What are common nouns? Examples? "nouns of the general gender."

General nouns in Russian form a special group. Its definition is based on the grammatical uniqueness of words, which is based on a change in gender depending on the gender of the specified person.

Gender of nouns

In total, there are 4 genders for nouns in Russian: neuter, masculine and feminine. The last three are easy to determine by the ending or semantic context. But what to do if the word can mean both male and female? This problem occurs with the words “bully”, “cunning”, “rogue”, “wretch”, “touchy”, “sleepy”, “mediocre”, “inhuman”, “hurry”, “piggy”, “bully”, etc. which may change.

It is traditionally believed that there are only three genders in the Russian language, they include masculine, feminine and neuter. To determine the gender of some common words it was customary to refer to the context. The names of professions, for example, are divided into parallel names: saleswoman-saleswoman, teacher-teacher, schoolboy-schoolgirl, pilot-pilot, cook-cook, writer-writer, athlete-athlete, leader-leader. At the same time, in official documents the masculine gender of these words is more often used to refer to women. And there are also examples of general nouns designated exclusively by the masculine gender: gynecologist, lawyer, linguist, philologist, correspondent, ambassador, academician, judge, toastmaster, surgeon, doctor, therapist, paramedic, master, courier, curator, appraiser, insurer, diplomat, politician, employee, specialist, worker. Now there is a tendency to classify such words as general gender, since they can be applied to both men and women.

Ambiguity of opinions

Disputes about recognizing the existence of a common genus have been going on since the 17th century. Then similar words were mentioned in the grammars of Zizaniy and Smotrytsky. Lomonosov singled out such nouns, pointing out their formal characteristics. Later, researchers began to doubt their existence, defining such nouns as words with alternating gender, depending on what was implied.

So to this day, opinions are divided; some scientists consider common nouns in the Russian language to be separate homonym words different kinds, and the other recognizes them in a separate group.

Surnames

Some indeclinable surnames can be classified as words of general gender foreign origin and Russian surnames with -о and -ы/х. Sagan, Depardieu, Reno, Rabelais, Dumas, Verdi, Maurois, Hugo, Defieux, Michon, Tussaud, Picasso and others. All this among foreign names. Among the Slavic surnames of the common family, the following are often found: Tkachenko, Yurchenko, Nesterenko, Prokhorenko, Chernykh, Makarenko, Ravenskikh, Kucherenko, Dolgikh, Savchenko, Sedykh, Kutsykh and others.

Nationalities

The names of some nationalities are defined as words of a general gender. These include: Khanty, Mansi, Quechua, Komi, Gujarati, Hezhe, Mari, Sami. The fact is that “Mari” and “Mari” already exist, but the word “Mari” will be common to the entire nation or nationality.

According to the same principle, the names of breeds (Sivka, Okapi, Bulanka), as well as representatives of groups (vis-a-vis), are also included in the general genus.

Informal proper names

In addition to surnames, there is an interesting separate category proper names related to the topic of the article. These are abbreviations for official names, which often cause confusion during gender determination.

The name "Sasha" can belong to both Alexandra and Alexander, and the name "Valya" is used to call both the girl Valentina and the boy Valentin. Other such names include “Zhenya” from Evgeniy and Evgeniya, “Slava” from Yaroslav and Yaroslava, Vladislav and Vladislava, “Vasya” from Vasily and Vasilisa.

Evaluative, characterizing words

However, for the first time about the existence common nouns The question arose because of evaluative words affecting the character or traits of a person. In direct speech, when using them, it can be more difficult to track the gender of the recipient of the remark, for example: “You are a bully!” Here the word "bully" can be addressed as female, and for men. These also include words of the general kind “bully”, “rogue”, “clever”, “well done”, “tramp”, “egoza”, “cripple”, “stinker”, “big”, “little fellow”, “ disheveled."

In fact, there are a lot of similar evaluative words. They can be both positive and negative meaning. However, such words should not be confused with an assessment as a result of metaphorical transfer, due to which they retain the original gender: crow, fox, rag, ulcer, beluga, goat, cow, deer, woodpecker, seal.

Words of a general kind with negative and positive meanings include: fool, prude, reptile, thug, baby, child, baby, quiet, invisible, poor thing, lazybones, dirty, big, sweet tooth, clean, greedy, miser, chatter, beast, star , idle talker, mumbler, arrogant, scoundrel, klutz, weasel, asked, hard worker, hard worker, ignorant, onlooker, drunkard, honey, cudgel, imagined, hillbilly, slob, sleepyhead, sneak, whim, liar, hoarder, fidget, toastmaster, swashbuckler , rake.

