A Noun's Gender

Level 1

Names for people and objects can be masculine or feminine.

How It Works

Maltese nouns have grammatical gender. Inanimate nouns have inherent gender rather than biological sex. Some animate nouns have related masculine and feminine forms. Learn gender alongside meaning and number forms because singular demonstratives and adjectives depend on it.

Endings provide clues rather than a complete test. Triq, “road,” is feminine despite ending in a consonant. Compare dan il-qamar, “this moon,” with din it-triq, “this road.” The demonstratives reveal different genders; the article consonants reflect the following sounds.

In pittura sabiħa, “a beautiful painting,” the adjective agrees with a feminine singular noun. Grammatical gender remains relevant even when the object has no sex. The plural demonstrative dawn serves plural nouns of either gender, so the singular masculine–feminine contrast does not produce two plural demonstrative forms.

Examples (3)

  1. dan il-qamar

    this moon

    Masculine singular noun-phrase fragment.

  2. din it-triq

    this road

    Feminine singular fragment with a consonant-final noun.

  3. din il-kamra

    this room

    Feminine singular fragment; the article remains il- before k.

How It Connects

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

A Noun's GenderLevel 1

Learn This First

Explain noun gender as a lexical property controlling singular agreement. Use familiar demonstratives to reveal gender while distinguishing it from article shape, biological sex and plural reference.

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.