Language/Polish/Grammar/Nouns-and-Gender

Polish → Grammar → Nouns and Gender

In this lesson, you will learn about the gender of Polish nouns and how to use them in sentences.

Gender in Polish

In Polish, every noun has a gender: masculine, feminine or neuter. Unlike in English, where gendered nouns are mostly determined by biological sex, Polish gendered nouns are mostly determined by the form of the word. Therefore, even inanimate objects have a grammatical gender in Polish.

Learning the gender of a noun is essential to forming correct sentences and matching the correct pronouns, adjectives, and verb conjugations.

Gender Categories

Here are some general rules to help you determine the gender of Polish nouns:

- Masculine nouns usually end in consonants other than -a, -e, or -o.

- Feminine nouns usually end in -a or -e.

- Neuter nouns usually end in -o or -e (with the exception of some loanwords).

Of course, there are many exceptions to these rules, so it’s essential to memorize the gender of each noun individually.

Examples

Here are some examples of commonly used Polish nouns grouped by gender:

Polish	Pronunciation	English
dom	dom	house (masculine)
pies	pyes	dog (masculine)
kawa	kava	coffee (feminine)
powieść	po-vyenshch	novel (feminine)
wino	vee-no	wine (neuter)
miasto	mee-ash-to	city (neuter)

Articles and Adjectives

In Polish, articles and adjectives must agree with the gender of the noun they modify.

- For example, to say "the big house" you would use "duży" for masculine, "duża" for feminine, and "duże" for neuter:

Polish	Pronunciation	English
duży dom	doo-zhi dom	the big house (masculine)
duża kawa	doo-zha kava	the big coffee (feminine)
duże wino	doo-zhe vee-no	the big wine (neuter)

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are also gendered in Polish. The possessive pronoun for masculine nouns is "jego", for feminine nouns is "jej", and for neuter nouns is "jego" (same as masculine).

- For Example:

Polish	Pronunciation	English
Jego pies jest mały.	yeh-go pyes yest ma-wii	His dog is small. (masculine)
Jej sukienka jest czerwona.	yey soo-kyen-ka yest chehr-vo-na	Her dress is red. (feminine)
Jego krzesło jest wygodne.	yeh-go kshesh-wo yest vi-god-neh	His chair is comfortable. (neuter)

Conclusion

Remembering the gender of Polish nouns may seem difficult at first, but with practice, it will become second nature. Knowing the gender of a noun is essential in forming correct sentences in Polish.

Sources

• Polish grammar - Wikipedia
• Polish Noun Genders: How To Learn Them | 5-Minute Language
• Noun Gender (Rodzaj rzeczownika) - Polish Language Grammar ...

Related Lessons

• Verbs and Tenses
• Nouns
• Conditional Tense
• 0 to A1 Course
• Gender
• Future and Conditional Tenses
• Perfective and imperfective verbs
• być to be
• Past Tense