The noun is a significant, independent part of speech. Recall that it denotes an item. That is, to this part of the speech belong the words that answer the questions "what?" or who?". Grammatical signs of a noun are declension, number, case, gender, animation, as well as division into proper and common nouns.
Morphological features and syntactic role of nouns
We now consider this part of the speech in more detail. Morphological features of a noun are divided into two groups: permanent (unchanging) and unstable (variable). We will consider them first in brief, and then in more detail we will tell about the first. Permanent signs of a noun is a division into proper / common, inanimate / animated. These include the type of declination and gender. The inconsistent attributes of a noun are case and number.
In a sentence, this part of speech can play any syntactic role. However, most often nouns act as a complement or subject. As introductory words or appeals, they are not members of the proposal.
Variable and immutable characteristics
This part of speech, as we have already mentioned, has its own morphological features - unchanging and mutable. Permanent attributes of a noun are immutable. They refer generally to the whole word. Changeable - only to its individual forms. For example, the noun "Natalya" is its own, animated, 1 cl., Zh.r. It can be put in any form, but these signs will persist. "Natalia" can be in the singular and plural (the plural sign of the noun is the corresponding ending), as well as in various cases. Other examples can be given. That is, case and number are inconsistent signs of nouns. They should be distinguished and not confused in the analysis. Both permanent and non-permanent are combined in that they are morphological features of a noun.
Nouns / Common Nouns
This separation is based on the characteristics of the meaning. Proper names call a specific, separate object, common nouns - homogeneous objects, that is, any of a certain series. Compare, for example, such nouns:
- turnip, fairy tale, river, country, lake, child (household);
- "Repka", Baikal, Volga, Russia, Alexey (own).
Common nouns are diverse. They are included in the following digits by value:
- abstract (in other words, abstract): miracle, happiness, fear, joy, surprise;
- specific: fishing rod, notebook, mouse, document, computer, table;
- collective: spectator, nobility, foliage, youth ;
- material: coffee, milk, oxygen, water, gold, iron .
Proper names include various names of people, as well as geographical names, animal names, names of works of art, literature, etc. Examples: "Kolobok", "Teenager", Ural, Ob, Zhuchka, Sashenka, Sasha, Alexander , etc.
Inanimate / Animation
We continue to consider the permanent features of the noun. This, as we have already mentioned, is inanimate / animated. Nouns that are animated call objects living, and inanimate - non-living.
Examples of the first: ant, dog, child, father, mother. Inanimate are laughter, enthusiasm, toy, program, lilac, war, ocean, orange.
The following are important for morphology:
- In the plural, the accusative case of animate nouns coincides with the genitive. Example: I saw friends of boys and girls near the school (V.p. = R.p.). In inanimate nouns, the form of the accusative case corresponds to the nominative. Example: I like films and books (V.p. = I.p.).
- In the singular in animate nouns belonging to the masculine gender, the accusative form coincides with the form of the genitive case. Example: There are several men in the room (V.p. = R.p.). And in inanimate masculine nouns, the accusative case corresponds to the nominative. Example: Mom baked a cake (V.p. = I.p.).
All other words belonging to this part of speech differ in the nominative, genitive and accusative forms. The sign of inanimateness / animation, therefore, can be determined not only by meaning, but also by the set of corresponding endings for a given word.
Gender of nouns: middle, feminine, masculine
Nouns have a gender. They have a constant morphological trait. This part of speech at birth does not change. There are three genera in the Russian language: middle, female and male. They have different sets of endings. The gender of animate nouns is determined mainly by gender, as the words denote male and female persons. Examples: a young man - a girl, a man - a woman, a husband - a wife, a brother - a sister, a father - a mother , etc. That is, a grammatical sign is related to gender.
Belonging to a certain genus in inanimate nouns is not motivated. Words such as a pond, lake, river, sea, ocean are representatives of different genera. This affiliation cannot be determined by the meaning of these words.
Endings are a morphological indicator of one kind or another.
Generic Nouns
A small group of nouns is very unusual. These words are interesting in that they can denote both females and males. For example, these are such as a daredevil, kopush, a muddler, a bastard, a slut, a badass, an ignoramus, an ignoramus, a crybaby, a greedy, sleepyhead, a glutton, and a clever girl. In such words, the form coincides with the words denoting the feminine. They have the same set of endings. But syntactic compatibility is different.
For example, you can say in Russian: “ He’s smart! ” And “ She is so smart! ” Thus, we recognize gender from an animated person by the form of the pronoun used in the text (in our case) or the past tense verb or adjective. Example with the verb: " Sonya has already woken up " and " Sonya has already woken up ." Such nouns have a special name - they refer to general nouns.
It should be noted that they do not belong to the words that designate the profession. You may already know that many of these nouns are masculine. Examples: philologist, geologist, economist, engineer, driver, doctor. However, they can denote not only males, but also females. Examples: " My father is a doctor ," " My mother is a doctor ." Even if such a word refers to a female representative, past tense verbs and adjectives can be used in both genders. Examples: " Doctor has come " and " Doctor has come ."
How can gender be defined in immutable words?
There are also immutable nouns. Their peculiarity is that they are borrowed. In Russian, such words have a genus. But how can it be determined? It is actually not difficult to do this if you understand what the corresponding word means. Let's look at some examples.
Madame - monsieur - in the words denoting an animate face, the gender is gender.
Chimpanzees, kangaroos - words that call animals are masculine.
Sukhumi, Tbilisi - city names are masculine nouns.
Zimbabwe, Congo - names of states - this is a common gender.
Yangtze, Mississippi - designation of rivers - female.
Coats, coats - inanimate objects, mostly of the middle kind.
Declination of nouns: general characteristic
Nouns have a declension. It is a special type by which words change. Nouns vary in cases and numbers. Depending on the presence of appropriate forms in words in different cases and numbers, they belong to one of the declensions. There are three of them - the first, second and third. One of them includes the vast majority of nouns in the Russian language. Declination is an unchanging, constant morphological feature.
Three declensions
The first declension belongs to masculine and feminine nouns with endings - I and - but in the form of a nominative case. Examples: lecture, Anya, Anna, earth, water, grandfather, dad, mom.
The second includes masculine nouns that have a zero ending in the nominative case, as well as the middle one, if the initial form ends in - e or - o . Examples: Alexey, genius, building, lake, sea, Alexander, house, brother, father.
The third declension is made up of words belonging to the female gender, which have a zero ending in the form of I.p. Examples: night, dust, trembling .
Diffused nouns
There are also controversial nouns. These include those that have endings characteristic of different types of declensions. There are few such nouns. They are very ancient. But in today's speech, some are frequency. Examples: banner, flame, name, time, crown, udder, burden, seed, tribe, stirrup.
These are the permanent attributes of a noun. This is a very important material that should be carefully studied. The analysis of this part of speech is one of the main topics in the Russian language. The signs of the noun are fairly detailed in the school (4th grade — first acquaintance, graduation grade — detailed analysis in preparation for the exam). Exams require a good knowledge of this part of speech. The signs of nouns should therefore be firmly remembered.