Croatian Noun Gender
Every Croatian noun carries a gender — masculine, feminine, or neuter — and unlike French or German, you almost never have to memorise it. The final letter gives it away.
The Three Genders
| Croatian | Gender | English |
|---|---|---|
| grad | masculine | city |
| žena | feminine | woman |
| selo | neuter | village |
Gender matters because everything that describes a noun — adjectives, possessives, past-tense verbs — changes shape to match it.
Reading Gender from the Ending
| Noun ends in… | Gender | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| a consonant | masculine | grad, kruh, vlak, pas |
| -a | feminine | žena, kuća, kava, škola |
| -o / -e | neuter | selo, more, vino, dijete |
That single table covers the overwhelming majority of Croatian nouns. Read the last letter, know the gender.
Agreement: Making Words Match
Adjectives and possessives copy the noun's gender ending:
| Gender | Croatian | English |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | moj veliki grad | my big city |
| feminine | moja velika kuća | my big house |
| neuter | moje veliko selo | my big village |
The pattern is beautifully regular: consonant / -a / -o on the noun → -i / -a / -o on the adjective. Whole phrases rhyme with themselves: velika bijela kuća — a big white house.
Ovo je moj stari prijatelj iz škole.
This is my old friend from school.
Note: Masculine noun, masculine possessive and adjective.
Naša nova kuća je mala, ali lijepa.
Our new house is small but beautiful.
Note: Every word describing kuća rhymes in -a — and lijepa carries the Croatian ije.
The Usual Suspects
A few patterns to watch:
- Masculine -a nouns: male people like tata (dad), kolega (colleague), vođa (leader) end in -a but stay masculine: moj tata.
- Feminine consonant nouns: a family of abstract nouns ends in a consonant yet is feminine — noć (night), ljubav (love), stvar (thing): dobra noć → laku noć.
- Neuter surprises: dijete (child) is neuter regardless of the child: moje dijete.
Moj tata i moja mama su doma.
My dad and my mom are at home.
Note: Tata ends in -a but takes moj — the person wins over the ending.
Hear gender agreement in a real exchange:
💬 Showing photos
Tko je ovo na slici?
Who is this in the picture?
To je moja mlađa sestra.
That's my younger sister.
A ovo? Tvoj brat?
And this? Your brother?
Ne, to je moj dobri kolega Ante.
No, that's my good colleague Ante.
Common Mistakes
- Matching the possessive to yourself instead of the noun. A man still says moja kuća — moj/moja/moje agrees with the thing owned, not the owner.
- Treating tata as feminine. It ends in -a, but dad is a man: moj tata, dobar tata.
- Trusting the ending for noć, ljubav, stvar. This consonant-ending family is feminine: laku noć, not dobar noć.
- Forgetting neuter -e nouns. More (sea) and dijete (child) are neuter: naše more, moje dijete.
- Learning gender as a separate fact. Don't memorise "kuća = feminine" — memorise the phrase moja kuća and the gender comes for free.
What You Can Do Now
You can look at almost any Croatian noun and know its gender from the last letter, make adjectives and possessives rhyme with it correctly, and handle the short list of famous exceptions. Whole phrases like moja nova kuća now assemble themselves — which is exactly the skill plurals and cases will build on next.