Grammatical Gender in Hindi: Why Water Is Masculine and Medicine Is Feminine

English nouns have no grammatical gender, but every Hindi noun is either masculine or feminine. Gender then shapes adjectives, verbs and possessives.

Rules of thumb

Ending	Usually	Examples
-ा	masculine	लड़का (boy), कमरा (room), कुत्ता (dog)
-ी	feminine	लड़की (girl), रोटी (bread), नदी (river)

Common exceptions

Word	Gender	Meaning
पानी	masculine	water
दही	masculine	curd
हाथी	masculine	elephant
आदमी	masculine	man
माला	feminine	garland
दवा	feminine	medicine
हवा	feminine	air, wind

So the endings are guides, not laws. When you learn a noun, learn its gender with it.

How gender changes other words

Adjectives ending in -ा change:

• अच्छा लड़का — a good boy
• अच्छी लड़की — a good girl

Verbs agree too:

• पानी ठंडा है। — The water is cold. (masculine)
• दवा कड़वी है। — The medicine is bitter. (feminine)
• लड़का जा रहा है। — The boy is going.
• लड़की जा रही है। — The girl is going.

Possessives agree with the thing owned:

• मेरा भाई — my brother
• मेरी बहन — my sister

Translating into English

English has no equivalent, so you simply drop the gender:

• मेरी किताब → my book
• मेरा घर → my house

Tips

1. Learn nouns with their adjective, e.g. अच्छी दवा rather than just दवा.
2. Check gender in the dictionary when unsure.
3. Use the adjective test: if -ी sounds right, it's probably feminine.

Look up any word with English Hindi Dictionary →