Sections: Teaching Russian

Lesson summary

Lesson type: lesson on communicating new material.

Subject: Common nouns.

Lesson objectives:

a) educational:

– introduce students to the concept of “common gender” of nouns;

b) practical:

– develop the ability to find common nouns in a sentence or text;

– to develop the ability to use common nouns in speech.

Teaching Method : problematic lesson.

DURING THE CLASSES

I. Organizational moment. Leading up to a new topic.

The topic and purpose of the lesson are communicated

Frontal survey:

What is a genus? (grammatical meaning)

Which parts of speech (nominative or functional) have gender meaning?

(significant)

Do all significant parts of speech have gender meaning? (numerals and adverbs do not have)

How many genders are there in Russian? (called)

II. Repetition of covered topics:

Exercise : distribute nouns by gender in three columns. Write words in nominative case, singular

Under the dictation of the teacher, 3 students work at the blackboard, the rest - in their notebooks.

Things, apples, bread, rings, books, pencil cases, guns, balls, smart girls.

Well done boys! We will return to the word"clever girl" Now let's look at the board.

III. Motivation. Introduction to a new topic. Creating a problematic situation.

Questions:

1. Name the constant morphological features of a noun

Nouns can be common or proper, animate or inanimate, and belong to one of 3 genders: feminine, masculine, neuter.

2. So, gender is one of the constant features of a noun, i.e. one that is given once and for all

Words appear on the boardsmart girl, restless girl, sleepyhead

3. Determine what kind of nouns are given (statement of fact).

Students express their opinions: some believe that male, others – female (the emergence of a problematic situation).

Names appear next to wordsdaughter, grandson, brother

4. Tell me, now we can determine the gender of nounssmart girl, restless girl, sleepyhead

(presentation of the second fact)

Students determine

smart girl - feminine

fidget – masculine

Sonya – masculine

The teacher reverses the proper names and it turns out

Grandson, daughter, sister

5. Can you say that?

Yes.

6. What interesting things did you notice? (encouraging awareness of contradiction)

These nouns can be either masculine or feminine.

7. But gender is a constant morphological feature of nouns. What question arises after considering these examples? What problem should we solve in today's lesson? (encouragement to formulate a problem)

Why can some nouns be both masculine and feminine? What are their names? (learning problem as a question)

IV. Discovering new knowledge, formulating the topic of the lesson.

The definition of “general genus” is formulated.

II. Work on a new topic

1. Working with text.

Teacher. Now read the quatrain, which you probably read more than once with your parents when you were very young:

Here he comes to the kids,

Starts a fight.

Everyone is afraid in the yard

So___ bully

What ending do you think the pronoun is missing? Read it.

Students. Such a bully.

Teacher. Don't girls fight?

Students. Happens.

Teacher. So what kind of noun is “bully”? Such a bully, such a bully...

Nouns that denote either male or female persons are called generic nouns.

In the Russian language there are nouns with the ending -а (-я) in the singular, which are masculine if they denote male persons, and feminine if they denote female persons.

Such nouns are called generic nouns.

8. What do you think the topic of the lesson will be?

Common nouns (the topic is written on the board and in notebooks)

V. Reproduction of new material. 2. Working with the textbook.

Teacher. Let's test ourselves in the textbook: page 91, paragraph 41. What else did you learn by reading paragraph 41?

Students. Common nouns have the ending –а(-я). Adjectives agree with them in either the masculine or feminine gender.

3. Observation of the characters’ speech (sketch).

Teacher. Here's a story that happened one day in our holiday camp. Among the well-groomed, neat children, one boy turned out to be a slob. The senior counselor, an 11th grade student, began to rehabilitate him, each time giving many good examples.

Students.

“You see, you’re such a big slob.”

- Wrong. I'm not a big slob. I'm a boy.

“So what if you’re a boy, look at your suit, at your hands, and it will immediately become clear to you that you are the biggest slob.”

