Unit 5 - Names and nouns

5.4 - Hard, soft and mixed

Not only do noun endings change according to gender and number, in Ukrainian all nouns are also sub-divided into hard, soft and mixed. This is illustrated below, using endings for the most common groups of nouns:

Hard nouns

masculine	for example
nouns ending in one of the consonants б, в, г, ґ, д, з, к, л, м, н, п, с, т, ф, х	посуд, чоловік, аналіз
some nouns ending in р	долар, сир
a small number of mainly personal names and kinship terms ending in the above consonants + о	батько, Петро, тато, Дмитро
feminine
nouns ending in а preceded by one of the consonants б, в, г, ґ, д, з, к, л, м, н, п, с, т, ф, х	кімната
(some masculine nouns also have this form)	Микола
neuter
nouns ending in о preceded by one of the consonants б, в, г, ґ, д, з, к, л, м, н, п, р, с, т, ф, х *	село, місто, перо

Soft nouns

masculine	For example
nouns ending in ь preceded by д, дз, з, л, н, с, т or ц	кінь, хлопець, зять
nouns ending in й preceded by a vowel	Андрій, чай
some nouns ending in р	поштар, лікар
feminine
nouns ending inя preceded by д, дз, з, л, н, с, т or ц	учениця, Оля, німкеня, гостя
(some masculine nouns also have this form)	суддя
nouns ending in я preceded by р	буря
nouns ending in я preceded by a vowel	надія, Марія
neuter
a small number of indigenous words ending in е preceded by л, р or ц *	поле, лице, море
nouns ending in є preceded by a vowel (now mainly archaic) *	євангеліє
nouns ending in я preceded by a double letter (the only exception to this is стаття which is feminine)	життя, заняття

Mixed nouns

masculine	For example
nouns ending in ж, ч, ш or щ	ніж, меч, марш, плющ
feminine
nouns ending in а preceded by ж, ч, ш or щ	вежа, груша, площа
neuter
nouns ending in е preceded by ж, чor щ *	віче, ложе, прізвище

* There are also a number of foreign loan words in е, є and о whose endings don’t change, e.g. аташе, фойє, метро.

To practise recognising the type to which a noun belongs go to Exercise 5.4A.