Gender

Read the following sentences.

     1.   The little boy was crying.

     2.   The little girl jumped up at once.

     3.   I looked in the cupboard.

     4.   My friend is very helpful.

Let’s understand the types of gender from the above mentioned sentences.

Masculine Gender: The names of all male persons or animals are said to be of the Masculine Gender. Example:  man, actor, uncle, hero, king, lion etc. The Noun ‘boy’ in the first sentence is the name of a male. It is therefore, said to be of the Masculine Gender.

Feminine Gender: The names of all female persons or animals are said to be of the Feminine Gender. Example: woman, aunt, daughter, actress, queen, lioness etc. The Noun ‘girl’ in the second sentence is the name of a female. It is, therefore, said to be of the Feminine Gender.

Neuter Gender: Things without life cannot be distinguished either as male or female; hence the names of such things are said to be of the Neuter Gender. Example: house, knife, tree, chair, table, book, ball etc. The Noun ‘cupboard’ in the third sentence is the name of a thing without life. It is, therefore, said to be of the Neuter Gender. Neuter means neither masculine nor feminine.

Common Gender: Names that can be used for both males and females are said to be of the Common Gender. Example: child, parent, student etc. The Noun ‘friend’ in the fourth sentence may mean either a male friend or a female friend. It is, therefore, said to be of Common Gender.

So, there are four types of Genders.

     1.   Masculine Gender

     2.   Feminine Gender

     3.   Neuter Gender

     4.   Common Gender

Masculine Noun to Feminine Noun

Note:

1.   The Pronoun ‘he’ is used for Singular Masculine Noun, ‘she’ is used for Singular Feminine Noun, and ‘it’ is used for Singular Neuter Noun.

2.   The Pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them’ may be used for Masculine, Feminine or Neuter.