Czech Nouns: Gender

There are three important grammatical categories that determine the composition of a Czech noun: the case, number, and gender.

Gender

Every Czech noun is either masculine, feminine, or neuter (similar to the Spanish "el", "la", German "der", "die", "das", etc., although there are no such articles in Czech). It is often possible to tell the gender of the noun by its ending:

Masculine nouns often end with a consonant:
pán - gentleman, hrad - castle, pes - dog, soused - neighbor (male)

Feminine nouns often end with an -a:
žena - woman, kniha - book, dívka - girl, sousedka - neighbor (female)

Neuter nouns often end with an -o:
město - city, auto - car, slovo - word

However, this does not work for all nouns. In fact, below is a complete list of possible noun endings:

Masculine:

- hard consonant (e.g. pán - gentleman, hrad - castle)
- soft consonant (e.g. muž - man, stroj - machine)
- vowel -a (e.g. předseda - chairman, turista - tourist)
- vowel -e (e.g. soudce - judge)

Feminine:

- vowel -a (e.g. žena - woman, škola - school)
- vowel -e (e.g. růže - rose, židle - chair)
- soft consonant (e.g. píseň - song, zátěž - load)
- hard consonant (e.g. kost - bone, sůl - salt)

Neuter:

- vowel -o (e.g. město - city, auto - car)
- vowel -e/-ě (e.g. moře - sea, dítě - child)
- vowel -í (e.g. stavení - manor, koření - spices)