ABSTRACT
Nouns can be animate or inanimate. Nouns are divided into three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. The grammatical division of nouns into animate and inanimate categories is different in Russian when compared with English. The concept of animate/inanimate nouns affects the form of the direct object of the sentence, which is expressed by the accusative case. In the accusative case, masculine animate and inanimate singular nouns take different endings. All animate and inanimate nouns in the plural take different endings. Gender is one of the key points of Russian grammar, as noun declension and formation of plural nouns are determined by the noun gender. There are additional factors that contribute to the formation of various grammatical noun forms: softness or hardness of the noun stem and some spelling rules. The majority of nouns denoting animals have two different forms, male and female. The grammatical gender of abbreviations is determined by the grammatical gender of the principal noun in the abbreviation.
