Every Polish noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter. Most of the time the ending gives it away.
| Gender | Typical ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | a consonant | dom (house), kot (cat), samochód (car) |
| Feminine | -a | kawa (coffee), kobieta (woman), woda (water) |
| Neuter | -o, -e | okno (window), dziecko (child), mieszkanie (flat) |
Why it matters
Adjectives copy the noun's gender. 'Good' is dobry (m), dobra (f), dobre (n). Past tense too: a man says 'byłem', a woman says 'byłam' for 'I was'.
Watch out: A few nouns break the rule. 'Mężczyzna' (man) ends in -a but is masculine. 'Noc' (night) ends in a consonant but is feminine. These are the exceptions, not the norm.
To jest dobra kawa
/ toh yest DOH-brah KAH-vah /
This is good coffee
To jest dobry pomysł
/ toh yest DOH-brih POH-miswuh /
This is a good idea