- No, I'm not a big slob. This is not true. I cannot be a big or even a small slob. Why are you saying this?

Teacher. The counselor, wondering why the boy was resisting, tried to bring more and more convincing evidence, but it was all in vain. Why did his little interlocutor resist?

Students. When talking to a boy (and this is a male person), you must say “big slob”, “such a slob”.

Teacher. Indeed, the would-be counselor once, like you, while studying in the 6th grade, did not understand the secret of common nouns. Did you understand this secret?

Students. Adjectives and pronouns similar to them must be in the masculine gender for a common noun if it denotes a male person, and in the feminine gender if we are talking about a girl or woman.

Teacher. What if it’s about a bully animal? For example, about a cat or cat?

Students. Then you need to adhere to the same rule: “Vaska is a terrible bully,” “Muska is a terrible bully.”

VII. Formation of skills in using common nouns in speech.

The following proposals are presented on the board:

Together with the teacher, they develop an algorithm for agreeing common nouns with adjectives and pronouns.

1. My brother Vitya is a real... bully.

1. Let’s find common nouns in the sentence.

2. Sister Olya is known to everyone... quiet.

2. Let’s determine whether it belongs to a male or female person.

3. This... little... restless one couldn’t sit still for a minute.

3. If masculine, then the common noun and the endings of the adjective and pronouns will correspond to the masculine gender.

Assignment: complete the endings of adjectives and pronouns.

4. If feminine, then both the common noun and the adjective will be feminine.

For example: 1) Zabiyaka is a common noun that relates to the noun Vitya.

2) Vitya - brother, boy, denotes a male person.

3) Zabiyaka is masculine, meaning “My brother Vitya is a real bully.”

Working with the textbook.

Working on the material. Exercise No. 229

On the desk:

10. Write the words in two columns:

Column 1 – general nouns that name unattractive character traits of a person

Column 2 – other common nouns

1 option

bully, glutton, bungler, suck-up, sneak, crybaby, roarer, bully, ragged, quibble, bore, dirty, arrogant

Option 2

sweet tooth, neat, sweet tooth, quiet, smart, fidgety, poor thing

11. Which group turned out to be larger?

There are more words in the first column. Most likely this is a conversational style, less often artistic

12. Try to guess in what style of speech the words of this group are most often used.

6. The teacher’s word about the use of common nouns in oral folk art.

Teacher. Do you like this kind of people?

Students. No.

Teacher. And I don't like it. That's why people came up with teasers and teasing words about them (the words are written on the board). Let's listen.

Students.

Crybaby, polish, shoe polish,

There's a hot pancake on my nose.

It's no good to cry

You might catch a cold.

Teacher. But in the old days they especially did not like greedy people.

Students.

Greedy,

Three kopecks given

For a quarter of a penny

He'll crash on the bench.

Teacher. And you will finish this corrugation (from reproach, scold) yourself:

What's that noise, what's that roar?

Isn't there a herd of cows here?

No, it's not a cow

This is Tanya …

Students. ... roar..

Teacher. Now let's check your attentiveness. Write down in your notebook which nouns of the general gender were heard in works of oral folk art: “crybaby”, “greedy”, “roarer”.

13. Working with a dictionary.

Teacher. Word to the duty officer using the dictionary.

Dictionary duty officer. Ignorant - male and female, rude, ill-mannered person. Ignorant - male and female, poorly educated, ignorant person. Completely ignorant of music.

Teacher. Often in written literature, wordsmiths talk about the shortcomings of their heroes. Who is this about?

“He suffered from gluttony twice a week.”

“He was accustomed to giving full rein to the impulses of his ardent temper and all the ideas of his rather limited mind.”

Students. This is about Troyekurov, the hero of Pushkin’s novel “Dubrovsky”.

Teacher. And what general nouns (very briefly) would we characterize Troekurov in oral (colloquial) speech?

Students. He is a glutton and an ignoramus.

Teacher. You see how accurately and poignantly these little words characterize a person. Write them down in your notebook.

