ABSTRACT
Nouns define and name material objects, living things, events and abstract concepts, for example, дом (house), добро´ (kindness), вы´боры (elections), челове´к (person). Nouns fall into two categories: • Proper nouns (names): Москва´ (Moscow), Мари´я (Maria). • Common nouns such as type or class: го´род (city), фами´лия (last name/surname). Russian nouns have the following characteristics. For detailed information about these characteristics, see the sections indicated: • Nouns do not take an article (☞ 2.1). • Nouns can be animate or inanimate (☞ 2.2). • Nouns are divided into three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter (☞ 2.3). • Most nouns have two number forms – singular and plural. A small group of nouns can be
used only in either the singular or plural but not both (☞ 3.1-3.6). • All nouns, apart from a few exceptions, are declinable. This means nouns change
their ending according to their grammatical role in the sentence, such as subject, object, description of location, expression of time etc. Nouns can be presented in six grammatical forms, called cases. The six-case system is one of the core elements of Russian grammar. For the meaning and function of the six-case system and the principles of case formation (declension), ☞ 4. For individual cases ☞ 5-10.
