A1 · Nouns
Every noun is masculine or feminine
grammatical gender
Hindi has two genders and no neuter: a book is feminine, a house masculine, and the words around them follow.
At a glance
- Remember
- Learn every noun with its gender, the way you learn its meaning: kitab is feminine, ghar is masculine.
- Form
- लड़का, कमरा, कपड़ाmasculine in -ā
- Signal words
- का
- की
- मेरा
- मेरी
- था
- थी
- Trap
- Wrong:यह किताब अच्छा है।Right:यह किताब अच्छी है।
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
| masculine in -ā | लड़का, कमरा, कपड़ा |
| feminine in -ī | लड़की, कुर्सी, चाबी |
| masculine, ending in a consonant | घर, दिन, मकान |
| feminine, ending in a consonant | किताब, मेज़, बात, रात |
| masculine although in -ī | पानी, आदमी, दही |
| feminine although in -ā | भाषा, हवा, दवा |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Every noun is masculine or feminine; there is no neuter.
यह किताब अच्छी है।This book is good.
Most nouns in -ā are masculine, most in -ī feminine.
मेरा कमरा बड़ा है।My room is big.
A noun ending in a consonant has to be learnt with its gender.
आज का दिन अच्छा था।Today was a good day.
The gender shows in the adjective, the possessive and the verb.
मेरी गाड़ी नई है।My car is new.
Example sentences
यह कपड़ा महँगा है।This cloth is expensive.
मेरी चाबी खो गई।I have lost my key.
यह पानी साफ़ है।This water is clean.
हिंदी एक सुंदर भाषा है।Hindi is a beautiful language.
आज हवा ठंडी है।The wind is cold today.
मेरा घर पुराना है।My house is old.
6 more example sentences
रात बहुत ठंडी थी।The night was very cold.
मेरी बहन लंबी है।My sister is tall.
यह मकान किराए पर है।This house is for rent.
मेरी बस आ गई।My bus has come.
उसका फ़ोन नया है।His phone is new.
यह दवा कड़वी है।This medicine is bitter.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English has no gender on a book, and learners reach for the masculine form they met first. किताब is feminine, so the adjective is अच्छी. Learn the noun together with an adjective — अच्छी किताब — and the gender comes with it.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Every Hindi noun is either masculine or feminine. There is no neuter and no “it” gender: किताब (book) is feminine, घर (house) masculine, बात (matter, talk) feminine, दिन (day) masculine. For people and many animals the gender is the natural one: लड़काboyलड़कीgirl
The ending helps. Most nouns ending in -ा are masculine — कमरा (room), कपड़ा (cloth), दरवाज़ा (door) — and most nouns ending in -ी are feminine — कुर्सी(chair)चाबी(key)खिड़की(window) There are exceptions in both directions: पानी (water) and आदमी (man) are masculine, भाषा (language) and हवा (air, wind) feminine.
For nouns ending in a consonant there is no reliable rule: घर, मकान and दिन are masculine, किताब, मेज़, रात and बात feminine. These have to be learnt with their gender, the way you learn their meaning.
Gender matters because everything around the noun agrees with it: the adjective (अच्छा घर, अच्छी किताब), the possessive (मेरा घर, मेरी किताब) and the verb (घर बड़ा था, किताब मोटी थी). A wrong gender is not a small slip: it changes three or four words in the sentence.
A closer look
How to learn a gender
A list that says “किताब, f.” is easy to forget. A phrase is not: learn मेरी किताब, बड़ा घर, ठंडी रात. The ending of the adjective or the possessive carries the gender in a form you will actually say. On the word lists of this site the gender stands next to every noun for the same reason.
English words in Hindi
Loanwords from English get a gender too, usually by analogy with a Hindi word of similar meaning or ending: बस, ट्रेन, कार and मीटिंग are feminine; फ़ोन, कंप्यूटर, स्कूल and टिकट masculine. Speakers agree on most of them, and the word lists give the usual gender.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
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a noun ends in -ī but names a man or a male animal, or is one of a few old words
it is masculine: आदमी, हाथी, पानी, दही, घी, मोती.
वह आदमी मेरा पड़ोसी है।That man is my neighbour.
The ending -ī is a strong hint, not a rule. Natural gender wins for people and animals, and a handful of everyday words simply are masculine.
Worth knowing (2)
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People and animals: natural gender
For people and many animals there are pairs: लड़का and लड़की, घोड़ा and घोड़ी, भाई and बहन. The gender is the natural one.
घोड़ा और घोड़ी खेत में हैं।The horse and the mare are in the field.
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English loanwords
A borrowed word is treated like any other noun and needs its gender: कार is feminine, फ़ोन masculine.
मेरी कार बाहर है।My car is outside.
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