Teacher. Today we are all about the bad and the bad! But aren’t there words among common nouns that characterize a person positively?

Students. “Well done”, “clever”.

14. Determine what type of activity we should move on to now? An ancient Greek philosopher once remarked: “Health is what people most strive to preserve and least cherish.”

Physical education moment

(conducted by the students themselves)

(The student comes out and recites a teaser, while showing movements).Exercise-tease: “Sonny, crybabies and bullies, taller arms, wider legs...”

Creative task. Write a miniature essay “The Character of My Friend” using common nouns according to plan:

1 sentence – positive features character;

2nd sentence – negative traits character;

Sentence 3 – your attitude.

Write an essay for 5 minutes and then read it aloud.

Sample: My friend Tanya is very smart, clean and has a sweet tooth. Sometimes she can be a terrible bully and sneak. But I love her.

VII. Summing up the lesson.

15. What was the topic of the lesson? What new did you learn? What have you learned?

Common nouns.

Common nouns can be feminine if they denote female persons and can be masculine if they denote male persons.

We learned to use them in speech and correctly coordinate with adjectives, pronouns, and verbs in the past tense.

Lesson grades.

Homework exercise No. 230

At the end of the lesson, the game “On the contrary”:

And it’s your turn

Play the game “Verse versa”.

I will say the word “high”

And you will answer

"low"

I will say the word “far”

And you will answer

"close"

I'll tell you the word "coward"

You will answer

“brave”

Now I will say “beginning”

Well, answer:

"end!"

In Russian, one of the main characteristics of nouns is their gender. Let's try to figure it out, and also find out the essence of this term, learn to define, find this category in various texts, and also consider possible exceptions to the rules. Let's consolidate the material with tables.

Of course, many will object: why is this necessary? Now, in this century information technologies, absolutely everything can be found online on the Internet - you just need to type what you are looking for into the search bar.

And the answer is simple - knowledge of the grammar of the Russian language makes a person more educated: after all, everything that a person says or writes shows his culture.

What is the gender of nouns

What does a person need to know about such an element of this part of speech? In general, this category is widespread in almost all languages ​​of the world (with the exception of Armenian and some languages ​​of the Caucasian countries).

This term refers to the ability of a noun to be combined with in different forms agreed words depending on their gender.

There are 3 types:

• male;
• female;
• average.

It is worth noting: at different languages the same word can belong to completely different genders.

In addition, the Russian language has a separate variety of this part of speech - general gender, this will be discussed below.

Formally, this characteristic of a part of speech can be defined as follows:

Masculine nouns have the following characteristics:

Features of the feminine gender of nouns:

The neuter gender of nouns is characterized by the following characteristics:

How to determine the gender of a noun

The simplest thing is to ask a question. Then look at the case, compare with the signs presented above. If this does not help, then you need to remember a few rules.

Key Features

Firstly, professions are distributed according to this criterion depending on graduation - and it does not matter what gender the person belonging to it is ( surgeon- husband. R., nanny– female R.).

Secondly, the previous rule is also typical for animals (a cat is female, a woodpecker is male). Moreover, if at the end it is impossible to determine the gender, then grammatically it will correspond to the attribute of the concept that defines it: wildebeest- difficult to determine, but antelope(denotes a type of ungulate) – female r., then the searched word will be of the same gender.

Thirdly, for words with a hyphen, the main part is decisive (by lexical meaning or changeability). For example: apartment-museum– female r.

Fourthly, for some words it is now difficult to find an explanation of this concept, so they are easier to remember:

1. rail, shampoo– m.r.;
2. vanilla, corn– f.r.

Fifthly, abbreviations are defined by gender depending on keyword their full decryption ( UN - organization– female r.).