An example of use is clearly shown in fiction: “A little son came to his father” (Mayakovsky), “There lived an artist Tube, a musician Guslya and other kids: Toropyzhka, Grumpy, Silent, Donut, Rasteryayka, two brothers - Avoska and Neboska. And the most famous among them was a kid named Dunno " (Nosov). Perhaps, it is the works of Nikolai Nosov that will become a real collection of words with a common gender.

The fewest words in this group are occupied by neutrally expressed ones, such as: right-handed, left-handed, colleague, namesake, orphan. The gender of such words is also common.

How to determine gender in common gender?

The general gender of nouns in the Russian language is determined by the impossibility of confidently indicating gender in the absence of pronouns and generic endings adjectives. Words that can be classified as either masculine or feminine will be included in this group.

In order to determine the gender of a noun, the accompanying demonstrative pronouns “this, this, that, that” and the endings of adjectives -aya, -y/iy are most often used. But if the name of a profession, position or rank is determined with a consonant ending “sergeant, doctor, doctor, director” and others, then the adjective can only be masculine, but the predicate is expressed feminine. “The doctor prescribed the drug” and “An attractive doctor came out of hospital", "The sergeant gave the order" and "The strict sergeant allowed me to rest", "This Marina Nikolaevna is an exemplary teacher!" and "An exemplary teacher conducted public lesson", "The cheerful puppeteer performed a performance" and " Old Master sat down on the porch." The predicate does not have to show gender, then the task of determining gender becomes more complicated: "The teacher is conducting a lesson," "The specialist is making a decision."

Variety of examples

Thanks to the examples, it becomes clear that a wide variety of words can be found among common nouns, such as “daredevil”, “bully”, “bred”, “forester”, “old-timer”, “tail”, “six”, “ignorant”, “boring”, “white-handed”, “slut”, “weeper”, “dirty”, “little one”. And other words. But they are all united by ambiguity in the definition of gender. Orphan, stylist, marketer, comrade, coordinator, curator, Russian specialist, linguist, shirt, foreman, kid, judge, kolobrodina, feisty, razin, protégé, roar, singer, muffin, bombard, dunce, stupid, suck-up, upstart, youngster, fearful, poor thing, lame, charming, first-grader, high school student, eleven-year-old - all these nouns can be used in relation to both genders.

The wide cultural distribution of common nouns in the Russian language is also interesting. For example, they were widely used in proverbs and sayings:

1. A healthy man in food, but a cripple in work.
2. For every simpleton there is a deceiver.
3. A reveler in his youth is modest in his old age.
4. A drunkard is like a chicken, where he steps, he will peck.

And in literature:

1. “So a strange deal took place, after which the tramp and the millionaire parted, quite satisfied with each other” (Green).
2. “Good girl, one orphan” (Bazhenov).
3. “Your cleanliness, as doctors say, is sterile” (Dubov).
4. “Hillbilly! - What? - She recoiled” (Shargunov).

There are many such examples in the literature. Determining the general gender of the words listed in the exercise is one of the tasks in the Russian language lesson that is easy to cope with.

The noun is one of the most frequently used parts of speech. Moreover, such words have a gender, of which there are three in the Russian language: masculine (dog, house, bow, father), feminine (goat, cat, room, pear) or neuter (village, sky, jam, distance). The gender category is one of the permanent features of a given part of speech. However, there are a number of exceptions. We offer you to get acquainted with examples of common nouns.

What is genus

• This is a constant sign. So, if number and case can change (for example, the words “cat” are singular and “cats” are plural), then the gender always remains the same. No matter how many cats we are talking about, this word is always feminine.
• In plural in nouns this category is not expressed. In this case, if definition is necessary, the word should be put in singular. h.
• Words that are not used in the singular (scissors, stretchers) have no gender.

How to determine

The easiest way to determine gender is by substituting pronouns. This is what they teach in school. For example:

• A table, a house, a closet, a chair - it is mine.
• The dog, the door, the skirt, the geranium - she is mine.
• Butter, milk, plant, essay - it is mine.

Sometimes, over time, a word can change gender, for example, the word “swan” was previously feminine, but now it is masculine.

Common gender

Let's look at examples of common nouns and look at what they are. There are a number of words that can be used in relation to a being of any gender:

• Slob.
• Bungler.
• Crybaby.
• Sneaky.
• Quiet.
• Nerd.

From the context it becomes clear what kind we are talking about. For example:

• Tanya was a terrible crybaby and always solved problems with tears.
• Egor was a terrible crybaby and always solved problems with tears.

