Gender in Telugu: Masculine and Non-Masculine

Telugu does not divide nouns into masculine, feminine and neuter the way many European languages do.

The basic split

Telugu separates:

• Masculine (పుంలింగం): males, such as అబ్బాయి (boy) and అతను (he)
• Non-masculine: women, animals and objects, such as అమ్మాయి (girl), ఆమె (she) and పుస్తకం (book)

In the singular, a woman is grouped with non-masculine things for verb agreement.

Plural: people and non-people

In the plural, Telugu separates:

• People (వారు): men and women together
• Non-people (అవి): animals, objects and ideas

Pronouns

Singular	Telugu
he	అతను
she	ఆమె
it	అది

Plural	Telugu
they (people)	వారు
they (things)	అవి

Verb endings

Verb endings change with the subject:

Subject	Ending (past of చేయి)
నేను	చేశాను
అతను	చేశాడు
ఆమె	చేసింది
అది	చేసింది
వారు	చేశారు

Notice that ఆమె and అది take the same ending చేసింది.

Pairs of nouns

• అబ్బాయి (boy) and అమ్మాయి (girl)
• కొడుకు (son) and కూతురు (daughter)
• రాజు (king) and రాణి (queen)

Why it is simpler than it looks

You rarely need to memorise a gender for each noun. For objects, the verb simply takes the non-masculine ending.

Tips

1. Remember two groups, not three.
2. Learn pronouns and endings together.
3. Use the dictionary to check forms.

Look up any Telugu word with English Telugu Dictionary →