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

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    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).
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    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.

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

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

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    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.
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    ь and ъ are letters

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    Почтенный гражданин Mordan's Avatar
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    Re: gosh, how can you guess the gender of some words?

    длинная очередь

    remember the word with an obvious and emotinal adjective

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    очередь is feminine
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    Почтенный гражданин Mordan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by adoc
    очередь is feminine
    oopps gosh!! bloody translator!! my bad

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    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....
    Вот это да, я так люблю себя. И сегодня я люблю себя, ещё больше чем вчера, а завтра я буду любить себя to ещё больше чем сегодня. Тем что происходит,я вполне доволен!

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    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!

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    Quote 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.
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  14. #14
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    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!

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