More complex cases

The first thing you should pay attention to are general signs:

• for men's:

• for women:

• for average:

Determination of the gender of geographical names:

• the gender is determined by its concept: the Mississippi River (feminine), the city of Delhi (masculine), Lake Baikal (medium);
• depends on vocabulary

1. Chile – meaning “country” – feminine;
2. Chile - meaning "state" - middle river.

Take into account: it is impossible to determine the gender of words plural(for example: scissors, gates).

Common gender of nouns

Table-memo “Declination of nouns”

Below is a reminder of the declension for each gender.

A special group among nouns consists of the so-called words of general gender. Their grammatical originality lies in the fact that the gender of these nouns changes depending on the gender of the person they designate (and therefore the gender of the words that agree with them also changes). For example: “Peter Alekseevich started singing with us - and what a great one!” (Turg.); and: “Before he had time to finish speaking, the singer started playing another song, and the girls pulled each other” (L.T); “As a child I was a big roar” (Veres.); and: “It’s amazing how much a person can change - a grimy, shaggy reva has become a prominent, smart girl” (A. Kozhevn.).

Common words include:

1) proper indeclinable nouns - foreign language surnames with a vowel (Mauroy, Depardieu, Savary), surnames of foreign language origin with a consonant (Sagan, Knipovich), as well as Russian, Slavic surnames with -o (Nesterenko, Durnovo, Zhivago) and -yh /-them (Greyhounds, Sensitive);

2) common indeclinable nouns, the significant majority of which are names of a person as belonging to any nationality (Bantu, Burundi, Herero, Quechua, Mansi, Udege, Khanty, etc.), as well as some names of persons of different thematic groups(counterpart, protégé);

3) unofficial inflected proper names in -a/-z (Valya, Genya, Zhenya, Lera, Pasha, Sasha, etc.);

4) common inflected nouns starting with -а/-я, which in the overwhelming majority characterize a person by inclination, predilection for something, some character trait, etc. and characteristic primarily of an oral-conversational style (a bully, a crook, a mumbler, an ignoramus, a klutz, a crybaby, a drunkard, a blunderer, a cunning one, etc.). They are accompanied by some stylistically neutral words (singer, bookseller, orphan) and book colleague.

Characteristic words such as raven, fox, rag, ulcer should be distinguished from evaluative words of the general kind (such as wicked, rasin, cunning). Their characteristic evaluative meaning arose as a result of metaphorical transfer, and therefore they retain the gender (feminine) of their direct meaning even when used in relation to a male person. For example: “Yesterday in this Variety Show (unprintable words) some viper magician performed a session with chervonets...” (M. Bulg.). A number of words starting with -a are nouns of the masculine (and not general) gender: bouncer, thug, fellow, boss, rake, defrocked, grunt, shirt (as an appendix: shirt-guy), headman, foreman, judge, toastmaster. In some cases, the belonging of words specifically and only to the masculine gender is explained by the nature of the person’s occupation as requiring great physical strength (bouncer, thug) or as something that was once or generally only characteristic of a man (grunt, defrocked, toastmaster), in others - by the tradition of using the characteristic only in relation to a man (kid, boss, rake, shirt), thirdly - by grammatical tradition (elder, foreman, judge).

Note. Names of professions, positions, titles, etc. always remain masculine nouns. to a consonant (doctor, geologist, director, sergeant), which are used to apply to persons of both sexes. When naming a position, profession, etc., occupied by a woman, such words dictate their gender (masculine) to the definitions attached to them (adjectives, participles: “famous geologist”, “practicing physician”). The predicate can have the form not only masculine, but also feminine (“the doctor prescribed treatment,” “the director is outraged by this statement,” “the cashier was right”). Compare, for example: “I understand why my editor rejected the script: it was almost impossible to get money for its implementation” (House of Cinema. 1990. May).

