, похоть is feminine, зять, царь, сударь, король are masculine, no such luck as an existing rule. Opt for feminine nevertheless.

Originally Posted by adoc

Nope, похоть is feminine, no such luck. Opt for feminine.

Yeah, but лапоть, локоть, ноготь, коготь are masculine.
Oh, no! Cлякоть, мякоть are feminine! Sh**!
Anyway, most words ending with -ь are feminine. Some words (especially ending with -оть ) are masc.

Unfortunately, there is no rule . You should learn by heart masculine words ending 'ь'

1. ь is called a soft sign / мягкий знак not an accent. ( ' = apostrophe)

2. Nouns ending in a soft sign can be masculine or feminine.

3. -ость nouns are feminine.

рубль - masc.

ь and ъ are letters

длинная очередь

remember the word with an obvious and emotinal adjective

очередь is feminine

Originally Posted by adoc

очередь is feminine

oopps gosh!! bloody translator!! my bad

yes. blame it on the translator... Funny how, my translator knows the diffrence between masculine and feminine, but yours doesnt.

If i was you i would buy a better one... even though... they are free....

Yeah - unfortunately, there's no easy rule here...it'd be nice if there was a reference out there...say...a list of all nouns ending in a soft sign, and their gender - anyone know of such a list? Good idea, Mordan - memorizing with an adjective - I do that, too!

Originally Posted by Karoseyn

Yeah - unfortunately, there's no easy rule here...it'd be nice if there was a reference out there...say...a list of all nouns ending in a soft sign, and their gender - anyone know of such a list? Good idea, Mordan - memorizing with an adjective - I do that, too!

A dictionary.

Russian / Russian-English dictionaries always note the gender of soft sign nouns.

Or remember the genitive case of the word

I always remember, from prices, it's три рубля therefore it is masculine.

But I know it's три ночи therefore feminine.

Yes, of course, a dictionary!!

I meant a list of only words ending in soft sign - so you don't have to look each one up individually!