Hey there!

As you probably know, in Polish, all nouns that describe things, phenomena, ideas, and people have a grammatical gender. Basically, when we speak Polish, we break everything down into three genders in the singular: masculine, feminine, and neuter. There’s not a big philosophy behind it; we just need to check the word’s ending and remember a few exceptions.

Let’s kick things off with the feminine gender, which is pretty regular. Most feminine Polish nouns end with the vowel “a”:

kawa (coffee), herbata (tea), gazeta (newspaper), książka (book), czekolada (chocolate), torba (bag), kobieta (woman), dziewczyna (girl), Warszawa (Warsaw), Polska (Poland), Kanada (Canada), Barcelona (Barcelona), Boliwia (Bolivia), Tunezja (Tunisia), pomarańcza (orange), gruszka (pear), woda (water), szklanka (glass), lemoniada (lemonade), zupa (soup), koleżanka (friend), nauczycielka (teacher), róża (rose), lilia (lily), lekcja (lesson), restauracja (restaurant).

Because of that, the adjectives that describe these nouns also need to end in “a”:

kawa jest gorąca (coffee is hot), herbata jest słodka (tea is sweet), gazeta jest ciekawa (the newspaper is interesting), książka jest trudna (the book is difficult), czekolada jest smaczna (chocolate is tasty), torba jest ciężka (the bag is heavy), kobieta jest mądra (the woman is wise), dziewczynajest miła (the girl is kind), Warszawa jest nowoczesna (Warsaw is modern), Polska jest ciekawa (Poland is interesting).

The same goes for demonstrative or possessive Polish pronouns:

ta zupa jest zimna (this soup is cold), ta lemoniada jest kwaśna (this lemonade is sour), ta lekcja jest ciekawa (this lesson is interesting), moja nauczycielka jest dobra (my teacher is good), moja woda jest zimna (my water is cold), twoja komórka jest nowa (your mobile phone is new), twoja prezentacja jest trudna (your presentation is tough).

The verb has to be in the feminine form too when we use past tense, future perfect, or conditional mood. Let’s check out some examples where we need to remember about the “a” ending:

Ta kobieta oglądała film. / This woman watched a movie.

Ta zupa pomidorowa była trochę kwaśna. / This tomato soup was a little sour.

Filharmonia Narodowa zorganizowała festiwal. / The National Philharmonic organised a festival.

Moja córka będzie jadła obiad. / My daughter will eat lunch.

Nasza nauczycielka spóźniła się na lekcję. / Our teacher was late for the lesson.

Moja koleżanka chciałaby pójść na koncert. / My friend would like to go to the concert.

Twoja prezentacja byłaby bardzo ciekawa, jeśli miałaby więcej przykładów. / Your presentation would be very interesting if it had more examples.

Some feminine nouns are a bit special and end with:

• a consonant: noc (night), krew (blood), sól (salt), kość (bone), dłoń (hand), twarz (face), podróż (journey), myśl (thought), powieść (novel), mysz (mouse), odpowiedź (answer), przyjaźń (friendship), marchew (carrot), wieś (village), płeć (gender / sex),
• “– i”: pani (lady), mistrzyni (mistress), bogini (goddess), gospodyni (hostess),
• “– ość”: radość (joy), złość (anger), wolność (freedom), miłość (love), solidarność (solidarity), żywność (food), gościnność (hospitality), jakość (quality), nowość (novelty), ufność (trust), boskość (divinity), długość (length), godność (dignity), hojność (generosity), jasność (brightness), jawność (openness), jedność (unity), jasność (clarity), męskość (masculinity), kobiecość (femininity), młodość (youth), starość (old age), równość (equality), prawość (righteousness), życzliwość (kindness), sprawiedliwość (justice).

This last group is pretty unique since it covers a lot of abstract stuff linked to psychology, philosophy, politics, and math—everything cool in Polish ends up being feminine!

Even though there are different endings in some exceptions, the same rules for matching gender in sentences still apply; adjectives, pronouns, and verbs have to be feminine too:

Dobranoc! / Good night!

Ostatnia podróż była droga. / The last journey was expensive.

To była wielka miłość. / That was a great love.

Pani Agata Zalewska pojechała do Krakowa. / Mrs. Agata Zalewska went to Krakow.

So, if you’re learning Polish and want to sound right, it’s a good idea to check out the gender and endings of words, make your own lists or mind maps. This will help you visualize the idea and get into the habit of giving grammatical genders to things, concepts, and people.

Endings matter in Polish language!

Have a nice Cup of Polish!

Try out our 5-minute quiz to test your skills on feminine nouns!