General nouns ending in -а/-я in modern speech often serve as characteristics of objects or animals, birds, fish, etc. For example: “On a hot afternoon, kneel down, bend over a little tree, and your nostrils will catch the young and most delicate smell of pine resin” (M. Shol.); “There are buses, cargo taxis, and just taxis, and “private drivers,” i.e., someone’s personal cars, but most of all, business hard-working cars” (Vl.Sol.); “The grapes are beginning to ripen, and the gourmet birds are busily looking for the browned grains” (Seraph.). What is the type of such words-characteristics and definitions for them? Since in such uses, common nouns act as a figurative personifying device, i.e. They liken an inanimate object or animal to a person, to the extent that the grammatical gender of the name of the object (animal) becomes a kind of indicator of “gender”. This means that when used in relation to objects (animals), nouns of the general gender must have definitions in grammatical forms of the gender (masculine or feminine) to which the names of the objects they characterize belong. For example: “There, in the stuffy wheatgrass, in the wild curly clover, the braids rang, the diligent worker of the day floated over the people” (Fad.); “The air conditioner runs all night. All day long, a tireless worker makes a muffled noise in the corner” (Lit. Gaz. 1981. No. 41); “She is a very big sissy, this machine” (N. Tikh.). If the name of an object belongs to the neuter gender (little tree), and it does not correspond to a real, biological sex, then the definition of a noun of general gender characterizing such an object should be in the feminine form: “The melon tree is a big sissy.” This form is dictated by the morphological “appearance” of a common noun (with the ending -a: sissy).

Rakhmanova L.I., Suzdaltseva V.N. Modern Russian language. - M, 1997.

Place of work, position: - teacher of Russian language and literature Starotyaberdinskaya sosh Kaybitsky district

Region: — Republic of Tatarstan

Characteristics of the lesson (session) Level of education: - secondary (complete) general education

Target audience: — Teacher (teacher)

Grade(s): – 6th grade

Subject(s): – Russian language

The purpose of the lesson: - to give the concept of common nouns, to teach how to use them correctly in speech; development of skills in determining the gender of such nouns; fostering a respectful and kind attitude towards comrades.

Lesson type: — Lesson on studying and initially consolidating new knowledge

Equipment used: -

multimedia projector, disk “Russian language. Morphology. 5-6 grades", slides

Brief description: - There are a lot of nouns in the Russian language that characterize various qualities of a person. You still don’t know the meaning of many of them.

GENERAL NOUNS.

The purpose of the lesson:
. give the concept of common nouns, teach them to use them correctly in speech;
. development of skills in determining the gender of such nouns;
. fostering a respectful and kind attitude towards comrades.
Equipment:
. multimedia projector, disk “Russian language. Morphology. 5-6 grades", slides

DURING THE CLASSES

1. Organizational moment. Leading up to a new topic.
The topic and purpose of the lesson are communicated.
Frontal survey. Game "Yes-no". I will read the questions to you. If you agree with the question, write “+”, and if not, write “-”. Ready?
- 1. A noun is main member offers?
+2. Does a noun designate an object?
+ 3. Do most nouns change according to number and case?
— 4. Is the word “Kazan” a common noun?
+ 5. Does a noun have 3 genders?
- 6. Are all these words real: house, notebook, winter?
+7. Is a person an animate being?
-8. Are all these words real words: window, on the table, field, sea?
+9. Are all these nouns 1st declension: dad, uncle, mom?
+10. In a sentence, nouns are most often subjects, objects and adverbials?

2. Repetition of covered topics:
(slide 2) Insert the missing letters and determine the gender and declension of the nouns
deep... night..., sharp... knife..., childish...crying..., sang... birth...
friendly... help..., forest... wilderness..., green... reeds...

3. (slide 3) Indicate the line in which the words masculine, feminine and neuter occur.

a) A smile makes a gloomy day brighter.
b) Suddenly the clouds dance, and the grasshopper begins to play the violin.
c) The river begins with a blue stream.
d) A smile will light up a rainbow in the sky.

