Hard and Soft Stems. Exceptions (2024)

Russian grammar and vocabulary. Unit 1
Grammar Lesson 1 Gender of Nouns: Hard Stem. Personal pronouns он (he), она (she), оно (it). "The" and "a"."To be" in the Present tense
Grammar Lesson 2 Gender of Nouns: Hard and Soft Stems. Exceptions
Grammar Lesson 3 Nominative Plural of Nouns
Grammar Lesson 4 Personal Pronouns я, ты, он, она, оно, мы, вы, они. Ты vs. Вы
Phrasebook Topic 3 Professions
Phrasebook Topic 4 Learn Russian Names: Last Name, First Name and Patronimic
Quiz 5 Check what you have learned from Grammar Lessons 1-4 and Phrasebook Topics 3-4 with this 20 minute quiz.
Test 1 Check what you have learned from Russian Letters and Sound System section and Grammar Lessons 1-4

Грамматика Gender of Nouns (2)

Hard Stems and Soft Stems

Nouns of masculine, feminine and neuter gender have hard stems or soft stems.

Hard stem ends in a hard consonant: дом-Ø, ламп-а, окн-о (final м, п, н are hard in these words).
Soft stem ends in a soft consonant: словар-ь, песн-я, мор-е (final р, н, р are soft in these words).

Welearned earlier that a hard consonant is indicated by the vowels а, о, у, э, ы; a soft consonant is indicated by the vowels я, ё, ю, е, и and the soft sign ь.

If a paired consonant is the last letter in a word it is considered hard (see Pronunciation and Spelling Guide for more details and examples).

Soft stems of masculine nouns are indicated by the letters -й and -ь (soft sign): музей, словарь.
Soft stems of feminine nouns are indicated by -я and -ь: песня, дверь.
Soft stems of neuter nouns are indicated by -ё and -е: ружьё, море.

For the nouns that end in ь, you must learn their gender when you learn the words. Feminine nouns that end in ь are labeled as f.or ж., in the word lists and dictionaries, for example:дверь ж. - door (if a noun that ends in ь has no special label, it is masculine).

ж. (= женский род ) - f. (=feminine);

Compare the spelling and pronunciation of hard and soft stem nouns. Click the words to listen.

Hard stem

Soft stem

Masculine

дом-Ø	музе-й	house, museum
	словар-ь	dictionary

Feminine

ламп-а	песн-я	lamp, song
	двер-ь	door

Neuter

окн-о	ружь-ё	window, gun
	мор-е	sea

Exceptions: Masculine or Feminine?

All nouns referring to men and boys are masculine, even though some of them end in -а or -я.For example: папа - dad, дедушка - grandfather, дядя - uncle, and many men's and boy's nicknames: Миша, Серёжа, Ваня, etc.

ExercisesУпражнения

Vocabulary building: memorize the gender of most common nouns that end in ь
Practice determining the gender of nouns (focus on nouns that end in ь and exceptions)
Practice determining the gender of nouns (focus on nouns that end in ь and exceptions)

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