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Grammatical Gender – Non Living Things Posted by on Dec 28, 2012 in Hindi Language

Some of our readers have requested the topic of the grammatical gender of non-living things and I would like to explain the same in this post.

Hindi poses a challenge to the learners when it comes to the grammatical gender of non-living things as unlike English, Hindi has grammatical gender for them as well. Moreover, there are no articles before nouns which can provide you a hint unlike in some languages i.e. der, die and das in German language. The identification of grammatical gender of noun for non-living things must be learned by heart as they are needed for the noun declension.

Like I covered in the post on identification of grammatical gender, I would like to revise some of the rules which will help you to identify if the thing has feminine or masculine gender. Those nouns which usually end in ई (i) in Hindi are feminine nouns  like कुर्सी (Kursi – Chair), लकड़ी (Lakadi – Wood), रोटी (Roti – Bread), खिड़की (Khidki – Window) etc. Masculine nouns have a similar pattern, for example those end with आ (aa) like बस्ता (Basta – Bag), कपड़ा (Kapada – Cloth), चश्मा (Chashma – Glasses) etc.

Let me show you some of the common nouns with their grammatical gender.

English Hindi Rom. Hindi Gender
Chair कुर्सी Kursi feminine
Bed पलंग/बिस्तर Plang/Bistar masculine
Computer कंप्यूटर Computer masculine
Pen पेन/कलम Pen/Kalam masculine
Bag बस्ता Bastaa masculine
Tea चाय Chai feminine
Bulb बल्ब Balb masculine
Cloth कपड़ा Kapada masculine
Glass कांच Kaanch masculine
Glasses चश्मा Chasma masculine
Door द्वार/दरवाजा Davaar/Darvaaja masculine
Food भोजन/खाना Bhojan/Khana masculine
Matches माचिस Maachis feminine
Wood लकड़ी Lakadi feminine
Wall दीवार Divaar feminine
Slipper चप्पल Chappal feminine
Cigarette सिगरेट Cigarate feminine
Gun बंदूक Bandook feminine
Bread रोटी Roti feminine
Electricity बिजली Bijli feminine
Water पानी Paani masculine
Air वायु/हवा Vaayu/Havaa feminine
Work काम Kaam masculine
Shoe जूता Juta masculine
Cup कप Cup masculine
Book किताब Kitaab feminine
Bottle बोतल Bottle feminine
Window खिड़की Khidaki feminine
Wire तार Taar masculine
Sweets मिठाई Mithai feminine
Shirt शर्ट Shart feminine
Trousers पेंट/पतलून Pent/Pataloon feminine
Tie टाई Tai feminine
Plate प्लेट Plate feminine
Spoon चम्मच Chammach feminine
Bowl कटोरा Katora masculine
Fridge फ्रिज Fridge masculine
Television टेलीविज़न Television masculine
Cd सीडी CD feminine
Spice मसाला Masaala masculine
Roof छत Chat feminine
House घर Ghar masculine
Car कार Gaadi feminine
Bus बस Bas feminine
Train रेलगाड़ी Railgadi feminine
Street सड़क Sadak feminine
Country देश Desh masculine
Guitar गिटार Gitar masculine
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About the Author: Nitin Kumar

Nitin Kumar is a native Hindi speaker from New Delhi, India. His education qualification include Masters in Robotics and Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. Currently, he is working in the Research and Development in Robotics in Germany. He is avid language learner with varied level of proficiency in English, German, Spanish, and Japanese. He wish to learn French one day. His passion for languages motivated him to share his mother tongue, Hindi, and culture and traditions associated with its speakers. He has been working with Transparent Language since 2010 and has written over 430 blogs on various topics on Hindi language and India, its culture and traditions. He is also the Administrator for Hindi Facebook page which has a community of over 330,000 members.


Comments:

  1. Srikant:

    Paani is male and baarish is female

    Paani pad raha tha .बारिश गिर रही थी

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Srikant @Srikant: You are right about the gender of both nouns though examples must be other way round.
      Paani gir raha tha. Baarish pad rahi thi.

