Start of Advertisement

End of Advertisement

Noun Gender (Rodzaj rzeczownika)

Nouns in Polish can be divided into three genders: męski(masculine), żeński(feminine) and nijaki(neuter).

Masculine Nouns

Masculine nouns usually end with a

consonant

but there are many masculine nouns that end with

Examples

dom	a house
komputer	a computer
las	a forest
zeszyt	a notebook
zegarek	a watch
tata	dad
mężczyzna	man
gitarzysta	a guitarist
kierowca	a driver
pracodawca	an employer
sprzedawca	a seller
kolega	a colleague

Masculine nouns may be further divided into three subgroups:

personal - nouns describing a masculine representant of a group
not personal animate - animals
not animate - things

This grouping will be useful for declension in Genitive Case and Accusative Case . Depending on the group, you will use different endings. You can find the charts with all endings and explanations here .

This grouping will be also helpful for the declension of adjectives in Accusative Case . The form of the adjective is different for inanimate and animate nouns.

Example

Widzę starego człowieka. - I see an old man.

Widzę stary dom. - I see an old house.

starego - personal masculine gender, Accusative Case

stary - inanimate masculine gender, Accusative Case

Feminine Nouns

Feminine nouns usually end with

, but there are also feminine nouns that end with

consonant

Examples

kobieta	a woman
dziewczyna	a girl
gazeta	a newspaper
szkoła	a school
pani	a lady
gospodyni	a housekeeper
bogini	a goddess
kość	a bone
myśl	a thought
jesień	autumn
noc	a night
pościel	a bedding

Neuter Nouns

Neuter nouns end with

Examples

okno	a window
jabłko	an apple
biuro	an office
miasto	a city
jajko	an egg
auto	a car
morze	the sea
zadanie	a task
mieszkanie	a flat
pytanie	a question
zdanie	a sentence
życie	life
zwierzę	an animal
niemowlę	a baby
szczenię	a puppy
imię	a name
plemię	a tribe
muzeum	a museum
stypendium	a scholarship
forum	a forum
akwarium	an aquarium
laboratorium	a laboratory

Determining the Gender

Before you determine the gender of a noun, make sure it is in the Nominative Case (the basic dictionary form).
When you see a noun in a sentence, it is likely in a different case (with a different ending).
Check the declensions of the nouns from the table below to see the different endings.

Example

Level	Polish	English	Details
A1	piwo	beer	Part of speech noun Gender neuter Declension
A1	telewizor	TV	Part of speech noun Gender masculine Declension
A1	budynek	building	Part of speech noun Gender masculine Declension
A1	auto	car	Part of speech noun Gender neuter Declension
A1	kanapka	sandwich	Part of speech noun Gender feminine Declension
A1	piłka	ball	Part of speech noun Gender feminine Declension

The following rule can be used to determine the gender of the noun:

Ending	Gender
o e ę um	neuter
i	feminine
consonant	check in dictionary, but if you have to guess, then assume masculine
a	check in dictionary, but if you have to guess, then assume feminine

Plural Nouns

When it comes to nouns in plural number you might encounter a different approach of grouping them:

masculine personal - nouns describing masculine representants
not masculine personal - nouns describing feminine, neuter and masculine not personal nouns

Such a grouping will be useful for conjugating verbs in past and future tense or for choosing correct possessive or demonstrative pronouns.

Examples

The verb form in past tense changes depending on the group:

masculine personal	Nauczyciele pilnowali dzieci.	The teachers_m looked after the children.
masculine not personal	Nauczycielki pilnowały dzieci.	The teachers_f looked after the children.

The possessive pronoun changes depending on the group:

masculine personal	Widzę moich nauczycieli.	I see my teachers_m.
masculine not personal	Widzę moje nauczycielki.	I see my teachers_f.

The demonstrative pronoun changes depending on the group:

masculine personal	Widzę tamtych nauczycieli.	I see those teachers_m.
masculine not personal	Widzę tamte nauczycielki.	I see those teachers_f.

Please be patient

Your connection is currently powered by a very determined hamster.

Resolving conflict between ś and sz...

Available Exercises

There are exercises related to this topic. Try out your knowledge and test your understanding.

Exercises for Noun Gender

Open exercises

Noun Declension

Pronouns (Zaimki)

Cześć! Jestem Jarek, miło mi Cię poznać!

(Hello, I'm Jarek, nice to meet you!)

More about me

I like learning foreign languages. I've created this website for people like me, who enjoy learning new languages 🙂 I hope my work helped you learn Polish! If you spot a mistake or have a suggestion, I'd love to hear from you.

Contact me

Cases - Noun Declension

You can support my website and my Youtube Channel by buying my grammar book on Amazon. In that book I have clearly explained, how to create different forms of noun depending on the case, number, and gender.

After reading this book you will be able to decline any noun in the Polish language. This book also contains exercises with answers, which will help you practice what you learn.

Paperback

E-book

Start of Advertisement

End of Advertisement

Grammar

Noun Gender (Rodzaj rzeczownika)

Cześć! Jestem Jarek, miło mi Cię poznać!

Cases - Noun Declension

Grammar

Noun Gender (Rodzaj rzeczownika)

Masculine Nouns

Feminine Nouns

Neuter Nouns

Determining the Gender

Plural Nouns

Cześć! Jestem Jarek, miło mi Cię poznać!

Cases - Noun Declension

Masculine Nouns

Feminine Nouns

Neuter Nouns

Determining the Gender

Plural Nouns