(slide 4) We will do the following task in groups: 1st var. - distribute the words along the rows of the table the following words: pencil, clothes, pen, cookies, plate, sky, machine, key, egg, entrance, wheel, pine, window, carrot , notebook, person, quality, house.
2nd var. - distribute nouns by gender in three columns. Write the words in the nominative case, singular.
Things, apples, bread, rings, books, pencil cases, guns, balls, smart girls.
- Now let's check if we did the job? (slide 5)
Well done boys! Now let’s return to the word “clever” in the first sentence of slide 6. Guess who we are talking about - a boy or a girl?
H. Studying a new topic.
.

1. “Clever girl!” - the grandmother said to her grandson.
2. Quiet was in no hurry to go home.
3. Our Masha is a braggart.
— How can you determine which gender the words smart, quiet, and boastful belong to? What words will help us in determining the type of data beings? (the smart one - to the boy, the quiet one - to the boy, the braggart - to the girl)
- What do these words mean? (qualities of people, male and female)
Conclusion: CLEVER, QUIET, BRAUGHTER are words of a general kind. Thus, today in the lesson we will talk about common nouns. These are nouns ending in -a, -ya, which are both masculine and feminine. The gender of these entities must be determined by reference words.
smart girl - grandson (masculine)
quiet - in a hurry (not in a hurry), (masculine)
braggart - Masha (feminine)
Conclusion: Common nouns are classified as masculine if they denote masculine persons, and are classified as feminine if they denote feminine persons.

Now let's listen to the explanation of the new topic in the electronic textbook.

(working with disk - electronic textbook)
- We understand the topic. And now, based on the knowledge we have gained, we will do the assignments.

(slide 10) Determine the gender of the underlined noun:

Masha is an orphan
Seryozha is a bully
Tanya is arrogant
Olya is a fidget
Kirill is a know-it-all

(slide 11) Put the correct ending of the adjective or verb in the past tense: (written)

1. The... famous... doctor Ivanov came to us.
2. The... famous... doctor Ivanova came to us.
3. The famous... conductor Semenov was... glad... to be invited abroad.
4. The famous... conductor Semenov was... glad... to be invited abroad.

(slide 12) Correct errors in the agreement of common nouns with verbs and adjectives.

Petya is an orphan.
Lena is very smart.
Valera is a big creep.
Marina is a big hard worker.
Chief engineer of our plant Sidorova
invited everyone to the meeting.
Tram driver Petrova was recognized as the best on the route.

There are a lot of nouns in the Russian language that characterize various qualities of a person. You still don’t know the meaning of many of them. Let's take a look at the interpretation of such entities.
(slide 13)
. Idle talker - idle talker (one who talks nonsense).
. Snitch - 1) petty denunciation, slander; 2) the same as a sneaker.
. Tikhonya is a quiet, meek person.
. Sonya is a drowsy person who loves to sleep a lot.
. A crybaby is someone who cries a lot and often.
. A couch potato is a lazy person, a slacker.
. Fidget is a very active, fussy, restless child.
. A bully is someone who likes to start fights and quarrels.
. A slob is a sloppy person (sloppy, lacking neatness).
. White-handed - one or the other who shuns physical or generally difficult, rough work.
Think about when you can use these words: when we talk about good person or about the bad?
(slide 14) -Guys, using these examples, we were convinced that words of a general gender can have positive and negative emotional connotations in describing people, male and female. Think about whether there are such words in the Tatar language? (maturim, altynym, appagym, akylym)

(Slide 16) Which lines contain words not only of a general gender.

a) saleswoman, smart, hard worker, roar
b) slob, slob, bore, mischief
c) bully, beauty, fidget, greedy
d) crybaby, ugly, playful, orphan

(slide 17) Guess the riddle. Find the hidden common noun in it.

