Ges what kind. The gender of indeclinable nouns. Difficult cases of using the gender of inflected nouns

what kind of words URGENT!!! Vocational school, hydroelectric power station, traffic police, automatic telephone exchange, Moscow art theater, scientific research institute, quality control department, Moscow State University, Youth Theater, state of emergency and received the best answer

Answer from Irina Robertovna Makhrakova[guru]
These are complex abbreviated words, that is, abbreviations, so you need to remember the following:
◆ most of the abbreviations are indeclinable nouns (vocational school, hydroelectric power station, traffic police, automatic telephone exchange, research institute, quality control department, Moscow State University, state of emergency), and therefore their gender is determined by the main word in the transcript;
◆ there are also DECLINED abbreviations (MKhAT, Youth Theatre), the genus of which is determined in the usual way.
So, the gender is determined by the gender of the main word in the decoding of abbreviations, since they are indeclinable, in the following words:
◆ vocational school - a FEMALE noun, since the word SCHOOL in decoding - a vocational school belongs to this gender;
◆ HPP - a FEMALE noun, since the last part of its decoding STATION - a hydroelectric power station belongs to this gender;
◆ GIBDD - a FEMALE noun, since the word INSPECTION in decoding - the State Inspectorate for Road Safety belongs to this gender;
◆ ATS is a FEMALE noun, because the feminine word STATION in decoding is an automatic telephone exchange, an autonomous thermal station (there are other decodings where the main words are nouns of both feminine, masculine, and neuter gender, but those that I called , are the most common);
◆ NII is a masculine noun, because the word INSTITUTE, which is the main one in deciphering the abbreviation - research institute, belongs to the masculine gender;
◆ OTK is a masculine noun, because the main word in decoding (technical control department) is DEPARTMENT of the masculine gender (there are other decodings);
◆ MSU is a masculine noun, because the main word in deciphering (Moscow State University; Moldovan State University; International Humanitarian University, etc.) is masculine UNIVERSITY;
◆ PE is a NEUTRAL noun, as the neuter word INCIDENT in deciphering is an emergency.
Moscow Art Theater and Youth Theater - a declining noun, MALE gender (MKhAT - he is mine, Youth Theater - he is mine), they are declined like an ordinary noun of the 2nd declension (MKhAT, Moscow Art Theater, Moscow Art Theater, etc.; Youth Theater, Youth Theater, Youth Theater, etc. .). And the gender of the main word in deciphering these abbreviations - THEATER - does not play a role here, and the fact that it is masculine is a coincidence. In the declined MALE abbreviations MID (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline), for example, there is no such coincidence.
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Answer from Anyuta Samak[newbie]
It is determined by the leading word in the abbreviation - if ATS (automatic telephone exchange) then by the word "station" - feminine. Or vocational school (vocational school) according to the word "school" - the middle gender, etc., it turns out cf. r, f. r, f. r, f. r, m. r, m. r, m. r, cf. r, m. r, cf. R.

Particular difficulties may arise in determining the form of the gender of indeclinable nouns. The gender of indeclinable nouns is established on the basis of particular patterns for individual groups of words, taking into account their lexical meaning, animateness / inanimateness, the ability to bring the specific name under the generic concept.

Indeclinable animate nouns are masculine if they refer to a male person, and feminine if they refer to a female person: military attache, famous maestro, experienced croupier, old bourgeois, polite porter, cheerful entertainer; simple-hearted ingénue, poor Mimi, old madam, strict lady, young miss. The masculine gender also includes indeclinable nouns of foreign origin, naming animals: funny pony, Australian kangaroo, beautiful cockatoo, Asian zebu, pink flamingo(Besides tsetse).

For inanimate indeclinable nouns, the rule is that they belong to the neuter gender: purse, popsicle, cinema, entresha, role, cocoa, scarf, taxi(Besides coffee). The middle gender also includes proper names - the names of sports clubs ( Dynamo, Torpedo).

The masculine and feminine gender of inanimate nouns is determined by the grammatical gender of the noun denoting a common generic concept. Yes, the word penalty - masculine (generic concept - penalty kick), and the word tsunami- feminine (generic concept - sea wave). Masculine nouns denoting names of winds ( sultry sirocco, powerful tornado), languages ( Hindi, Urdu, Swahili, Saha). Feminine words are avenue(the street), kohlrabi(cabbage), take(pear), salami(sausage).