The word "crybaby" is an example of a generic noun.

Examples

There are quite a lot of words that fit into the category “generic nouns”. Here are some examples of phrases:

• Poor dog - poor Olga.
• Know-it-all Maxim - know-it-all Katerina.
• Slicker (boy, girl).
• Dirty (Vanya, Anya).
• Glutton (cat, dog).

These are words of a general gender. Most often, they have a pronounced emotional coloring and express the speaker’s attitude towards the subject described by him.

Here are examples of sentences with common nouns:

• The little son constantly asked many questions.
• Why Julia often baffled her parents.
• The simpleton Kirill found himself in ridiculous situations so often that people were already tired of laughing at him.
• This man went down in history as a regicide.

From the examples it is clear that in their form such words resemble feminine nouns, this is indicated by the endings -а/я, however, when combining, it is necessary to take into account the word on which gender they depend.

First example

Hard worker Petrov received a bonus. The word of the general gender “hard worker” characterizes a man, therefore it also refers to the noun. male. The agreed upon definition should be chosen appropriately: “a conscientious, diligent worker.”

Another example

Self-taught Aksenova has achieved significant success in scientific activity. Here “self-taught” describes a woman, so the word should be classified as feminine, the agreed definition would be: “a talented, intelligent, efficient self-taught.”

Examples from texts

Here are examples of common nouns from Krylov’s work “The Elephant and the Pug”:

So crowds of onlookers followed the Elephant.

I can get into big bullies.

There are two words of a common gender here - “onlooker”, “bully”; both first declension, plural.

In the fable "The Cat and the Cook" there is another example of a generic noun:

Oh, you glutton! ah, villain! -

Here the cook reproaches Vaska.

The word used here is "glutton" of the general kind.

Another example is from the fable “The Mirror and the Monkey”:

Of my gossips, there are five or six such crooks.

And again we have an example of a common noun.

How to avoid making a mistake

Often, without context, it becomes difficult to determine which gender a common noun refers to. Eg:

• What an upstart you are!
• You are a loner and don't know how to work in a team.

Words mean qualitative characteristics person, but do not indicate his gender. If you supplement the examples with supporting words, the meaning will become clear:

• What an upstart you are, Misha!
• Katya, you are a loner and don’t know how to work in a team.

Thanks to the supporting words, we understand that in the first example the word “upstart” refers to a boy, therefore it is a masculine noun, and in the second example it refers to a girl, therefore its gender is feminine.

Words of general gender should be classified as masculine when they denote a male person, or feminine when they denote a female person.

Common Mistake

Often, schoolchildren may mistakenly mistake lexical units that denote professions for common nouns:

• doctor;
• Professor;
• geologist;
• archaeologist;
• librarian;
• paleontologist;
• surgeon.

They can refer to both men and women, but their gender is always male: Doctor Ivanova, surgeon Smirnova. If you need to coordinate an adjective with them, you should remember that they are combined with the masculine form: talented surgeon Smirnova. The combination “talented surgeon Smirnova” would be a mistake.

Most of this vocabulary does not have a parallel feminine form, but sometimes phrases like “doctor Ivanov” and “librarian Savinov” may slip into colloquial speech, which are unacceptable in literary speech.

There are also feminine words in the Russian language that denote the names of persons by profession: typist, ballerina. If it is necessary to designate a male person, descriptive phrases come to the rescue: ballet dancer.

Proper names

Examples of common nouns include: proper names- irreducible surnames of both Russian and foreign origin: Sidorenko, Vidnykh, Grodas.

The common gender also has diminutive forms that can refer to people of both sexes: Sashenka, Shurochka, as well as abbreviated forms of names: Valya, Sasha.

Common noun groups

Based on the above material, three groups of names of a general gender can be distinguished:

• Common nouns, their form reminiscent of feminine words, as indicated by the ending -а/я: orphan, incompetent, rascal, sweet tooth. Most often they have a bright emotional coloring.
• Diminutive proper names that apply to both boys and girls: Sanya, Valya, Zhenya.
• Invincible names: Savchenko, Dumas, Sedykh.

It is important to use common nouns correctly in speech, but most often native speakers understand the meaning of a statement thanks to supporting words or based on the general meaning of the dialogue.