  2. kumar kishlay:

    Nitin jee aap se ek request hi aap mujhe ye batayea ki hindi language me hum kise samjhe ki kis chiz (thing) ko male samjhe or kis ko female iska koi rule hai plz reply

  3. Srikant:

    Please advise when to use “मुझे शादी नहीं करनी ” vs “मुझे शादी नहीं करना ”

    Thanks
    ( I think both have some context meaning)

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Srikant @Srikant: Only “मुझे शादी नहीं करनी” is correct. Because शादी is feminine noun so verb verb declension should be करनी.

  4. Neeta:

    Mez ka kya gender hoga nitinji

    • Akhil:

      @Neeta Neeta,
      Mez is masculine.

  5. Rohan:

    Which one is correct, “Mein chayi pee raha hu” or “mein chayi pee rahi hu”
    Is it dependent on the gender of the speaker?

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Rohan Of course, it is dependent on the gender of speaker.

  6. Ashwani:

    Sir,
    Maugal ka feminine kya hga..??

    And mausam kya hai feminine or masculine??

    • Ashwani:

      @Ashwani Mugal*

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Ashwani Mausam is masculine noun. Not sure what you mean by maugal.

  7. Akhil:

    Hello Nitin,
    Which one is correct?
    Is baat ka sense banta hai. इस बात का सेंस बनता है।
    Or
    Is baat ki sense banti hai. इस बात की सेंस बनती है।
    Is sense masculine or feminine?

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Akhil sense is considered feminine noun by some people and masculine noun by others in Hinglish.
      So both may be correct, depending on who do you ask.

  8. Brijesh kumar:

    Nitin ji plz muje batao.., scooter,aato and tampo ki gender kya hoga.

  9. avinash:

    Rolling pin and rolling board genders are?

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @avinash rolling pin = feminine and rolling board = masculine.

  10. Nishita:

    What is the gender of the word, “oon” (for wool)?

  11. Anita:

    English months like January, February are pulling or striling ??

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Anita they are gender neutral

  12. Jpriya:

    “Usne mujhe gaane ki link bheji hai”.here usne is masculine and its the subject too so bheja has to be correct isn’t it?

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Jpriya We consider link as feminine noun so bheji hai is correct.

  13. sana:

    what is the gender for CD/DVD

  14. Mithlesh:

    What is deferent between Curd or curds. Under singular or plural

    • Nitin Kumar:

      @Mithlesh curd is singular and curds is plural.

  15. jithin Bangalore:

    there is a song in ashique 2 …..sun raha hai na…..in this song male voice says “sun raha hai na tu” to a female….actualy is it correct not sun rahi hai na ?which is correct

  16. dhairya:

    Hey please help me & tell me which gender is word ” ball”

  17. Srikant:

    Sangeet – Masculine
    Composition – feminine
    taaleem / siksha – feminine

  18. Dan Nave:

    I take exception to you using a ‘R’ in the romanized Hindi words for the ‘R’ sound. Definitely a bad practice. When you learn Hindi, there are thee ‘D’ sounds and three “R’ sounds. Although one of these looks like the Devanagari D with a dot under it, it is definitely an R sound and an ‘R’ character. (eg: Lakadi)

  19. venki:

    God help those trying to learn the Hindi gender. It was a cause of utter frustration in my school days. Generally Indian languages are rule based and systematic but this aspect of Hindi does not have a rule. Very surprising. BTW, how do you decide if a non-living word has a gender or not?

  20. Paniza:

    Is india female or male ?

  21. Sabir:

    Pani end is इ but this is -femenine
    Hawa end is आ but this is -musculin
    What is reason between these Srikant ji?

  22. Sabir:

    Pani end is इ but this is -musculin
    Hawa end is आ but this is -femenine
    What is reason between these Srikant ji?

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