Grammatical Gender in Hindi

In Brief

Every Hindi noun is either masculine (पुल्लिंग) or feminine (स्त्रीलिंग). Common endings provide clues—many nouns in -ा are masculine and many in -ी are feminine—but they are not guarantees, so learn gender with each noun. Gender matters because adjectives, verbs, and possessive forms such as का/के/की may change to match the noun.

Overview

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea, such as लड़का “boy,” शहर “city,” किताब “book,” or खुशी “happiness.” In Hindi, every noun belongs to one of two grammatical genders. This classification applies even when biological sex is irrelevant: कमरा “room” is masculine, while किताब “book” is feminine.

Gender is an A1 foundation because it does not stay inside the noun. It can affect agreement—the way one word changes to match another. Compare नया कमरा “new room” with नई किताब “new book.” The adjective changes from नया to नई because the noun changes from masculine to feminine. Similar changes appear in some verb forms and in the possessive forms का, के, and की.

English-speaking learners cannot usually transfer their instinct from English. English adjectives remain unchanged in “a new room” and “a new book,” and objects are normally referred to as “it.” Hindi asks you to remember an extra fact about each noun. Endings are helpful clues, but memorizing a noun together with a matching adjective is more reliable than memorizing the noun alone.

How It Works

The two gender classes

Hindi calls the two classes पुल्लिंग (masculine) and स्त्रीलिंग (feminine). For words referring to people and many animals, grammatical gender often corresponds to sex: बेटा “son” is masculine and बेटी “daughter” is feminine. With objects, materials, and ideas, meaning often gives no dependable clue.

Gender	Typical examples	Meaning
Masculine (पुल्लिंग)	लड़का, कमरा, घर, पानी	boy, room, house, water
Feminine (स्त्रीलिंग)	लड़की, किताब, सड़क, चाय	girl, book, road, tea

Hindi has no article equivalent to English “the” that announces a noun’s gender. You often discover gender through agreement: बड़ा घर “big house” but बड़ी सड़क “big road.”

Common clues from noun endings

The following are tendencies, not rules without exceptions.

Form or ending	Common tendency	Examples	Caution
-ा in many native nouns	Masculine	लड़का, कमरा, दरवाज़ा	भाषा “language” and आशा “hope” are feminine
-ी in many nouns	Feminine	लड़की, खिड़की, कुर्सी	पानी “water” and आदमी “man/person” are masculine
-ता in many abstract nouns	Feminine	मित्रता, स्वतंत्रता	Learn individual words rather than guessing from spelling alone
-आवट / -ाहट	Usually feminine	सजावट, घबराहट	These patterns are more useful as vocabulary grows
Consonant or other ending	No single safe rule	घर m., शहर m.; किताब f., सड़क f.	Memorization is essential
Borrowed word	Varies	स्कूल m., बस f., मेज़ f.	Source-language gender does not provide a dependable answer

The beginner shortcut is therefore: guess cautiously, then verify and remember. Natural sex is a strong clue for words like माँ “mother” and भाई “brother,” but the visible ending alone is never enough for every noun.

Gender pairs for people and animals

Some related nouns form a masculine–feminine pair by changing their ending.

Masculine	Feminine	Meaning
लड़का	लड़की	boy / girl
बेटा	बेटी	son / daughter
घोड़ा	घोड़ी	horse or stallion / mare
बूढ़ा	बूढ़ी	old man / old woman

Not every pair is made this way. भाई “brother” and बहन “sister,” पिता “father” and माँ “mother,” and आदमी “man” and औरत “woman” use different words. Do not invent a feminine form by mechanically replacing an ending.

Agreement with changing adjectives

An adjective is a describing word. Many common Hindi adjectives ending in -ा, such as अच्छा “good,” नया “new,” बड़ा “big,” and छोटा “small,” change their endings. These are often called variable adjectives, meaning adjectives whose form can change.

Noun category	अच्छा “good”	नया “new”	Example
Masculine singular, direct form	अच्छा	नया	अच्छा लड़का, नया कमरा
Masculine plural or oblique form	अच्छे	नए	अच्छे लड़के, नए कमरे में
Feminine singular and plural	अच्छी	नई	अच्छी लड़की, नई किताबें

The oblique form is the noun form used before a postposition (a word placed after a noun, such as में “in” or से “from”). Number and the oblique form are covered separately, but the table explains why masculine -े sometimes appears even when the basic gender is unchanged.