The genus of indeclinable geographical names is established by correlation with a noun that names a generic concept. So, Glasgow, Tbilisi, Delhi- masculine nouns, as they correlate with the word city. There are few nouns naming such generic concepts: river (Zambezi, Po, Tahoe), lake (Ontario, Erie), state (Peru, Chile, Nicaragua), city (Batumi, Baku, Oslo, Turku), mountain (Jungfrau, Kilimanjaro, Chimboraso), desert (Kalahari, Gobi ), island (Capri, Corfu, Hokkaido), republic (Sri Lanka) etc. In some cases, the orientation to the generic concept can be ambiguous, which leads to fluctuations in the gender: Bangladesh(state, republic), kilimanjaro(mountain, volcano). From here the options are: Bangladesh suffered (suffered) from the flood, Peru (suffered, suffered) from the earthquake. However, such constructions are distinctly artificial. Much more natural and grammatically “reliable” are such constructions in which indeclinable proper names do not act independently, but as attachments to the generic name. Wed: Peru hit by earthquake or The Republic of Peru was hit by an earthquake. In this case, the gender of the indeclinable name is practically insignificant.

The definition of the gender of indeclinable compound words (abbreviations) is in principle similar to the definition of the gender of geographical names. Only it is necessary to focus not on the generic name, but on the pivotal supporting word of the phrase that stands for the abbreviation. So, ATS- a feminine noun, because the key word station in the full name "automatic telephone exchange" refers to the feminine gender, SMU - middle class (construction and installation department), traffic police- feminine (state inspection of road safety), GRES, HPP- female (power plant), Research Institute - male (research institute), etc.

Since indeclinable abbreviations are inanimate nouns, for them, in accordance with the general rule, the neuter gender can in principle never be excluded. For example: One checkpoint they drove even before the conversation about the documents ( K. Simonov. The living and the dead; checkpoint checkpoint); …. let them send to Odessa Cheka (I. Babel, Sun of Italy); NATO intervened (North Atlantic Union). It can also be explained by grammatical analogy with the neuter gender of nouns of the type rono, gorono, raifo, selpo and etc.

Words like university, collective farm, village council are inclined, therefore the gender of such words is established in the same way as for other inflected inanimate nouns.

They have a constant morphological feature of the genus and belong to the masculine, feminine or neuter gender.

The main expression of the morphological gender is extra-verbal - the endings of adjectives that agree with the noun, participles in the position of the attribute and words with a non-permanent sign of the gender in the position of the predicate, primarily the verb in the past tense or conditional mood, as well as a short adjective or participle.

The masculine, feminine and neuter gender includes words with the following compatibility:

Generic words

Some nouns ending in - a, denoting signs, properties of persons, in them. n. have a double characterization by gender, depending on the sex of the designated person:

your-□the ignoramus came-□,

your-I'm ignorant came-a.

Such nouns are general kind.

There are nouns in Russian that designate the name of a person by profession, which, when designating a male person, act as masculine words, that is, they attach agreed words with masculine endings; when they denote a female person, the definition is used in the masculine gender, and the predicate is used in the feminine gender (mainly in colloquial speech):

the new doctor has arrived -□ (male),

new doctor came (female).

These words are “candidates” for a common gender, their gender is sometimes called transitional to a common one, but in dictionaries they are characterized as masculine words.

Ways of expressing gender

In Russian, there are about 150 words with a hesitation in gender, for example: coffee- masculine / neuter gender, shampoo- masculine / feminine.

Plural only nouns ( cream, scissors) do not belong to any of the genders, since in the plural formal differences between nouns of different genders are not expressed (cf .: desks - tables).

Thus, the main expression of the gender is extra-verbal. Intra-word gender is consistently expressed only for nouns - substantiated adjectives and participles: watch, ice cream, canteen: in the singular forms, these words have endings that unambiguously indicate their generic affiliation. For nouns of the II declension of the masculine gender and the III declension of the feminine gender, the whole system of their endings is specific, but as for the endings of individual case forms, they may not be indicative, cf. table-□ - night-□.

For all inanimate nouns (and there are about 80% of such nouns in the language), the gender is conditional, in no way connected with extralinguistic reality.

Among animate nouns - the names of persons or animals, the gender is often associated with the gender of the designated creature, cf .: mom - dad, son - daughter, cow - bull. However, it is necessary to understand the difference between the grammatical attribute of gender and the non-grammatical attribute of gender. So, in Russian there are animate nouns of the middle gender ( child, animal), in nouns - the names of animals, male and female individuals are often called the same ( dragonfly, crocodile), among the words - names of persons, there is also not always a correspondence between gender and gender. Yes, the word individual feminine, although it can denote both a woman and a man (see, for example, A. S. Pushkin: Someone wrote to him from Moscow, which is known and I the person is due soon a enter into a legal marriage with a young and beautiful girl).

