Serbian Noun Gender
Every Serbian 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
| Cyrillic | Latin | Gender | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| град | grad | masculine | city |
| жена | žena | feminine | woman |
| село | 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 | град, хлеб, воз, пас (grad, hleb, voz, pas) |
| -а | feminine | жена, кућа, кафа, школа (žena, kuća, kafa, škola) |
| -о / -е | neuter | село, море, вино, дете (selo, more, vino, dete) |
That single table covers the overwhelming majority of Serbian nouns. Read the last letter, know the gender.
Agreement: Making Words Match
Adjectives and possessives copy the noun's gender ending:
| Gender | Cyrillic | Latin | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | мој велики град | moj veliki grad | my big city |
| feminine | моја велика кућа | moja velika kuća | my big house |
| neuter | моје велико село | moje veliko selo | my big village |
The pattern is beautifully regular: consonant / -а / -о on the noun → -и / -а / -о on the adjective. Whole phrases rhyme with themselves: велика бела кућа — a big white house.
Ово је мој стари друг из школе.
This is my old friend from school.
Note: Latin: Ovo je moj stari drug iz škole. Masculine noun, masculine possessive and adjective.
Наша нова кућа је мала, али лепа.
Our new house is small but beautiful.
Note: Latin: Naša nova kuća je mala, ali lepa. Every word describing кућа rhymes in -а.
The Usual Suspects
A few patterns to watch:
- Masculine -а nouns: male people like тата (dad), колега (colleague), судија (judge) end in -а but stay masculine: мој тата.
- Feminine consonant nouns: a family of abstract nouns ends in a consonant yet is feminine — ноћ (night), љубав (love), ствар (thing): добра ноћ.
- Neuter surprises: дете (child) is neuter regardless of the child: моје дете.
Мој тата и моја мама су код куће.
My dad and my mom are at home.
Note: Latin: Moj tata i moja mama su kod kuće. Тата ends in -а but takes мој — the person wins over the ending.
Hear gender agreement in a real exchange:
💬 Showing photos
Ко је ово на слици?
Who is this in the picture?
То је моја млађа сестра.
That's my younger sister.
А ово? Твој брат?
And this? Your brother?
Не, то је мој добри колега Милош.
No, that's my good colleague Miloš.
Common Mistakes
- Matching the possessive to yourself instead of the noun. A man still says моја кућа — мој/моја/моје agrees with the thing owned, not the owner.
- Treating тата as feminine. It ends in -а, but dad is a man: мој тата, добар тата.
- Trusting the ending for ноћ, љубав, ствар. This consonant-ending family is feminine: добра ноћ, not добар ноћ.
- Forgetting neuter -е nouns. Море (sea) and дете (child) are neuter: наше море, моје дете.
- Learning gender as a separate fact. Don't memorise "кућа = feminine" — memorise the phrase моја кућа and the gender comes for free.
What You Can Do Now
You can look at almost any Serbian 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 моја нова кућа now assemble themselves — which is exactly the skill plurals and cases will build on next.