The Three Genders | Greek Grammar

Every noun in Greek belongs to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. This is one of the first big adjustments for an English speaker, because English nouns have no gender at all — a "book," a "street," and a "child" are all just the. In Greek, each of those words carries a gender that you have to know, because it decides the shape of the little words around it: the article, any adjective, and any pronoun that refers back to it. Get the gender right and the whole sentence agrees; get it wrong and everything downstream is wrong too.

The article is the giveaway

The clearest sign of a noun's gender is the word for "the" in front of it. Greek has three:

ο (masculine) — ο δρόμος (the street)
η (feminine) — η ώρα (the hour)
το (neuter) — το βιβλίο (the book)

Ο δρόμος είναι κλειστός.

o dhrómos íne klistós

The street is closed.

Η ώρα είναι τρεις.

i óra íne tris

It's three o'clock.

Το βιβλίο είναι στο τραπέζι.

to vivlío íne sto trapézi

The book is on the table.

💡

The single most useful habit you can build in Greek: never learn a noun by itself — learn it with its article. Store "ο δρόμος," not "δρόμος." The article is the gender label, and if you memorize them together from day one you will save yourself a thousand corrections later. Flashcards without the article are half-finished.

Ending clues that usually work

You are not left guessing blindly — the ending of a noun points strongly to its gender. These are the three big patterns to start with (the reliability details, with exceptions, are on Predicting gender from endings):

Ending	Usual gender	Article	Example
-ος	masculine	ο	ο δρόμος (street), ο άνθρωπος (person)
-α	feminine	η	η ώρα (hour), η μέρα (day)
-η	feminine	η	η νίκη (victory), η αγάπη (love)
-ο	neuter	το	το βιβλίο (book), το δώρο (gift)
-ι	neuter	το	το παιδί (child), το σπίτι (house)
-μα	neuter	το	το όνομα (name), το γράμμα (letter)

Πού είναι το παιδί;

pu íne to pedhí

Where is the child?

Ξέρεις το όνομά της;

kséris to ónomá tis

Do you know her name?

"A / an" shows gender too

The definite article is not the only gender flag — the word for "a/an" changes with gender as well. Greek has three forms of the indefinite article, and they double as the word for "one":

ένας (masculine) — ένας φίλος (a friend)
μία / μια (feminine) — μία ώρα (an hour)
ένα (neuter) — ένα βιβλίο (a book)

Θέλω έναν καφέ, παρακαλώ.

thélo énan kafé, parakaló

I'd like a coffee, please.

Έχω μία ερώτηση.

ého mía erótisi

I have a question.

So a noun carries its gender through both articles at once: ο/ένας δρόμος, η/μία ώρα, το/ένα βιβλίο. (In the masculine, notice ένας becomes έναν before the noun as an object — the same movable -ν you meet elsewhere.)

Gender is grammatical, not biological

Here is the point that surprises every learner: gender in Greek is a property of the word, not of the thing in the world. It often lines up with biological sex for people (ο άντρας "the man" is masculine, η γυναίκα "the woman" is feminine) — but not always. The words for "girl" and "boy" are both neuter, because they end in the neuter diminutive -ι:

Το κορίτσι παίζει στην αυλή.

to korítsi pézi stin avlí

The girl is playing in the yard.

Το αγόρι τρώει ένα μήλο.

to aghóri trói éna mílo

The boy is eating an apple.

Yes — το κορίτσι, το αγόρι. It feels strange coming from English, but the ending wins: an -ι word is neuter, whatever it names. So resist the urge to reason "a girl is female, so it must be feminine." In Greek, the grammar is decided by the shape of the word.

Why gender matters: everything must agree

Gender is not just a label sitting on the noun — it spreads to the words that go with it. An adjective changes its ending to match its noun, and a pronoun changes to match what it refers to. This is called agreement, and it is the whole reason you must know a noun's gender (the full rules are on Adjective–noun agreement).

Watch the adjective "tall" change shape to match:

Ο αδερφός μου είναι ψηλός.

o adherfós mu íne psilós

My brother is tall.

Η αδερφή μου είναι ψηλή.

i adherfí mu íne psilí

My sister is tall.

Το παιδί είναι ψηλό.

to pedhí íne psiló

The child is tall.

The same word — ψηλός / ψηλή / ψηλό — takes three endings, chosen entirely by the gender of the noun it describes. Pronouns do the same: αυτός (he), αυτή (she), αυτό (it).

Αυτός είναι ο φίλος μου κι αυτή είναι η φίλη μου.

aftós íne o fílos mu ki aftí íne i fíli mu

This is my (male) friend and this is my (female) friend.

The English-speaker challenge

Because English has no grammatical gender, you have nothing to transfer — every gender is new information you must attach to the word and carry with it forever. Two habits make this manageable:

Always store the article (ο / η / το) with the noun, as said above.
Trust the endings, but expect a few traps. The clues are strong, not perfect. The classic beginner trap is η οδός ("street/avenue"): it ends in -ος and looks masculine, but it is feminine.

Μένω στην οδό Ερμού.

méno stin odhó ermú

I live on Ermou Street.

A short list of these deceptive words exists, and they are worth memorizing early precisely because they break the strongest rule you have.

Common Mistakes

1. Guessing the article instead of learning it. A masculine noun cannot take η.

❌ η δρόμος

Incorrect — δρόμος is masculine, so ο δρόμος.

✅ ο δρόμος

o dhrómos

the street

2. Giving a person their "natural" gender against the ending. -ι words are neuter, even for people.

❌ η κορίτσι

Incorrect — κορίτσι ends in -ι and is neuter: το κορίτσι.

✅ το κορίτσι

to korítsi

the girl

3. Mismatching the article to the noun's real gender. ώρα is feminine; it needs η.

❌ Ο ώρα είναι έξι.

Incorrect — ώρα is feminine: η ώρα.

✅ Η ώρα είναι έξι.

i óra íne éksi

It's six o'clock.

4. Assuming every -ος word is masculine. A small set of -ος nouns are feminine.

❌ ο οδός

Incorrect — οδός is one of the feminine -ος words: η οδός.

✅ η οδός

i odhós

the street / avenue

Key Takeaways

Every Greek noun is masculine (ο), feminine (η), or neuter (το) — learn the noun with its article.
Strong ending clues: -ος → masculine, -α / -η → feminine, -ο / -ι / -μα → neuter.
Gender is grammatical, not biological: το κορίτσι (girl) and το αγόρι (boy) are neuter.
Gender spreads through agreement — the article, adjectives, and pronouns all change to match — which is why knowing it is not optional.
Expect a few traps, above all η οδός, which looks masculine but is feminine.

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