Balda, poor fellow, white-handed, beast, chatterbox, tramp, beech, big man, bigwig, liar, know-it-all, squeezed, drank, upstart, bouncer, wretched, thug, dirty, goofy, reveler, hard worker, good-natured, dear, goner, cudgel, fool, fool, big guy, fidget, greedy, victim, bully, ringleader, bully, arrogant, stutterer, dirty, runny, splinter, bore, sang, boss, big man, crammed, cripple, capricious, scoundrel, crook, bloodsucker, biter, reveler, gourmand, liar, lazybones, scrapper, muff, baby, good fellow, ignorant, ignoramus, klutz, touchy, half-educated, fidget, slob, rip off, glutton, good girl, scribbler, crybaby, beggar, suck-up, beggar, fastidious, sticky, pestered, burnt-out, scoundrel, simpleton, scoundrel, windbag, drunkard, hard worker, ragged, confused, disheveled, weakling, self-taught, holy man, handsome, orphan, curmudgeon, sweet tooth, sweet tooth, sleepyhead, daredevil, dude, scary, chattering, namesake, grouse, quiet, hasty, stupid, smart, ugly, prude, grabber, cunning, swindler, scoundrel, sneak.

Gender of indeclinable nouns

Indeclinable nouns reveal their gender syntactically, in combination with words that explain them: military attaché, short interview.

In modern literary language, indeclinable nouns make up about 350 common nouns, excluding a large group of indeclinable proper names, geographical names and compound words.

The gender of indeclinable nouns is related to the semantics of the word. First of all, there is a distinction between animate and inanimate nouns. For animate nouns, gender is determined by the biological sex of the named persons or animals. Words that name male persons by profession, social status, character traits, etc. are masculine nouns: attaché, bourgeois, impresario, caballero, entertainer, croupier, curé, effendi, Yankee.

The names of female persons are feminine: ingénue, lady, madame, mademoiselle, milady, miss, missus, lady, frau, emancipe.

Some nouns that have a generic meaning can be used to refer to both a man and a woman: counterpart, incognito, protégé, ultra and etc.

Words denoting animals are classified as masculine in dictionaries: dingo, zebu, kiwi-kiwi, hummingbird, kangaroo, cockatoo, marabou, pony, flamingo, chimpanzee. The exception is the names of the African fly - tsetse(f.o.) and commercial fish Ivasi(f.r.).

In a text or in oral speech, when a female animal is named, all nouns that are recommended as masculine words can also agree on the feminine gender: kangaroo feeding baby, The little chimpanzee was named Betsy.

The names of inanimate objects most often refer to neuter nouns. Deviations from this general rule and fluctuations in generic form are observed primarily in cases where indeclinable words are closely related to semantically similar generalizing words. Sometimes in these cases the gender of the generalizing word wins, although in general throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. There is a tendency to eliminate hesitations in favor of neuter options.

The following fluctuations and deviations from the norm have been recorded in modern literary language: Avenue(female birth and middle age), auto(s.r. and m.r.), whiskey(wed and female, rarely - m.r.), Jersey(s.r. and m.r.).

List of nouns whose gender varies:

Bolero (m.b. and w.r.), wildebeest (m.b. and f.b.), dingo (m.b. and f.r.), Jersey (m.b. and w.r. ), incognito (m.r. and m.r. more often), coffee (m.r. and m.r. - colloquial), mango " tropical tree"(M.R. and M.R.), mezzo-soprano (M.R. and F.R. - colloquial), pas de deux "type of pair dance" (Middle and M.R. .), pas de trois “a type of ballet dance for three” (m.r. and m.r.), rally (m.r. and m.r.), salami (f.r.), soprano ( s.r. and m.r.).

I have compiled a list of Russian words of the common gender, which I remember. These words (nouns ending on -a/-ya) can denote both masculine and feminine human beings. Your additions and corrections are welcome!

I set out to remember Russian words of a general kind. These are nouns with the endings -a (ya), serving as names for both male and female persons (little crybaby - little crybaby, such a mischief - such a mischief). As a rule, these words have an expressive connotation (usually disapproving) and are used in colloquial speech.

I came up with this list. To help those studying Russian as a foreign language (RFL), I have provided them with definitions.

