The noun: revision and meanings of cases

The noun names an object and answers «кто? что?». It changes by gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number and case; we distinguish proper and common, animate and inanimate nouns. In a sentence a noun is most often a subject or an object. Common-gender nouns end in «-а/-я» and mean a man or a woman depending on the sentence: «Он такой неряха», «Она такая неряха». Indeclinable inanimate nouns are usually neuter («метро», «пальто»), indeclinable animal names are masculine («кенгуру»); «кофе» is masculine (the neuter is tolerated in colloquial speech). The gender of abbreviations and geographical names follows the head word: «Миссисипи» is a river, so feminine.