1. Nouns and Gender
Russian nouns have three genders: Masculine, Feminine and Neuter.
You can see which gender the noun is by looking at the ending in the nominative case.
Masculine nouns end in consonants or ΠΉ:
Π°Π΄ΡΠ΅Ρ – address
Π±ΡΠ°Ρ – brother
Π²Π·ΡΠΎΡΠ»ΡΠΉ – adult
Feminine nouns end in –Π°, –Ρ, or –ΠΈΡ:
ΠΊΠ½ΠΈΠ³Π° – book
Π°Π»Π»Π΅Ρ – avenue
Π±ΠΈΠΎΠ»ΠΎΠ³ΠΈΡ – biology
Neuter nouns end in –Π΅, –ΠΎ, or –ΠΈΠ΅:
ΠΆΠΈΠ²ΠΎΡΠ½ΠΎΠ΅ – animal
Π»Π΅ΡΠΎ – summer
ΠΊΡΡΠ΅Π½ΠΈΠ΅ – smoking
There are a few masculine nouns that end in –a/Ρ, such as ΠΌΡΠΆΡΠΈΠ½Π° (man), Π΄Π΅Π΄ΡΡΠΊΠ° (grandfather), Π΄ΡΠ΄Ρ (uncle), or diminutive forms of masculine proper names, like ΠΠ°ΡΡ, ΠΠ½Π΄ΡΡΡΠ°, and so on.
Neuter nouns ending in –ΠΎ, –Π΅ or –ΠΈ that are direct imports from foreign languages, such as ΠΊΠΈΠ½ΠΎ, ΠΊΠ°ΡΠ΅ or ΡΠ°ΠΊΡΠΈ, do not decline (do not change the endings).