Polish Noun Genders

Every Polish noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, and the ending usually tells you which. Most nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, most ending in -a are feminine, and most ending in -o, -e, -ę or -um are neuter.

The quick rule: look at the ending

Polish has three genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Gender is a grammar label, not about meaning, so a table (stół) is masculine, coffee (kawa) is feminine and a child (dziecko) is neuter. The good news is that the last letters of the nominative singular, the dictionary form, give the gender of the large majority of nouns.

The main traps are masculine nouns that end in -a, feminine nouns that end in a soft consonant, and nouns that only exist in the plural. All three are covered below.

Masculine nouns: personal, animate and inanimate

Most masculine nouns end in a consonant. Grammar books split them into three groups, because the groups behave differently in some cases.

Personal nouns are men and male roles: brat, student, lekarz. Animate nouns are animals: pies, kot, koń. Inanimate nouns are things and ideas: dom, stół, samochód. In the singular, you see the difference in the accusative, the case of the direct object. People and animals take -a, things stay the same.

Some things behave like animals in the accusative, especially in everyday speech: zjeść banana (eat a banana), wysłać SMS-a (send a text), napisać maila (write an email), zapalić papierosa (light a cigarette), tańczyć walca (dance a waltz).

In the plural, the line falls between men and everything else. Groups of men, and mixed groups with at least one man, have their own pronoun oni, their own adjective endings and their own past tense. Everything else uses one.

• Studenci byli zmęczeni.
  The students (men or a mixed group) were tired.
• Studentki były zmęczone.
  The students (women) were tired.
• Koty były głodne.
  The cats were hungry.
• Ania i Piotr byli w kinie.
  Ania and Piotr were at the cinema.

Feminine nouns

Most feminine nouns end in -a. A small group ends in -i, mainly pani (Mrs, madam, you) and a few words for women like gospodyni (hostess). The third group ends in a soft consonant, and this includes every abstract noun in -ość: miłość (love), radość (joy), przyszłość (future).

Not every noun in -ść is feminine. Three common ones are masculine: gość (guest), teść (father-in-law) and liść (leaf).

Neuter nouns

Neuter nouns end in -o, -e, -ę or -um. A huge group ends in -anie or -enie. These come from verbs: pytanie (question), mieszkanie (flat), spotkanie (meeting), zdanie (sentence). Nouns in -ę include imię (first name), zwierzę (animal) and words for young animals like kurczę (chick). Nouns in -um do not change at all in the singular: w muzeum, do muzeum.

Foreign words that end in a vowel and never change are usually neuter too: menu, hobby, zoo. Note the stress in muzeum: words in -um break the usual second-to-last rule.

Exceptions to learn

Masculine nouns ending in -a

A group of nouns for men ends in -a but is masculine. They change their endings like feminine nouns (kolega, z kolegą), but adjectives, pronouns and the past tense are masculine: mój kolega był, never moja kolega była.

Male first names like Kuba and the word tata (dad) belong here too. Many of these words have a separate feminine form: koleżanka, dentystka, turystka.

• Ten mężczyzna jest wysoki.
  This man is tall.
• Mój kolega był chory.
  My friend was ill.
• To jest dobry kierowca.
  He is a good driver.

Soft consonants: masculine or feminine?

Nouns ending in a soft consonant (ć, ń, ś, ź, l, j) or in cz, sz, rz, ż can be either masculine or feminine. There is no reliable rule, so learn each one with ten or ta.

Plural-only nouns

Some nouns exist only in the plural, even when you mean one thing. Many are objects made of two parts, like in English "trousers" and "scissors", but Polish has more of them, including the door.

These nouns always take plural adjectives and plural verbs. To count them, use jedne for one (jedne drzwi, one door) and collective numbers or para (pair) for more: dwoje drzwi (two doors), dwie pary spodni (two pairs of trousers).

• Te drzwi są otwarte.
  This door is open.
• Moje okulary były na stole.
  My glasses were on the table.
• Gdzie są nożyczki?
  Where are the scissors?
• Kiedy masz urodziny?
  When is your birthday?

Why gender matters

Gender is not just a label in the dictionary. It decides the form of almost every word that goes with the noun: adjectives, "this" and "my", the number one, pronouns and the past tense of verbs.

• To jest mój nowy telefon. Był drogi.
  This is my new phone. It was expensive.
• To jest moja nowa kurtka. Była droga.
  This is my new jacket. It was expensive.
• To jest moje nowe mieszkanie. Było drogie.
  This is my new flat. It was expensive.

Polish has no single word for "it". You refer to a thing with the pronoun of its gender. A key is masculine, so Gdzie jest klucz? Nie widzę go. (Where is the key? I can't see it.) A bag is feminine, so Gdzie jest torba? Nie widzę jej.

Your own gender matters too. In the past tense and with adjectives about yourself, a man says Byłem zmęczony (I was tired) and a woman says Byłam zmęczona. In formal speech, pan takes masculine forms and pani feminine ones: Czy był pan w Krakowie? and Czy była pani w Krakowie? (Have you been to Kraków?).