Noun genders – masculine, feminine and neuter

Why you need to know the gender

Gender decides the form of almost every word that goes with a noun. If you get the gender wrong, you will also get the adjective, pronoun and verb wrong.

How to recognise gender from the ending

Look at the last letter of the noun in the nominative singular (the dictionary form). This rule holds in most cases.

Exceptions you need to know

The ending rule has several important groups of exceptions – fortunately they mostly concern words that are easy to remember.

Masculine nouns ending in -a

Nouns that denote men are masculine even if they end in -a: mężczyzna, kolega, kierowca, tata, dentysta, turysta, artysta, poeta, sędzia (man, colleague, driver, dad, dentist, tourist, artist, poet, judge), as well as names such as Kuba or Barnaba. So we say mój kolega, ten kierowca, nasz tata był.

Feminine nouns ending in a consonant

Some feminine nouns end in a consonant, usually a soft one or -c, -cz, -sz, -rz, -ść: noc, rzecz, twarz, sól, mysz, wieś, krew, jesień, dłoń, pieśń (night, thing, face, salt, mouse, village, blood, autumn, palm, song) and all words in -ość. We say ta noc, moja twarz, ta wieś była mała.

A soft consonant at the end: masculine or feminine?

Watch out for words in -ń, -ć, -ś, -l: they can be masculine or feminine. Masculine ones include dzień, tydzień, koń, kamień, gość, liść, hotel, przyjaciel (day, week, horse, stone, guest, leaf, hotel, friend), feminine ones – jesień, dłoń, kość, sól (autumn, palm, bone, salt). You have to learn these words together with the pronoun ten / ta.

Foreign words

Some words from other languages have an “untypical” gender: album is masculine (although it ends in -um), and indeclinable words in -i, -u, -e are usually neuter: to kiwi, to menu, to alibi, to tabu.

Three subtypes of the masculine gender

The masculine gender is additionally divided into three groups. This matters for the accusative and the plural.

Gender in the plural

In the plural, the three genders become two: masculine personal (men and mixed groups – oni, ci, byli) and non-masculine-personal (everything else – one, te, były). Compare: ci nowi pracownicy byli and te nowe biurka były. Nouns that exist only in the plural (drzwi, spodnie, okulary) have only the second type: te drzwi były.

Jobs and names of people – feminine forms

Many job titles have a separate feminine form, usually with the ending -ka or -yni / -ini:

For some titles and women’s jobs, the masculine form is often used with the word pani: pani doktor, pani profesor, pani dyrektor. The word then does not decline through the cases: rozmawiałam z panią doktor. Feminine forms are also used, e.g. dyrektorka.

Common slips with gender

• “Moja kolega”, “ta kierowca” – correct: mój kolega, ten kierowca.
• “Ten noc”, “mój twarz” – correct: ta noc, moja twarz.
• “Ta muzeum” – correct: to muzeum.
• “Mieszkanie był duży” – correct: mieszkanie było duże.
• “Dziecko płakał” – correct: dziecko płakało; dziecko is neuter.
• Carrying gender over from your native language – if a word has a different gender in your language, the Polish one still applies in Polish: ten problem, ta lekcja, to zdjęcie.

Gender is the first step to correct case endings. Want to check which grammar topics you have already mastered? The placement test will show you in about a quarter of an hour.

Exercise: ten, ta or to?

Write ten, ta or to.

1. ______ mieszkanie
2. ______ mężczyzna
3. ______ wiadomość
4. ______ tydzień
5. ______ centrum
6. ______ jesień
7. ______ zwierzę
8. ______ pani
9. ______ pokój
10. ______ sól

Answers

1. to mieszkanie
2. ten mężczyzna
3. ta wiadomość
4. ten tydzień
5. to centrum
6. ta jesień
7. to zwierzę
8. ta pani
9. ten pokój
10. ta sól

At a trial lesson the teacher will check whether genders and endings already come to you automatically and suggest what to practise next.