Noun Gender

FoundationsSounds Like san̄jñā kā liṅga

Every noun is masculine or feminine, and the words around it change to match.

How It Works

Every Hindi noun is masculine or feminine. This is true for things and ideas as well as people: कमरा (room) and घर (house) are masculine, while किताब (book) and चाय (tea) are feminine.

You see the gender in the words around the noun. Adjectives ending in -आ change: बड़ा कमरा (a big room) but बड़ी किताब (a big book). Verbs change too: ट्रेन आती है (the train comes) has the feminine आती because ट्रेन is feminine.

EndingUsuallyExamplesExceptions
-आmasculineकमरा, दरवाज़ाहवा (air), दवा (medicine)
-ईfeminineलड़की, खिड़कीपानी (water), घी (ghee)
othereitherघर (m), किताब (f)learn each one

Words for people follow the person: लड़का (boy), लड़की (girl). For everything else, learn each noun inside a short phrase that shows its gender, such as बड़ा घर or अच्छी चाय.

Some adjectives, such as गर्म (hot) and लाल (red), never change. They hide the gender, but the noun still has one.

Examples (5)

  1. कमरा बड़ा है।

    The room is big.

    कमरा is masculine, so the adjective is बड़ा.

  2. किताब नई है।

    The book is new.

    किताब is feminine, so नया becomes नई.

  3. पानी ठंडा है।

    The water is cold.

    पानी ends in -ई but is masculine, so the adjective is ठंडा.

  4. चाय गर्म है।

    The tea is hot.

    चाय is feminine, but गर्म never changes, so it does not show the gender.

  5. ट्रेन रोज़ देर से आती है।

    The train comes late every day.

    ट्रेन is feminine, so the verb is आती, not आता.

Common Mistakes

  • Treating every noun that does not end in -ई as masculine.

    किताब बड़ा है।
    किताब बड़ी है।

    किताब is feminine even without an -ई ending, so the adjective must be बड़ी.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Noun GenderFoundations

Learn This First

Gender is usually guessed from how a noun ends, so learners first need to read the vowel signs at the end of a word.