The Russian language does not have articles (like the or a in English, or la or le in French). Since you can't tell the gender of a noun by looking at its article, you have to look at the noun's ending. Russian masculine nouns end in consonants, as in chelovek (person); in -j (i kratkoe), as in muzej (museum); or -' (soft sign), as in uchitel' (teacher).

Exercise 1: Recognizing Masculine Nouns

In each of the following groups of words choose and circle the masculine noun.

• okno, komnata, stol

• medvied', lisa, zmeia

• tramvaj, ulitsa, taksi

• devochka, mal'chik, devushka

• komp'iuter, kniga, ruchka

• svoboda, mir, druzhba

• more, reka, okean

• gitara, baraban, pianino

• dvorets, statuia, Kreml'

• vystavka, muzej, gallereia

Exercise 2: Writing Down Masculine Nouns

TRACK 1

Listen to the speaker and repeat every word she pronounces. Then listen to the track again and write down every masculine noun. In the answer key, check your spelling.

Example:Speaker: vesna, chelovekYour answer: chelovek