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Thread: What are the gender of these characters?

  1. #1
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    What are the gender of these characters?

    I am just getting started and trying to master some of the spelling rules.

    I am curious if anyone can tell me the gender of the following letters, or rather the gender of the noun ending in these letters, I do not see them listed in my study book, so Im thinking they maybe don't have a gender of just don't show up at end of Russian words?
    Ё,У, Э, Ю and the hard sign

    Also the section on what ending to use on nouns to make them plural, there are no rules for words ending in those same letters.? I am assuming this is also because these letters do not show up at end of words and are not applicable. Please correct me if I am mistaken.
    Thanks.

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    SharkBeach, I'm sure you won't see any gender of these letters and all left ones too because letters don't have gender
    The letters Ё, Э, and the hard sign does not show up at the end of modern Russian words (exepting some adopted words that does for instanse сакэ).
    The letters У, Ю usually marks the declensional endings of nouns in dative case (e.g. стол - [к] столу). In the plural form those endings change to -АМ, ЯМ, following the previous example it would be: к столу - к столам

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Can't think of any noun that ends in Ё or Ю (in Nom. case). I think they don't exist.
    Also there are very few words ending in Э or У, and they are of foreign origin.

    Words ending in Э are usually neutral: сакэ, баррэ.
    Words ending in У can have different genders:
    эму ("emu") - generally masculine (but when talking about a female bird it can be used as feminine)
    паспарту ("passe-partout") - neutral
    etc.

    But these words regardless of their gender are indeclinable (i.e. they always retain their Nominative form).

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Quote Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
    Can't think of any noun that ends in Ё or Ю (in Nom. case). I think they don't exist.
    остриё
    витьё
    бритьё
    гнильё

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Wildcard search in Lingvo works wonders.

    меню (с)
    ревю (с)
    барбекю (с)
    интервью (с)
    дежа-вю (с)
    инженю (ж)
    кешью (м)

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Ok, guys.
    There are such words, I just couldn't remember any after sleepless night.

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    SharkBeach, what grammar book are you using? From your presentation I think you might consider another one. I think there is a discussion here somewhere about the various books people are using to study Russian.

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Quote Originally Posted by Zubr
    остриё
    витьё
    бритьё
    гнильё
    all neutral, inanimate
    single:
    N остриё
    G острия
    D острию
    A остриё
    I остриём
    P об острие

    plural:
    N острия
    G остриёв
    D остриям
    A острия
    I остриями
    P об остриях
    "Россия для русских" - это неправильно. Остальные-то чем лучше?

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Quote Originally Posted by chaika
    SharkBeach, what grammar book are you using? From your presentation I think you might consider another one. I think there is a discussion here somewhere about the various books people are using to study Russian.
    Its A book I picked up as a kid and just now got into it. From the 80's, "learning Russian the fast and fun way"
    It had a section on both how to change nouns from singular to plural ( eg, nouns ending in К, add И, nouns ending in o, replace with A) and also noun genders based on its ending (eg, noun ending k is masculine , ending in A is feminine, which would determine what kind of "it" I would use to describe a noun, OH TAM, OHA TAM, OHO TAM, OHИ TAM) but with the letters I mentioned before, it did not include them or say why they were left out.

    Im just starting out and trying to get the basic rules down, don't want to pick up any bad habits early on.

    Thanks for your responses, I figured it must be because they were not used or uncommon.

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Quote Originally Posted by alexone
    SharkBeach, I'm sure you won't see any gender of these letters and all left ones too because letters don't have gender
    The letters Ё, Э, and the hard sign does not show up at the end of modern Russian words (exepting some adopted words that does for instanse сакэ).
    The letters У, Ю usually marks the declensional endings of nouns in dative case (e.g. стол - [к] столу). In the plural form those endings change to -АМ, ЯМ, following the previous example it would be: к столу - к столам
    Thank you

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Yes, I thought it might be something like that. But you really should get a grammar like the ones they use in schools. Nachalo and Golosa are two that have been well received. They have accompanying workbook, CDs, and even videos I think. These grammars will guide you in an orderly way toward mastery of the language.

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    Re: What are the gender of these characters?

    Quote Originally Posted by chaika
    Yes, I thought it might be something like that. But you really should get a grammar like the ones they use in schools. Nachalo and Golosa are two that have been well received. They have accompanying workbook, CDs, and even videos I think. These grammars will guide you in an orderly way toward mastery of the language.
    I will take a look at those, thanks.

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