Polish/More on nouns - genders
Depending on the classification chosen, there are either three or five genders in Polish:
- Masculine (męski)
- Masculine personal (męski osobowy)
- Masculine animate (męski nieosobowy żywotny)
- Masculine inanimate (męski nieosobowy nieżywotny)
- Feminine (żeński)
- Neuter (nijaki)
In the plural, męskoosobowy (masculine-personal) and niemęskoosobowy (non-masculine-personal) are used for masculine personal nouns and the remaining ones respectively.
Unlike German, and more like Italian, it is usually possible to determine the gender of a noun by looking at its ending and meaning.
- Nouns that end in -a are usually feminine.
- Exceptions include words that end in -ista, which indicate followers of some ideology (like komunista, communist) - they are considered person-masculine.
- Nouns that end in -awca/-owca and describe professions (like sprzedawca, salesman; kierowca, driver) are also considered person-masculine.
- An exception is the word "mężczyzna," which means "adult male person" and is obviously person-masculine.
- Some other masculine words include "tata" (dad), "poeta" (poet), and "sędzia" (judge).
- Some words that end in a consonant are feminine, such as gałąź (branch), jesień (autumn), łódź (boat or a Polish city), myśl (thought), noc (night), podróż (journey), pomoc (help), postać (figure), północ (north and midnight), rzecz (thing), sól (salt), twarz (face), and wieś (countryside).
- Their declension is quite similar to that of feminine nouns ending in "-a".
- Nouns that end in -ść are usually feminine.
- They are often abstract nouns, such as miłość (love, from the adjective miły, nice, in old Polish "loved") and wysokość (height, from the adjective wysoki, high).
- Nouns that end in -o, -e, -ę, or -um are usually neuter.
- Examples include dziecko (child), zawiniątko (package), jedzenie (food), wyjście (departure, exit, solution), zwierzę (animal), and muzeum (museum). NOTE: Some nouns ending in -e are plural and require plural verbs, such as grabie (rake), Katowice, nożyce (scissors), skrzypce (violin), spodnie (pants), and szczypce (pliers).
- Most other nouns ending in a consonant are masculine, and their exact gender depends on their meaning. The most common exceptions are animate-masculine nouns that aren't truly animate, especially in spoken language.
- Nouns that end in -i or -u in the nominative singular are rare and mostly of foreign origin. Native Polish words ending in -i are feminine, such as gospodyni (hostess or farmer's wife) or pani (lady). NOTE: Some nouns ending in -i are plural and require plural verbs, such as drzwi (door), Helsinki, nożyczki (scissors), and obcęgi (tongs).
Now, here are some examples:
| Gender | Meaning | Nominative | Accusative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feminine | Coffee | Kawa | Kawę |
| Neuter | Milk | Mleko | Mleko |
| Personal Masculine | Adam (male name) | Adam | Adama |
| Animate Masculine | Cat | Kot | Kota |
| Inanimate Masculine | Computer | Komputer | Komputer |
- "Adam pije kawę" - Adam drinks coffee.
- "Kasia widzi Adama" - Kasia sees Adam.
- "Kot pije mleko" - A cat drinks milk.
- "Adam widzi kota" - Adam sees a cat.
- "Adam ma komputer" - Adam has a computer.