Grammatical Gender (Rod)

Every Czech noun has a gender. It is not always related to biology (e.g., a "girl" is feminine, but a "child" is neuter).

There are 3 main genders, with Masculine subdivided into two:

1. Masculine Animate (Mužský životný): Men, animals.
2. Masculine Inanimate (Mužský neživotný): Things, machines, places.
3. Feminine (Ženský): Women, many abstract concepts, nature.
4. Neuter (Střední): Young animals, many concepts, collectives.

How to Identify Gender?

Look at the ending of the noun in its basic form (Nominative Singular).

Masculine (Ten)

• Usually ends in a consonant.
  • muž (man), hrad (castle), stroj (machine), pán (lord).
• Animate vs. Inanimate:
  • Animate: People and animals (pes, doktor).
  • Inanimate: Objects (telefon, banán).

Feminine (Ta)

• Usually ends in -a.
  • žena (woman), káva (coffee), Praha (Prague).
• Sometimes ends in -e / -ě.
  • růže (rose), píseň (song).
• Sometimes ends in a consonant (special group).
  • kost (bone), věc (thing).

Neuter (To)

• Usually ends in -o.
  • auto (car), město (city).
• Ends in -e / -ě.
  • moře (sea), kuře (chicken).
• Ends in -í.
  • nádraží (station), náměstí (square).
• Latin loanwords ending in -um.
  • muzeum, centrum.

Summary Table

Gender	Typical Endings	Examples
Masculine	Consonant	student, vlak, pes
Feminine	-a, -e, -ost	kniha, židle, radost
Neuter	-o, -e, -í, -um	okno, srdce, stavení, muzeum