Angry touchy-feely
Lives in the wilderness of the forest.
There are a lot of needles
And not a single thread. (hedgehog) touchy - touchy, overly scrupulous person)

(slide 18) Game “Translator”
1) Who will replace words in phrases with synonyms faster?
2) Based on the meanings of words, guess words of a general gender that have a positive emotional connotation.
a) A very hardworking, diligent person - (hard worker, hard worker)
b) clever man— (clever girl)
c) unkempt, dirty person - (dirty, slob))
d) one who cries a lot and often - (crybaby)
e) absent-minded, inattentive person - (blank),
f) a person who is arrogant - (arrogant)

(Slide 19) - Make 3 sentences with these words, using them to refer to both male and female persons.
Row 1 - with words that characterize the positive qualities of a person,
2nd row - negative qualities.
Orphan, youngster, arrogant, sleepyhead, crybaby, smart, poor thing, hard worker

(slides 20-21) Very often, nouns of a general kind are found in the works of CNT: in proverbs, riddles, fairy tales. But writers also use them in their works. Guys, what do you know about I.A. Krylov, what did he write? Which fables of his are familiar to you?

 In an excerpt from the fable of I.A. Krylov, the word of general gender is highlighted. Read the text carefully and determine who it refers to. Mark the correct answer.

1) How are you, poor thing, I feel sorry for you,
With all your work and skill!
"Eagle and Bee"
— Are we talking about a male or female character? What word helped you determine gender? Who is the poor girl who is hardworking and smart?

2) The wolf at night, thinking of getting into the sheepfold,
I ended up at the kennel.
Suddenly the entire kennel yard rose up.
Smelling gray so close to the bully,
The dogs are flooded in the barns and are eager to fight...
"Wolf in the kennel"
— Are we talking about a male or female character? Who is this gray one?

Assignment: copy down the proverbs, underline the common nouns.
For every sucker, there's a scammer (Nepali). Wherever the poor guy goes, there comes trouble (Azerbaijani). Reveler in youth - modest in old age (Turkish). Hunger makes you steal, resentment makes you a bully (Mongolian). A master of language, but a left-hander (Adyghe) in deed. A drunkard is like a chicken: where he steps, he pecks (Russian).

10. Summing up the lesson.
— What new did you learn in the lesson?
- What features do common nouns have?

Homework:
a) Exercise 220 (1 gr.), 218 - (2 gr.) (written).
b) Vocabulary work. Find the meaning of the words ignorant and ignoramus using the explanatory dictionary. Make up sentences with these words, applying them to male and female persons.

I have compiled a list of Russian words of the common gender, which I remember. These words (nouns ending on -a/-ya) can denote both masculine and feminine human beings. Your additions and corrections are welcome!

I set out to remember Russian words of a general kind. These are nouns with the endings -a (ya), serving as names for both male and female persons (little crybaby - little crybaby, such a mischief - such a mischief). As a rule, these words have an expressive connotation (usually disapproving) and are used in colloquial speech.

I came up with this list. To help those studying Russian as a foreign language (RFL), I have provided them with definitions.

Additions and corrections are welcome! When borrowing material, please provide a link.

