Feminine gender

Жіночий рід

• Feminine nouns typically end in -а or -я.
• Recognizing feminine gender is necessary because it shapes how the different parts of speech interact, making sentences coherent and intelligible.

An extension of: 01.2n - Grammatical Gender

Words that end in -а or -я.

• книга (book)
• сторінка (page)
• лекція (lecture)

Feminine names.

• Оксана (Oksana)
• Марія (Maria)

Words that denote girls or women.

• дівчина (girl)
• жінка (woman)
• мама (mom)
• українка (Ukrainian woman)
• журналістка (female journalist)

Words that end in a soft sign.

• сіль (salt)
• молодь (youth)
• радість (joy)

Not all nouns ending in a soft sign are feminine; some are masculine. For words where gender isn't immediately clear I suggest making a note of it on your flashcard to help make it stick.

Exceptions to the rules above include but are not limited to:

• любов (love)
• річ (thing, object)
• ніч (night)
• стаття (article)