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VOCABULARY USED IN THIS LESSON

Russian	Pronunciation	English
папа	pA-pa	dad
дядя	dYA-dya	uncle
Владимир	vlA-di-mir	Vladimir (guys name)
Володя	vA-lo-dya	Volodya (nickname for Vladimir*)
Александр	alik-sAn-der	Alexander (guys name)
Саша	sA-sha	Sasha (nickname for Alexander*)
такси	tAk-si	taxi
меню	min-YU	menu

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Exceptions to the rules

1. Obvious Gender

As you learn new Russian vocabulary you will come across words such as папа (dad) and дядя (uncle) which seem to be feminine because they end with -a. However, when the gender of a noun is obvious you can overrule the gender regardless of the noun's suffix.

For example,

Dad

папа

Pronounced:

pA-pa

Audio:

(Lena)

Uncle

дядя

Pronounced:

dYA-dya

Audio:

(Lena)

This special case can also be applied to people's names. Often Russian men are known to their friends by their nickname (diminutive name), which sometimes end with -а or -я. These nicknames are still classed as masculine gender.

For example,

Vladimir

Владимир

Pronounced:

vlA-di-mir

Audio:

(Lena)

Volodya (nickname for Vladimir)

Володя

Pronounced:

vA-lo-dya

Audio:

(Lena)

Alexander

Александр

Pronounced:

alik-sAn-der

Audio:

(Lena)

Sasha (nickname for Alexander)

Саша

Pronounced:

sA-sha

Audio:

(Lena)

Also, foreign names denoting females are feminine, whatever their endings.

For example,

Клер (Clair) is feminine, likewise Маргарет (Margaret) is also feminine.

2. Borrowed Foreign Words Ending With -и -у or -ю: Neuter

Sometimes Russian borrows English words, and these are usually assigned a neuter gender.

Natural Russian does not have many nouns ending with -и -у or -ю, so if you see an English sounding word with these endings then it is likely to be neuter.

For example,

Taxi

такси

Pronounced:

tAk-si

Audio:

(Lena)

Menu

меню

Pronounced:

min-YU

Audio:

(Lena)