Additions and corrections are welcome! When borrowing material, please provide a link.

white-handed– who is not accustomed to dirty work
big guy– a tall man (see tall)
thief- a notorious, inveterate thief
mischief– someone who harms everyone, an unfriendly, unpleasant type (expletive)
reptile- nasty person (expletive)
upstart- a person who intervenes first before others in something in order to earn approval, to curry favor with someone; a person who has not rightfully occupied something. position, social position
dirty guy– who does not keep himself or his house clean (cf. neat)
fool- fool
big guy- tall, lanky person
fidget- an active, restless person (usually about women, approvingly)
greedy (greedy-beef)- greedy person, miser
infection- scoundrel, scoundrel (expletive word)
bully, bully– a pugnacious person who offends the weak
ringleader– an active, enterprising person, the soul of the company
arrogant– who has a high opinion of himself, considers himself the smartest
sleepy- sleepyhead (see)
stutterer- a person who stutters (neutral word)
nerd- an annoying, boring person
started singing- a singer who begins singing, followed by the choir; (translated) starter, initiator
feisty - evil person or someone who is constantly angry at everyone
cripple- a person who has lost any part of the body or the ability to own it, crippled, disabled (neutral word)
colleague– workmate, person of the same profession (neutral word)
antics- who makes faces, behaves pretentiously and cutesy
reveler– who squanders money in restaurants
gourmet– who loves sweets and delicacies
left-handed- a person who uses his left hand better than his right (cf. right-handed) (neutral word). “Lefty” - a story by Nikolai Leskov (1881)
couch potato- a lazy person, a slacker who loves to lie down, wallow (cf. sleepyhead)
liar- petty liar, liar
cute, cutie– a sweet, attractive, personable person
mymra- a boring and gloomy person.
klutz- impractical person
touch-me-not- too sensitive person
dropout- who dropped out of school. “The Half-Taught Wizard” - song by A. Pugacheva (cf. self-taught)
fidget – active person, who loves to travel, cannot sit still
slob- dirty (see)
sad sack- someone who knows how to do little, an armless person
nurse– crybaby (see)
glutton- whoever eats a lot, overeats
scribbler– who writes bad, deceitful texts, a corrupt journalist
suck up– flatterer (from the verb “to suck up”)
crybaby– who often cries (see roar)
why– a curious person (usually a child) who asks a lot of questions
right-handed- a person who owns right hand better than right-handed, as opposed to left-handed (see) (neutral word)
dupe- naive, gullible person, “sucker”
drunkard- drinking too much alcohol (neutral word)
hard worker– who works a lot (praise), a simple person “of the people”
gape, gape- absent-minded, inattentive person. Comedy French films: “Le Corniaud” and “Inspecteur la Bavure”
confusion (confusion, Masha the confusion)– who often loses things
bungler- disorganized person, confused
roar- crybaby
self-taught– who learned on their own without attending educational establishments(neutral word)
orphan– a child left without parents (neutral word)
sweet tooth– who loves sweets
sleepyhead– lover of sleeping longer
dude– a fan of Western fashion (in the 1950s)
quiet- a quiet, timid person
smart girl– smart, intelligent person (praise)
khanyga- beggar, drunkard
grabber– selfish acquirer (from the word “grab”)
cunning– cunning
skinny- an emaciated, frail person
neat– who cares too much about cleanliness
sneak– whoever snitches, informs (usually about children)

The most common and useful for memorization by students of RCTs, in my opinion, are: the following words: upstart, stutterer, bore, greedy, cripple, colleague, left-handed (right-handed), slob, glutton, crybaby, drunkard, hard worker, bungler, self-taught, orphan, smart girl, grabber, sneak.

Funny riddle poems(from here). A bungler, a slob, a greedy person?

The house is dirty, the shirt is black
And his name is....

Nothing in the whole world
Petya will not share with you:
Not a cheesecake, not a toy,
Not a funny little animal...
And the children shout to the boy:
"Oh and... you, Petya!"

We have losses all year round:
Calendar - this week
Last month - a ticket,
This one contains a book and a package.
The whole family is innocent
After all... it's me!

Common nouns also include unchangeable surnames (Makarenko, Hugo, etc.) and colloquial forms of some proper names (Sasha, Valya, Zhenya).

Words that name a person by profession or type of activity (doctor, professor, architect, author, etc.) do not belong to the general nouns. They are masculine nouns.

Therefore, the following words ending in -a (-я) should apparently be considered masculine:
bombed– illegal taxi driver (“bomb” - engage in private taxi service without registration)
thug- burglar thief; participant in the pogrom
threw– swindler (cf. neologisms “throw”, “scam”)
changed- who changes money, exchanges one currency for another

Words denoting feminine objects in their basic meaning, in figurative meaning retain feminine gender:
star- famous, popular personality
black grouse– a sluggish person (sleepy, lazy, etc.). Deaf t.- about a person who has not heard something or is somewhat deaf or hard of hearing (disapprovingly)
bump (bump out of the blue)- important, influential person(ironic)

UPD. Thanks to Gunnel Salminen for the addition (left-handed, right-handed, colleague, cripple)