Noun Gender
Every noun has a gender: dom (house) is masculine, žena (woman) is feminine and mesto (town) is neuter. Learn each noun together with its gender.
How It Works
The usual endings:
• masculine: a consonant: dom (house), stroj (machine), chlap (man)
• feminine: -a: žena (woman), ulica (street), situácia (situation)
• neuter: -o, -e, -ie: mesto (town), more (sea), námestie (square)
Watch out for these:
• some feminine nouns end in a consonant: kosť (bone), noc (night), jeseň (autumn)
• nouns for men are masculine even with -a or -o: hrdina (hero), kolega (colleague), dedo (grandpa)
• a group of neuter nouns for young beings ends in -a or -ä: dievča (girl), šteňa (puppy)
Things have gender too: The gender of an object has nothing to do with its meaning: stôl (table) is masculine, stolička (chair) is feminine and okno (window) is neuter.
What agrees: pointing words (ten / tá / to), adjectives (nový / nová / nové), possessives (môj / moja / moje) and past verb forms (bol / bola / bolo). See zhoda prídavného mena s podstatným menom.
Tip: Learn new nouns with ten, tá or to: ten dom, tá kosť, to mesto.
Examples (6)
- Ten dom je veľký.
That house is big.
Word by Word: That house is big.
Dom is masculine: ten, veľký.
- Tá žena je moja učiteľka.
That woman is my teacher.
Word by Word: That woman is my teacher.
Žena is feminine: tá, moja.
- To mesto je pekné.
That town is pretty.
Word by Word: That town is pretty.
Mesto is neuter: to, pekné.
- Moja izba je malá.
My room is small.
Word by Word: My room is small.
- Naše námestie je staré.
Our square is old.
Word by Word: Our square is old.
- Ten hrdina je odvážny.
That hero is brave.
Word by Word: That hero is brave.
Hrdina ends in -a but names a man, so it is masculine.
Common Mistakes
Using the masculine adjective with a neuter noun.
To mesto je pekný.To mesto je pekné.Mesto ends in -o, so it is neuter and the adjective ends in -é.
Treating a noun for a man as feminine because it ends in -a.
Môj kolega je milá.Môj kolega je milý.Kolega names a man, so it is masculine despite its -a ending.
Treating a feminine noun as masculine because it ends in a consonant.
Jeseň je krásny.Jeseň je krásna.Jeseň (autumn) is one of the feminine nouns that end in a consonant.
How It Connects
Related Patterns
- Masculine Nouns
Looks closely at masculine nouns.
Level 1 - Feminine Nouns
Looks closely at feminine nouns.
Level 1 - Neuter Nouns
Looks closely at neuter nouns.
Level 1 - Adjective Agreement
Shows how adjectives match the noun's gender.
Level 1 - ten / tá / toThat One by Gender
The pointing word that shows gender most clearly.
Level 1 - Animate and Inanimate Masculine Nouns
Masculine nouns split further into living and non-living.
Level 1
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Noun Gender in Bubblegum
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