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In Russian, most nouns ending in **-а** or **-я** are feminine. However, there is a special group of words with these endings that can refer to *both* men and women. These are known as common gender nouns (**общий род**), and they are highly expressive, making them perfect for describing personality quirks!

### Gender Agreement

The most important rule for common gender nouns is that they take their gender from the person they describe. Even though the noun's ending does not change, any adjectives, pronouns, or past-tense verbs modifying it must match the actual gender of the person.

When you use a common gender noun to describe a man or boy, use masculine modifiers (like **большой**, **такой**, or **настоящий**):

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When describing a woman or girl, switch to feminine modifiers (like **большая**, **такая**, or **настоящая**):

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### Comparing Traits

Notice how the exact same noun endings are used side-by-side to describe different people, but the describing adjectives change completely based on who is being talked about:

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Common gender nouns

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

predicative

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Presentative (это)

Noun gender

Soft-sign nouns (-ь)

Subject pronouns (я, ты, он...)

Yes/no questions (да / нет)

Basic interrogatives (кто / что)

Basic negation (не)

Coordinating conjunctions (и / а)

Possessive pronouns (мой, твой, наш, ваш)

Demonstrative pronouns (этот, эта, это)

Adjective agreement

Which and whose (какой, чей)

First conjugation verbs, singular (-ать)

First conjugation verbs, plural (-ать)

Second conjugation verbs (-ить)

Irregular present tense verbs

Adverbs of manner (как, очень)

Locations in prepositional case (в / на)

Prepositional case modifiers (-ом, -ой)

Topics of speech (о, об)

Direct objects (-у, -ю)

Direct object pronouns (меня, тебя)

Verbs of motion (идти, ехать)

Destination (куда, в, на)

Plural nouns (-ы, -и, -а, -я)

Irregular plural nouns (друзья, дети)

Plural adjectives and pronouns (-ые, -ие)

Numbers 1 to 10 (один, два, три)

Possession with pronouns (у меня есть)

Possession with nouns (-а, -я, -ы, -и)

Genitive of negation (нет)

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Quantities with mass nouns (сколько, много, мало)

Animate direct objects

The past tense of to be (был, была, было, были)

Regular past tense verbs

Time sequence expressions (вчера, завтра, раньше, потом)

Verb aspect in the past tense

Dative personal pronouns (мне, тебе, ему)

Expressing likes (нравится, нравятся)

Absence (нет)

Expressing age (год, года, лет)

Indirect objects (-у, -ю, -е)

Modal verbs (хотеть, мочь)

Reason and contrast (поэтому, но)

Double negation (ничего, никогда)

Reflexive verbs (-ся, -сь)

Polite requests and instructions (-ите, -йте)

Days of the week (в + Accusative)

Compound future tense (буду...)

Simple future tense

Accompaniment (с)

Multidirectional verbs of motion (ходить, ездить)

Greetings and goodbyes (здравствуйте, привет)

Thank you and sorry (спасибо, извините)

Countries and languages (русский, английский)

Meeting people (меня зовут, как дела)

Public transport (трамвай, остановка)

Left, right and the compass (слева, справа)

Places in the city (цирк, зоопарк)

Fruit and vegetables (помидор, огурец)

Post and travel (открытка, чемодан)

Family and relatives (внук, родственник)

Jobs and professions (инженер, продавец)

Sport and games (футбол, теннис)

Describing people (умный, сильный)

Health and the body (болен, здоровье)

The months of the year (январь, февраль)

Accusative feminine and inanimate adjectives (-ую, -юю)

Accusative animate masculine adjectives (-ого, -его)

Short-form adjectives (готов, занят)

Personal obligation (должен, должна)

Professions in the instrumental case

Genitive singular adjectives and possessives

Prepositions of absence and purpose (без, для)

Dative singular adjectives and possessives

Impersonal states (мне холодно)

Impersonal obligation (надо, нужно)

Impersonal permission (можно / нельзя)

Instrumental adjectives and pronouns

Reciprocal verbs (с + Instrumental)

Reflexive possessive pronouns (свой)

Reflexive pronouns (себя)

Specific indefinite pronouns (-то)

Non-specific indefinite pronouns (-нибудь)

Negative pronouns (никто / ничто)

Numbers 11 to 20

Question	Answer
clever person	умница
My childhood friend is a very smart guy.	Мой друг детства — большой умница.
quiet person	тихоня
And his sister is such a quiet girl.	А его сестра — такая тихоня.
bore	зануда
My neighbor is a terrible bore, since he is not interested in anything.	Мой сосед — ужасный зануда, так как он ничем не увлекается.
fidget	непоседа
This girl is such a bore, and her brother is a real fidget.	Эта девочка — такая зануда, а её брат — настоящий непоседа.
crybaby	плакса
My younger daughter is not exactly a crybaby, but just a big fidget.	Моя младшая дочь — не то чтобы плакса, а просто большая непоседа.
This child is such a crybaby, he always cries loudly.	Этот ребёнок — такой плакса, он всегда громко плачет.
sweet tooth	сладкоежка
My grandfather is a terrible sweet tooth, he loves chocolate very much.	Мой дедушка — страшный сладкоежка, он очень любит шоколад.
greedy person	жадина
My older sister is a real sweet tooth, but she isn't greedy at all.	Моя старшая сестра — настоящая сладкоежка, но она совсем не жадина.
Your brother is such a greedy person, he never shares toys.	Твой брат — такой жадина, он никогда не делится игрушками.
sleepyhead	соня
My husband is a terrible sleepyhead, he can sleep until lunch.	Мой муж — ужасный соня, он может спать до обеда.
This student is a terrible sleepyhead, and that guy is just a quiet person.	Эта студентка — жуткая соня, а тот парень — просто тихоня.
hard worker	трудяга
Our tall new colleague is a real hard worker.	Наш новый коллега высокого роста — настоящий трудяга.
My mom is a real hard worker and a very smart woman.	Моя мама — настоящая трудяга и большая умница.
show-off	выскочка
This guy is a terrible show-off, he always argues.	Этот парень — ужасный выскочка, он всегда спорит.
Anna is such a show-off, she is interested in nothing but herself.	Анна — такая выскочка, она ничем не интересуется, кроме себя.