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A0–A1 · First steps · Lesson 04
Gender of nouns
Every noun is masculine, feminine or neuter — and the ending usually tells you which.
Gender is the master key of Polish grammar: it controls adjective endings, past-tense endings, and how a noun changes in the cases. Luckily the noun's ending usually reveals its gender, so you can predict it.
| Gender | Typical ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | a consonant | dom, kot, stół |
| Feminine | -a | kawa, kobieta, ulica |
| Neuter | -o, -e, -ę | okno, morze, imię |
- •Adjectives match the gender: dobry chleb, dobra kawa, dobre piwo.
- •You will reuse this split in every later topic.
Quick check
What gender is 'kawa'?
Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine.
Which adjective fits 'piwo' (neuter)?
Neuter takes -e: dobre piwo.
Practice
Now produce the answers yourself — type them, choose the form, or build the sentence.
'kawa' is…
-a → feminine.
'okno' is…
-o → neuter.
'dom' is…
consonant → masculine.
Choose: ___ piwo (neuter)
neuter adj → -e.
'mężczyzna' (man) is…
Exception: ends -a but masculine.
What this lesson covered
Every Polish noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, and this lesson showed how the ending usually tells you which: nouns ending in a consonant are typically masculine (dom, stół), those ending in -a are feminine (kobieta, książka), and those ending in -o or -ę are neuter (okno, dziecko). Gender is not just trivia — it decides the form of “this” (ten / ta / to), the pronoun for “it” (on / ona / ono), and the endings of any adjective you attach. That is why getting a noun's gender right early saves you from errors later. A handful of words break the rule by following meaning instead of ending — tata (“dad”) looks feminine but is masculine — yet the ending is a reliable first guide. Learn each new noun together with its gender and the rest of the grammar clicks faster.