white-handed– who is not accustomed to dirty work
big guy– a tall man (see tall)
thief- a notorious, inveterate thief
mischief– someone who harms everyone, an unfriendly, unpleasant type (expletive)
reptile- nasty person (expletive)
upstart- a person who intervenes first before others in something in order to earn approval, to curry favor with someone; a person who has not rightfully occupied something. position, social position
dirty guy– who does not keep himself or his house clean (cf. neat)
fool- fool
big guy- tall, lanky person
fidget- an active, restless person (usually about women, approvingly)
greedy (greedy-beef)- greedy person, miser
infection- scoundrel, scoundrel (expletive word)
bully, bully– a pugnacious person who offends the weak
ringleader– an active, enterprising person, the soul of the company
arrogant– who has a high opinion of himself, considers himself the smartest
sleepy- sleepyhead (see)
stutterer- a person who stutters (neutral word)
nerd- an annoying, boring person
started singing- a singer who begins singing, followed by the choir; (translated) starter, initiator
feisty- an angry person or someone who is constantly angry at everyone
cripple- a person who has lost any part of the body or the ability to own it, crippled, disabled (neutral word)
colleague– workmate, person of the same profession (neutral word)
antics- who makes faces, behaves pretentiously and cutesy
reveler– who squanders money in restaurants
gourmet– who loves sweets and delicacies
left-handed- a person who uses his left hand better than his right (cf. right-handed) (neutral word). “Lefty” - a story by Nikolai Leskov (1881)
couch potato- a lazy person, a slacker who loves to lie down, wallow (cf. sleepyhead)
liar- petty liar, liar
cute, cutie– a sweet, attractive, personable person
mymra- a boring and gloomy person.
klutz- impractical person
touch-me-not- too sensitive person
dropout- who dropped out of school. “The Half-Taught Wizard” - song by A. Pugacheva (cf. self-taught)
fidget – active person, who loves to travel, cannot sit still
slut- dirty (see)
sad sack- someone who knows how to do little, an armless person
nurse– crybaby (see)
glutton- whoever eats a lot, overeats
scribbler– who writes bad, deceitful texts, a corrupt journalist
suck up– flatterer (from the verb “to suck up”)
crybaby– who often cries (see roar)
why– a curious person (usually a child) who asks a lot of questions
right-handed- a person who owns right hand better than right-handed, as opposed to left-handed (see) (neutral word)
dupe- naive, gullible person, “sucker”
drunkard- drinking too much alcoholic drinks(neutral word)
hard worker– who works a lot (praise), a simple person “of the people”
gape, gape- absent-minded, inattentive person. Comedy French films: “Le Corniaud” and “Inspecteur la Bavure”
confusion (confusion, Masha the confusion)– who often loses things
bungler- disorganized person, confused
roar- crybaby
self-taught– who learned on their own without attending educational institutions (neutral word)
orphan– a child left without parents (neutral word)
sweet tooth– who loves sweets
sleepyhead– lover of sleeping longer
dude– a fan of Western fashion (in the 1950s)
quiet- a quiet, timid person
smart girl– smart, intelligent person (praise)
khanyga- beggar, drunkard
grabber– selfish acquirer (from the word “grab”)
cunning– cunning
skinny- an emaciated, frail person
neat– who cares too much about cleanliness
sneak– whoever snitches, informs (usually about children)

The most common and useful words for students of RFL to memorize, in my opinion, are the following words: upstart, stutterer, bore, greedy, cripple, colleague, left-handed (right-handed), slob, glutton, crybaby, drunkard, hard worker, bungler, self-taught, orphan, smart girl , grabber, sneak.

Funny riddle poems(from here). A bungler, a slob, a greedy person?

The house is dirty, the shirt is black
And his name is....

Nothing in the whole world
Petya will not share with you:
Not a cheesecake, not a toy,
Not a funny little animal...
And the children shout to the boy:
"Oh and... you, Petya!"

We have losses all year round:
Calendar - this week
Last month - a ticket,
This one contains a book and a package.
The whole family is innocent
After all... it's me!

Common nouns also include unchangeable surnames (Makarenko, Hugo, etc.) and colloquial forms of some proper names (Sasha, Valya, Zhenya).

Words that name a person by profession or type of activity (doctor, professor, architect, author, etc.) do not belong to the general nouns. They are masculine nouns.

Therefore, the following words ending in -a (-я) should apparently be considered masculine:
bombed– illegal taxi driver (“bomb” - engage in private taxi service without registration)
thug- burglar thief; participant in the pogrom
threw– swindler (cf. neologisms “throw”, “scam”)
changed- who changes money, exchanges one currency for another

Words denoting feminine objects in their basic meaning, in figurative meaning retain feminine gender:
star- famous, popular personality
black grouse– a sluggish person (sleepy, lazy, etc.). Deaf t.- about a person who has not heard something or is somewhat deaf or hard of hearing (disapprovingly)
bump (bump out of the blue)- important, influential person (ironic)

UPD. Thanks to Gunnel Salminen for the addition (left-handed, right-handed, colleague, cripple)