Other adjectives do not change at all. सुंदर “beautiful,” साफ़ “clean,” खुश “happy,” and भारी “heavy” normally keep the same form:

• सुंदर लड़का — beautiful boy
• सुंदर लड़की — beautiful girl
• साफ़ कमरा — clean room
• साफ़ सड़क — clean road

An unchanging adjective does not reveal gender. You still need to know the noun’s gender for other agreement.

Agreement in verb phrases

Hindi verbs often contain a participle—a verb form that can behave somewhat like an adjective. In many everyday constructions, that form agrees with the subject (the person or thing the sentence is about).

Pattern	Masculine	Feminine
Habitual action	राहुल जाता है।	मीरा जाती है।
Ongoing action	राहुल जा रहा है।	मीरा जा रही है।
Simple state with an adjective	राहुल थका है।	मीरा थकी है।
Intransitive completed action	राहुल आया।	मीरा आई।

Thus जाता/जाती and रहा/रही can tell you the gender of the subject. In the plural, number also matters: लड़के जा रहे हैं “the boys are going,” but लड़कियाँ जा रही हैं “the girls are going.”

Pronouns referring to people also trigger agreement. मैं “I” has no visible gender, but a speaker may say मैं तैयार हूँ “I am ready” with an unchanging adjective, or मैं थका हूँ / मैं थकी हूँ with a form that marks masculine or feminine gender.

Agreement with का, के, and की

The possessive postposition का/के/की roughly corresponds to English “of” or the possessive ’s. Its form agrees with the thing possessed, not with the owner.

Possessed item	Form	Example	Translation
Masculine singular, direct	का	रीना का कमरा	Reena’s room
Masculine plural or oblique	के	रीना के जूते	Reena’s shoes
Feminine singular or plural	की	रीना की किताब / रीना की किताबें	Reena’s book / Reena’s books

Reena does not change, but the possessed noun does: कमरा is masculine singular, जूते is masculine plural, and किताब is feminine. The same agreement applies to मेरा/मेरे/मेरी “my,” तुम्हारा/तुम्हारे/तुम्हारी “your,” and similar possessive forms.

Examples in Context

The bold words show where gender can be seen. Some sentences also show number so that you can distinguish feminine agreement from masculine plural agreement.

Hindi	English	Note
यह अच्छा कमरा है।	This is a good room.	कमरा is masculine; अच्छा ends in -ा.
यह अच्छी किताब है।	This is a good book.	किताब is feminine; अच्छी ends in -ी.
वह बड़ा घर बहुत पुराना है।	That big house is very old.	घर is masculine despite having no -ा ending.
यह लंबी सड़क स्टेशन तक जाती है।	This long road goes to the station.	सड़क is feminine, so लंबी and जाती agree with it.
ठंडा पानी चाहिए।	I need cold water.	पानी ends in -ी but is masculine.
हिंदी भाषा बहुत रोचक है।	The Hindi language is very interesting.	भाषा ends in -ा but is feminine; रोचक does not change.
अमित रोज़ दफ़्तर जाता है।	Amit goes to the office every day.	Masculine habitual form जाता.
नेहा रोज़ दफ़्तर जाती है।	Neha goes to the office every day.	Feminine habitual form जाती.
लड़का बाहर खड़ा है।	The boy is standing outside.	खड़ा agrees with the masculine subject.
लड़की बाहर खड़ी है।	The girl is standing outside.	खड़ी agrees with the feminine subject.
यह मोहन का नया फ़ोन है।	This is Mohan’s new phone.	फ़ोन is masculine, so का and नया are masculine.
यह मोहन की नई साइकिल है।	This is Mohan’s new bicycle.	साइकिल is feminine, so की and नई are feminine.
मेरे पास दो नई कुर्सियाँ हैं।	I have two new chairs.	Feminine adjective form नई; कुर्सियाँ is feminine plural.
सीमा कल देर से आई।	Seema came late yesterday.	आई agrees with the feminine subject.

Common Mistakes

Treating every -ी noun as feminine

• Wrong: ठंडी पानी
• Right: ठंडा पानी — “cold water”
• Why: पानी is masculine even though it ends in the sound and letter -ी. Endings are clues, not proofs.