Gender of compound nouns

A certain difficulty is the definition of the gender of compound words (abbreviations) and indeclinable nouns. They have the following rules.

Generic characteristic abbreviations depends on what type the given compound word belongs to.

The genus of abbreviations formed by adding the initial parts ( supply manager), the initial part of the first word with the uncontracted second ( savings bank) and the beginning of the first word with the beginning and/or end of the second ( trade mission - trade mission), is determined by the generic affiliation of the main word in the original phrase: good organizational work, Russian trade mission, new savings bank.

A genus of abbreviations consisting of initial sounds ( GUM) or letters ( Moscow State University), as well as abbreviations of a mixed type, in which the initial part of the first word is connected with the first letters or sounds of other words ( head office), is ambiguous. Initially, they also acquire the gender of the main word in the original phrase, for example, Bratsk HPP. However, in the process of use, the original generic characteristic is consistently preserved only by abbreviations from the first letters of the original phrase. Abbreviations, consisting of the first sounds, behave differently. Some of them acquire a generic characteristic in accordance with the appearance of the word. Yes, the words BAM, university, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NEP, registry office and some others became masculine words and acquired the ability to decline according to the second declension, like nouns of the type house. Other abbreviations ending in a consonant with a core word of the middle and feminine gender may have fluctuations: they can have a generic characteristic in accordance with the gender of the main word and at the same time not be inclined ( in our ZhEK) or, leaning, used as masculine words ( in our Housing Office). Abbreviations ending in a vowel are not inflected and are predominantly neuter ( our RONO - district department of public education).

Determining the gender of indeclinable nouns

Indeclinable nouns , getting into the Russian language or being formed in it, should acquire a generic characteristic, which will manifest itself only when choosing adjectives, participles and verbs that agree with the noun.

There are the following patterns in the choice of generic characteristics by such nouns: the gender depends either on the meaning of the word, or on the gender of another Russian word, which is considered as a synonym or as a generic name for this unchangeable word. Different criteria are leading for different groups of nouns.

If a noun denotes an object, then it usually acquires the characteristics of a neutral gender: coat, muffler, subway. However, feminine avenue(as the street), kohlrabi(because it cabbage), coffee- with hesitation - masculine / neuter, masculine - penalty, euro.

If a noun denotes an animal, then it usually refers to the masculine gender: chimpanzee, cockatoo. Exceptions: iwashi, tsetse- feminine gender (because herring, fly).

If a noun denotes a person, then its gender depends on the gender of this person: words monsieur, couturier masculine, as they denote men; the words madam, mademoiselle feminine, because they denote women, and the words vis-a-vis, incognito common gender, as they can denote both men and women.

If a noun denotes a geographical object, then its gender is determined by the gender of the Russian word, which denotes the type of object: Tbilisi masculine, because city(masculine), Mississippi feminine, because river, Lesotho neuter, as it state. All of the above applies only to indeclinable words, therefore Moscow- a noun is not masculine, but feminine, although it is a city, since it is changeable.

See Litnevskaya E.I. Russian language: a short theoretical course for schoolchildren

The correct definition of the gender of nouns allows you to avoid mistakes in their agreement with verbs in the past tense ( the coffee is cold or cooled down) and adjectives ( delicious coffee or delicious).

Since most often the grammatical gender of nouns does not directly correlate with the lexical meaning of the word, the belonging of a noun to the masculine, neuter or feminine gender has to be memorized (memorized). This is most difficult for those who study Russian as a foreign language.

For native speakers of Russian as a native language, difficulties with determining the grammatical gender arise with the following types of words:

the most extensive group is indeclinable borrowed nouns: coffee, cocoa, Bordeaux, whiskey, brandy, boa, brie, slang, euro, Esperanto;

foreign geographical names: Monaco, Limpopo, Tokyo, Helsinki, Tartu, Capri, Chile, Yellow River;

abbreviations: UN, UNESCO, NATO, CIS, PRO, VAK, TASS, GLONASS.

some nouns ending in -Л in the form im. n. (doubts arise whether to refer these words to the second or third declension): tulle, callus, polish, roofing felt, valve.

nouns, plural form h. which usually denotes a pair of shoes: shoes, boots, slippers, sandals etc.

compound nouns.

Let's take a closer look at each of these types of words.

Gender of indeclinable borrowed nouns

Most inflected nouns that look like inflected neuter nouns (such as sea and window), belong to the middle gender: fragrant cocoa, aged Bordeaux, heady chardonnay, hot cappuccino, locomotive depot, new coat, wicker planter.

