Language/Serbian/Grammar/Gender

Gender in Serbian (Rod imenice)

Hello Everyone, 😊

In today's lesson, we are going to explore the fascinating topic of GENDER in the Serbian language. As you dive into this lesson, you'll discover that Serbian has three genders: masculine (muški rod), feminine (ženski rod), and neuter (srednji rod). While it might seem challenging at first, there are some helpful rules and tips to assist you in determining the gender of a noun.

Once you've mastered this lesson, you can further enhance your understanding of Serbian grammar by exploring other related topics, such as our guide on how to use "be" in Serbian, an introduction to personal pronouns in Serbian, and a comprehensive look at the conditional mood in Serbian grammar.

Please feel free to edit this page if you think it can be improved, and happy learning! 😊

Masculine Nouns

• masculine nouns usually end in a consonant (imenice muškog roda se obično završavaju konsonantom).

But

• some masculine nouns end in - o, and -e, usually masculine proper names. (neke imenice muškog roda se završavaju na -o i na -e, to su obično muška vlastita imena),
• some masculine nouns end in -a (neke imenice muškog roda se završavaju na -a )

Examples

• prijatelj (friend),
• lekar (doctor),
• učitelj (teacher),
• otac (father),
• sin (son),
• deda (grandfather),
• prozor (window),
• mrav (ant),
• lav (lion),
• slon (elephant)
• kamen (stone),
• Marko,
• Slavko,
• Djordje (proper names),
• sudija (judge),
• vođa (leader).

Feminine Nouns

• feminine nouns usually end in - a, (imenice ženskog roda se obično završavaju na -a).

Examples

• žena (woman),
• majka (mother),
• baka (grandmother),
• ćerka (daughter),
• olovka (pen),
• mačka (cat),
• kiša (rain),
• suknja (skirt),
• žirafa (giraffe),
• lutka (doll),
• lopta (ball),
• sveska (notebook),
• knjiga (book),
• trava (grass)

Neuter Nouns

• neuter nouns end in -e and -o, (imenice srednjeg roda se završavaju na -e i - o)

Examples

• dete (child),
• more (sea),
• selo (village),
• ime (name),
• pile (chicken),
• cveće (flowers),
• polje (field),
• jezero (lake),
• pero (feather),
• lišće (leaves),
• ćebe (blanket),
• drvo (tree),
• sunce (sun),
• jagnje (lamb).

How to determine the Gender of a Noun

• Feminine singular noun can never end in -o or -e, and neuter singular noun can never end in -a or a consonant.

Also this can help you determine the gender of the noun:

jednina (singular)	množina (plural)
taj (muški rod, masculine)	ti
ta (ženski rod, feminine)	te
to (srednji rod, neuter)	ta

Example

• taj mrav - ti mravi
• ta lutka - te lutke
• to dete - ta deca

Other Lessons

• Be Polite
• Questions
• Plurals
• Plural
• Indefinite Articles in Serbian
• How to Use Be
• Definite Articles in Serbian
• Possessive Case in Serbian
• Conditional Mood