Treating every -ा noun as masculine

• Wrong: हिंदी एक अच्छा भाषा है।
• Right: हिंदी एक अच्छी भाषा है। — “Hindi is a good language.”
• Why: भाषा is feminine. A familiar-looking ending does not override the noun’s learned gender.

Leaving a variable adjective unchanged

• Wrong: नया किताब
• Right: नई किताब — “new book”
• Why: नया is a variable -ा adjective. With a feminine noun, it changes to नई.

Changing an adjective that is invariable

• Wrong: सुंदरी लड़की when you mean ordinary “beautiful girl”
• Right: सुंदर लड़की
• Why: सुंदर normally remains unchanged. Not every adjective has masculine and feminine endings.

Matching का/के/की to the owner

• Wrong: रीना की भाई because Reena is female
• Right: रीना का भाई — “Reena’s brother”
• Why: का agrees with भाई, the possessed noun, which is masculine singular. The owner’s gender is irrelevant.

Getting the noun right but the verb wrong

• Wrong: लड़की घर जाता है।
• Right: लड़की घर जाती है। — “The girl goes home.”
• Why: In this habitual present pattern, जाती agrees with the feminine subject लड़की.

Usage Notes

Gender is part of a noun’s grammar, not a judgment about the object. There is no useful reason that सड़क “road” is feminine while रास्ता “route/way” is masculine; these classifications simply belong to the words. Synonyms can therefore have different genders even when they refer to similar things.

Everyday speakers may vary in the gender assigned to some recent loanwords, technical terms, brands, or words whose gender is not firmly established in a speaker’s variety. Established common words are much less flexible: किताब is feminine and पानी is masculine in standard Hindi. When usage is uncertain, notice the adjective or verb that native speakers place beside the noun and check a reliable dictionary.

Gender is not always audible in a sentence. An invariable adjective such as साफ़ and some verb forms can hide it. यह घर साफ़ है “this house is clean” and यह सड़क साफ़ है “this road is clean” use the same adjective. That does not make घर and सड़क genderless; agreement will reappear with forms such as बड़ा/बड़ी or नया/नई.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master the following details at A1, but they explain agreement patterns you will meet later.

Perfective transitive clauses

In many completed transitive sentences—a sentence where an action is done to a direct object—Hindi marks the agent with ने. In this construction, the perfective verb often agrees with an unmarked direct object rather than with the person who acted:

• सीमा ने किताब पढ़ी। — Seema read the book.
• सीमा ने पत्र पढ़ा। — Seema read the letter.

The subject is the same in both sentences. The verb changes because किताब is feminine and पत्र is masculine. If the object is marked with को, or if there is no available noun for agreement, the verb commonly appears in the masculine singular default form: सीमा ने रवि को देखा “Seema saw Ravi.” This ergative pattern belongs to later study; at A1, simply recognize that past-tense agreement is not always controlled by the subject.

Meaning can select gender with certain nouns

A small number of forms may be used with different genders depending on meaning, variety, or the person referred to. Job titles and borrowed terms can also show variation as usage changes. This is not a reason to treat all gender as optional. Learn the standard gender given for each sense and pay attention to agreement in authentic sentences.

Noun gender versus grammatical form

Masculine nouns in -ा often change ending for number or before postpositions: लड़का, लड़के, लड़कों. Feminine nouns have their own number patterns: लड़की, लड़कियाँ, लड़कियों. These changes do not create a new gender. They express number (one or more) and sometimes the oblique form while the noun remains masculine or feminine.

Practice Tips

1. Store a phrase, not an isolated noun. Learn नया कमरा, नई किताब, ठंडा पानी, and लंबी सड़क. The adjective makes gender visible and gives you a reusable agreement pattern.
2. Use two-color recall without relying on color alone. Mark masculine and feminine in your notes, but always say the noun aloud with अच्छा/अच्छी or मेरा/मेरी. Active production builds a stronger memory than visual labeling.
3. Collect exceptions by ending. Keep short lists such as पानी m., आदमी m. beside common feminine -ी nouns, and भाषा f., आशा f. beside common masculine -ा nouns. Review exceptions more often than predictable words.

Related Concepts

• Next step: Number (Singular/Plural) — learn how masculine and feminine nouns change in the plural and before postpositions.
• Next step: Basic Adjective Agreement — apply gender and number to changing adjectives such as अच्छा, नया, and बड़ा.
• Next step: Possessive Postposition — choose का, के, or की according to the possessed noun.