What is the gender of the word "dog" in Russian? - briefly
The Russian word for "dog," собака (sobaka), is feminine.
What is the gender of the word "dog" in Russian? - in detail
In the Russian language, nouns are categorized into three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. The gender of a noun determines the form of adjectives, pronouns, and verbs that accompany it. When examining the word "dog" in Russian, which is "собака," we find that it belongs to the feminine gender.
To understand why "собака" is considered feminine, one must look at its declension pattern. In Russian, nouns are inflected according to their cases and genders. The word "собака" follows the first declension group, which includes nouns ending in -a, -я, or a soft sign (ь). These nouns are typically feminine, with some exceptions.
For instance, when referring to a dog in the nominative case (the subject of a sentence), you would use "собака." In the accusative case (the direct object of a sentence), it remains unchanged: "я вижу собаку" (I see the dog). This consistent ending in -a or -у confirms its feminine nature.
Moreover, when using pronouns and adjectives with "собака," they also take the feminine form. For example, the possessive adjective "my" in Russian would be "моя" for a feminine noun: "это моя собака" (this is my dog). Similarly, the demonstrative pronoun "this" is "эта" when referring to a feminine noun: "эта собака" (this dog).
In summary, the word "собака" in Russian is definitively of the feminine gender. This classification is based on its ending and the associated grammatical rules that govern the language.