Identifying Noun Gender

Every Czech noun has a gender: masculine, feminine, or neuter. You must know the gender to decline nouns correctly.

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The Three Genders

Gender	Czech	Typical Endings
Masculine	mužský rod	consonant
Feminine	ženský rod	-a, -e, soft consonant
Neuter	střední rod	-o, -e, -í

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Masculine Nouns

Hard Masculine (ends in hard consonant)

Czech	English	Pattern
student	student	pán
hrad	castle	hrad
les	forest	les
stůl	table	hrad
dům	house	pán

Soft Masculine (ends in soft consonant)

Czech	English	Pattern
muž	man	muž
učitel	teacher	muž
stroj	machine	stroj
pokoj	room	stroj
soudce	judge	soudce

Masculine Animate vs. Inanimate

Masculine nouns split into animate (living) and inanimate (non-living):

Type	Examples	Note
Animate	student, pán, muž, pes	Affects accusative & plural
Inanimate	hrad, les, stroj, pokoj	Different accusative

The Animate/Inanimate Split

This only matters for masculine nouns. It affects:

• Accusative singular (animate = genitive, inanimate = nominative)
• Nominative plural endings

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Feminine Nouns

-a Feminines (most common)

Czech	English	Pattern
žena	woman	žena
kniha	book	žena
škola	school	žena
Praha	Prague	žena
voda	water	žena

-e Feminines (soft)

Czech	English	Pattern
růže	rose	růže
ulice	street	ulice
kancelář	office	píseň
židle	chair	růže

Consonant Feminines

Czech	English	Pattern
kost	bone	kost
věc	thing	věc
noc	night	noc
myš	mouse	myš
smrt	death	smrt

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Neuter Nouns

-o Neuters (hard)

Czech	English	Pattern
město	city	město
okno	window	město
auto	car	město
slovo	word	město
pivo	beer	město

-e/-ě Neuters (soft)

Czech	English	Pattern
moře	sea	moře
pole	field	pole
srdce	heart	srdce
vejce	egg	vejce

-í Neuters

Czech	English	Pattern
stavení	building	stavení
nádraží	station	nádraží
náměstí	square	náměstí
pondělí	Monday	stavení

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Gender Identification Rules

Quick Reference

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            GENDER IDENTIFICATION                │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                 │
│  Ends in -A → Usually FEMININE (žena, škola)    │
│                                                 │
│  Ends in -O → Usually NEUTER (město, auto)      │
│                                                 │
│  Ends in -E → Check! Could be any gender        │
│     • moře (neuter)                             │
│     • růže (feminine)                           │
│     • soudce (masculine)                        │
│                                                 │
│  Ends in -Í → Usually NEUTER (stavení)          │
│                                                 │
│  Ends in CONSONANT → Usually MASCULINE          │
│     • Exception: kost, věc, noc (feminine)      │
│                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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Common Exceptions

Masculine in -a

Some nouns ending in -a are masculine:

Czech	English	Why?
táta	dad	Male person
kolega	colleague (m)	Male person
turista	tourist (m)	Male person
Honza	Honza (name)	Male name

Feminine in Consonant

Some consonant-ending nouns are feminine:

Czech	English	Pattern
kost	bone	kost
věc	thing	věc
noc	night	noc
krev	blood	krev
sůl	salt	sůl

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How to Learn Gender

Dictionary Habit

Always learn nouns WITH their gender:

• ❌ "město = city"
• ✅ "město (n) = city"

Dictionaries mark: m (masculine), f (feminine), n (neuter)

Memory Tricks

Ending	Gender	Remember
-a	Feminine	Like "Jana" - a woman's name
-o	Neuter	Like "auto" - a thing
-í	Neuter	Abstract concepts: stavení
consonant	Masculine	Like "student" - no ending

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Gender Agreement

Adjectives and verbs must match the gender:

Gender	Adjective	Past Tense
Masculine	nový student	student četl
Feminine	nová kniha	kniha byla
Neuter	nové město	město bylo

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Practice

Test your understanding:

What gender is each noun?

1. škola → ___
2. dům → ___
3. moře → ___
4. učitelka → ___
5. pokoj → ___

Answers

1. škola → feminine (-a ending)
2. dům → masculine (consonant ending)
3. moře → neuter (-e with moře pattern)
4. učitelka → feminine (-a ending)
5. pokoj → masculine (consonant ending)

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Next Steps

Now that you can identify gender, learn how to form plurals:

Forming Plurals →