Word coffee strict literary norm prescribes to use as a masculine noun: strong coffee is already cold. However, in relaxed oral speech, neuter agreement is acceptable: the coffee is cold.

It should be noted that there are many exceptions to this rule related to the influence of various analogies (such as the presence of a commonly used inflected Russian synonym; the possibility of substituting an inflected word denoting a generic concept, etc.). So, the words are masculine Euro(because most of the names of monetary units are masculine, cf.: dollar, ruble, pound, franc, tugrik...), brie, suluguni(influence of the generic concept cheese), sirocco(word influence wind), penalty(influence of the Russian synonym penalty kick). The words are feminine avenue(cf. the street), kohlrabi(cabbage), salami(sausage), etc.

Some words can be used in the form of two genders. Such words include, for example, nouns that outwardly resemble inflected nouns in the plural form. hours: aged whiskey and aged whiskey; armenian brandy and armenian brandy. Therefore, in all doubtful cases, to determine the generic affiliation of a word, one should refer to the dictionaries of the Russian language.

Genus of foreign geographical names

Most often, the gender of such names is determined by the generic word: distant (principality) Monaco, wide (river) Limpopo, densely populated (city) Tokyo. If two different generic words can be used, then agreement options are possible: independent (state) Haiti, independent (country) Haiti, distant (island) Haiti, beautiful (city) Brescia and beautiful (province) Brescia.

In some cases, the gender of a noun is established by tradition, so a dictionary check is required.

Gender of compound words (abbreviations)

The genus of abbreviations is usually determined by the key word in the decoding of the abbreviation or by the generic word: NATO (alliance) decided, Moscow State University (university) accepted new students, CIS (commonwealth) took the initiative, UNESCO (organization) declared 2009 the Year of Gogol.

Gender of nouns ending in -Л

The second declension and the masculine gender include, in particular, the words: aerosol, polish, lampoon, vaudeville, quantile, quartile, endgame, tulle, tar paper, flat.

The third declension and feminine gender include words such as mezzanine, corn, rosin, vacuole, triol.

Generic affiliation and belonging to the second or third declension is checked in such cases in dictionary order.

Names of shoes and paired items

It should be remembered:

And also: gaiters - one gaiter, leggings - one gaiter, sideburns - one sideburn, leggings - one leggings.

BUT: golfs - one golf, rails - one rail, adjustments - one adjustment.

In addition, there is a two-gender noun high fur boots. If in many h. the stress falls on the end of the word (high fur boots, -ov), then the singular form is one oz. If in many h. the stress falls on the stem ( high fur boots), form them. p. units h. - atnta.

Compound nouns

If the noun has only one part that changes in cases, the gender is determined by the part being changed: personal web page. If both parts of the word change in the noun, then the gender is determined by the part that is more significant in meaning.

How to decline abbreviations

What are the abbreviations?

Abbreviation It is customary to call any abbreviated word or phrase. There are the following types of abbreviations:

initial type abbreviations (formed from the initial letters of each word in the phrase: USE - unified state exam; ACS - automated control system);

syllabic abbreviations (formed from a combination of the initial parts of words, for example: state farm, collective farm);

abbreviations of a mixed type, consisting of both initial parts of words and initial sounds: social security, KamAZ;

abbreviations consisting of a combination of the initial part of the word with the whole word: spare parts, savings bank, organizational work;

abbreviations consisting of a combination of the initial part of the word with the form of the indirect case of the noun: head of the department, platoon commander, manager;

abbreviations consisting of a combination of the beginning of the first word with the beginning and end of the second, or only from the ends of the second: moped(motorcycle-bike), destroyer(destroyer);

graphic abbreviations ( i.e. - that is, because - since).

Let's get back to initial abbreviations. In terms of pronunciation, they are divided into three types: letters, sounds and alpha-sound(mixed).

Letter abbreviations are read by the name of the letters, for example: the USSR[es-es-es-er], computer[uh-uh] Moscow State University[em-ge-woo], NTV[en-te-ve].

Sound abbreviations consist of the initial sounds of the words of the original phrase, for example: MFA[mid], university[university], GUM[hum]. As a rule, sound abbreviations are formed when there are vowel sounds inside the abbreviation (this allows you to read the abbreviation by syllables): university(1 syllable), Moscow Art Theater(1 syllable), MGIMO(2 syllables).

Alphabetic abbreviations consist of both the names of the initial letters and the initial sounds of the words included in the original phrase: CSKA[tse-es-ka].

