# All Slavic languages: Neutral gender



## shush

Hi all,
I was wondering if the Slavic languages have a neuter gender like english or are they like french with just 2 genders. Also, do the adjectives need to agree with the noun in terms of gender and number? And are there differences within the various Slavic languages in these regards?
I have often wondered about this dichotomy. I am from India and coincidentally, the main language spoken in North India has just 2 genders whereas the Dravidan languages of South India have a neuter gender!
Thanks


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## Jana337

Hi Shush, welcome to the Slavic forum! 

I hope that other speakers of Slavic languages can confirm that all of them have a neutral gender. Nouns and adjectives have to agree. I would be surprised to hear the opposite from someone, but let's see... 

Jana


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## shush

When I asked if the adjectives and the noun need to agree, i meant if the adjectives change their form with the nouns they qualify. For eg. it is a beautiful boy, a beautiful girl, beautiful boys and beautiful girls in english. But in french we have the bon jour, bonne journee etc. What happens in Slavic languages?


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## Jana337

shush said:
			
		

> When I asked if the adjectives and the noun need to agree, i meant if the adjectives change their form with the nouns they qualify. For eg. it is a beautiful boy, a beautiful girl, beautiful boys and beautiful girls in english. But in french we have the bon jour, bonne journee etc. What happens in Slavic languages?


Like in French (with more genders):
sing.
m: hezký chlapec (beautiful boy), hezký obraz (painting)
f: hezká dívka (beautiful girl)
g: hezké město (beautiful city)
pl.
hezcí chlapci, hezké obrazy
hezké dívky
hezká města

As you see, it is even more complicated in the Slavic languages (well, at least in Czech) because in the masculine gender the distinction between animate and inanimate nouns can come into the picture. Moreover, there are a few exceptions in the neutral gender (like beautiful child - hezké dítě, plural hezké děti).

Do not hesitate to ask other questions. 

Jana


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## Breogan

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Moreover, there are a few exceptions in the neutral gender (like beautiful child - hezké dítě, plural hezké děti).



Very interesting, just the same with "Das Kind" in German.

Btw I have read Polish have the three genders as well.


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## al-sirbi

shush said:
			
		

> Hi all,
> I was wondering if the Slavic languages have a neuter gender like english or are they like french with just 2 genders. Also, do the adjectives need to agree with the noun in terms of gender and number? And are there differences within the various Slavic languages in these regards?
> I have often wondered about this dichotomy. I am from India and coincidentally, the main language spoken in North India has just 2 genders whereas the Dravidan languages of South India have a neuter gender!
> Thanks



Serbian has neuter gender
eg.
a beautiful boy  - masc. ЛЕП дечак /LEP dechak/
a beautiful girl   - fem.   ЛЕП*А* девојка /LEP*A* devoyka/
a beautiful child - neut.  ЛЕП*О* дете /LEP*O* dete/


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## Tchesko

Breogan said:
			
		

> Very interesting, just the same with "Das Kind" in German.


 
Not really - in German, the plural always goes with "die", whatever the gender, whereas In Czech, this is a real exception: "dítě" (a child) is neuter but its plural, "děti" (children), is actually feminine (and its declension follows the feminine paradigm "kost"). I cannot find any other example in Czech where this phenomenon occurs; in French, there are 3 words that are masculine in singular but feminine in plural.

Roman


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## Outsider

shush said:
			
		

> When I asked if the adjectives and the noun need to agree, i meant if the adjectives change their form with the nouns they qualify. For eg. it is a beautiful boy, a beautiful girl, beautiful boys and beautiful girls in english. But in french we have the bon jour, bonne journee etc.


I believe that happens in all languages with genders. The fact that it doesn't in English is the reason why it's sometimes said that English does not have grammatical gender. (More precisely, gender is only vestigial in English.)


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## .Jordi.

Breogan said:


> Btw I have read Polish have the three genders as well.


Yes, just like in Czech (female, neut. and masculine [animated and inanimated]).


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## skye

I can confirm that Slovenian also has three genders. Nouns of the neutral gender usually end in -o or -e.

Adjectives and nouns need to agree in terms of gender, case and number.


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