At the same time, most inanimate nouns are masculine or feminine. The grammatical gender of these nouns is conditional and inexplicable as regards to their meanings. The division of inanimate nouns into masculine and feminine is determined only by their formal endings and syntactical factors.

The gender of most Russian nouns can be established according to the last letter of their citation form (usually nominative singular). There are few basic rules that allow identifying the gender for the majority of Russian nouns. These rules are sufficient for those who just begin learning Russian, but it is necessary to keep in mind that they do not work for all Russian nouns and, sooner or later, a large number of deviations from these rules become evident.

Gender category, masculine, feminine and nominative, suffix

Краткая русская грамматика РАН / Под. ред. Н.Ю. Шведовой, В.В. Лопатина. - М., Учпедгиз, 2002. B- 725 c

Donskaya T.K. Ocherki po metodike russkogo yazyka [Essays on the Russian language methodology]. St. Petersburg: Sudarynya Publ., 1999, 160 p.

3. Nakhabina M.M., Soboleva N.I., Starodub V.V. Gosudarstvennyi standart po russkomu yazyku kak inostrannomu. Bazovyi uroven' [State Standard of Russian as a foreign language. Basic level]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zlatoust, Publ., 2001, 132p.

Peshkovskii A.M. Russkii sintaksis v nauchnom osveshchenii [Russian syntax in a scientific light]. Moscow, Uchpedgiz Publ., 1956, 511 p.

Potebnya A.A. Iz zapisok o russkoi grammatike [From the notes on Russian grammar]. Moscow, Prosveshchenie Publ., 1968, vol. 3, 550 p.