Abbreviations that have the sound [f] in their composition have interesting features: Germany and FSB. Originally an abbreviation Germany it was pronounced like a letter (that is, it was read by the name of the letters: [ef-er-ge]). But since the letter F in colloquial speech it is pronounced as [fe], which is explained by the economy of speech means, in particular, articulation laws (and our “linguistic laziness”, as K. S. Gorbachevich believes), today the pronunciation of the FRG is fixed as [fe-er-ge] - alpha-sound abbreviation, cf.: FSB [fe-es-be] and [ef-es-be].

Behind the abbreviation USA according to tradition, the pronunciation [se-she-a] was fixed, i.e. it is a special abbreviation: it is read by letters, but not as it is customary in the literary language, but as letters With[es] and W[sha] is called colloquially.

How to decline abbreviations?

In modern Russian, all initial (consisting of the first letters of words) abbreviations ending in a vowel are not declined, for example: Moscow State University, OJSC.

Usually, abbreviations of a sound character with a masculine reference word are declined: Moscow Art Theater, Bolshoi Theater, GOST.

Non-declining abbreviations include:

initial letter abbreviations: CIS, GUVD, FSB and etc.;

abbreviations with a reference word of the middle and feminine gender: TASS, MAPRYAL, gas stations, hydroelectric power stations(but MFA- it is permissible to incline and not incline);

borrowed abbreviations ending in a solid consonant (for example, MAN - an automobile company);

words like Head of Department, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education and Science, Deputy Minister, Deputy Director, Head of Warehouse etc.

In addition, abbreviations of a sound nature with a masculine reference word are often not declined in written and official business speech.

§ 1 Indeclinable nouns

In this lesson, we will remember indeclinable nouns and learn how to determine their gender.

Recall that indeclinable nouns are a group of invariable borrowed words. It includes both proper names (Dumas, Peru, Tbilisi) and common nouns (frau, pony, menu).

And how to say: a varied menu or a varied menu? Beautiful pony or beautiful pony? Ancient Tbilisi or ancient Tbilisi?

Why is it difficult for us to answer this question? This is because these nouns do not change. So, we must remember the gender of such words.

§ 2 Gender of borrowed indeclinable nouns

Most borrowed indeclinable nouns are predominantly of the neuter gender. Indeclinable nouns are masculine if they denote males, and feminine if they denote females.

If an indeclinable noun of a foreign language origin denotes animals or birds, it also refers to the masculine gender: PITTED COCKADU, GRAY KANGAROO, FUNNY CHIMPANZE.

The exception is the word TSECE. This word refers to the feminine gender, since we are talking about a fly.

§ 3 Gender of indeclinable proper nouns

The gender of indeclinable proper nouns - geographical names, names of newspapers and magazines is determined by the gender of those common nouns with which these names can be replaced.

We have an offer:

What should be the ending of the adjective? Since Sochi is a city, it means that the indeclinable proper noun will also be in the masculine form: HOSPITAL SOCHI. Let's look at another example:

In the context, there is an indication that Ontario is a lake, which means that the proper name will be a neuter noun: FRESHWATER ONTARIO.

§ 4 Gender of words-abbreviations

Indeclinable nouns also include abbreviations. For example, the CIS, Moscow State University, research institutes. The gender of such nouns is determined by the gender of the main word. At the heart of the combination UNION OF INDEPENDENT STATES, the main word is UNION, it refers to the masculine gender, therefore, the abbreviation CIS is also masculine. And at the heart of the combination MOSCOW STATE UNIVERSITY, the main word is UNIVERSITY, which means that Moscow State University is also masculine.

§ 5 Let's practice determining the gender of indeclinable nouns

Let's determine the gender of some indeclinable nouns together.

The word COFFEE refers to the masculine gender, which means that the adjectives AROMATIC, BLACK must be in the masculine form.

combinations Moscow Art Academic Theatre) the main word is THEATER, which means that the verb must be in the masculine form.

At the heart of the combination of the abbreviation HPP (Hydroelectric Power Plant) is the main word STATION, which means that the whole word belongs to the feminine gender.

· Most non-declensible nouns are neuter: HIGHWAY, METRO, CINEMA, ESKIMO, ALIBI.

If a noun denotes a female person, then it will also be feminine: MADAM, MISS, PANI.

· If a noun denotes a male animal or bird, then it refers to the masculine gender: ATTACHE, MAESTRO, KOALA, PONY, FLAMINGO.

Indeclinable proper nouns are of the same gender as the words with which they can be substituted.

In complex abbreviated words, the gender of the abbreviation word is determined by the gender of the main word in the phrase. DPS is a road patrol service. The main word is SERVICE, which means that DPS is feminine. In case of difficulty in determining the gender of indeclinable foreign nouns, it is necessary to use the "Dictionaries of new words".

List of used literature: