I can ask “Kto je to? Čo je to?”, name a person with the masculine or feminine word — študent, študentka — and say a woman's last name correctly: pán Novák — pani Nováková, Anna Petrovová.
Kto je to? Čo je to? Gender from the ending
Kto je to? Čo je to? Gender from the ending
Why: to ask and say who someone is and what something is.
For a person, ask kto: Kto je to? For a thing or a word, čo: Čo je to? The answer is To je … or To nie je … (je can't be left out here either). Toto means “this here”, when you point: Čo je toto?
Every Slovak noun has a gender, and the ending shows it (see the table): masculine ends in a consonant, feminine in -a, neuter in -o. Dievča (girl) and dieťa (child) are neuter, although they end in -a. Some masculine nouns end in -a too; you'll meet them later.
Meno is a first name, priezvisko a last name.
Žena means “woman”; “wife” is a different word, coming in the family module.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Kto je to? — To Lukáš.” → To je Lukáš. (je can't be left out)
• NOT “Čo je to?” about a person → Kto je to?
Gender from the ending
Look at the last letter of the word.
| Gender | Ending | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | ends in a consonant | muž, chlapec, Slovák |
| feminine | ends in -a | žena, Ukrajina |
| neuter | ends in -o | meno, Rusko |
| neuter, although it ends in -a (children) | ends in -a | dievča, dieťa |
Lesson notes
Kto je to? Čo je to? Gender from the ending
Why: to ask and say who someone is and what something is.
For a person, ask kto: Kto je to? For a thing or a word, čo: Čo je to? The answer is To je … or To nie je … (je can't be left out here either). Toto means “this here”, when you point: Čo je toto?
Every Slovak noun has a gender, and the ending shows it (see the table): masculine ends in a consonant, feminine in -a, neuter in -o. Dievča (girl) and dieťa (child) are neuter, although they end in -a. Some masculine nouns end in -a too; you'll meet them later.
Meno is a first name, priezvisko a last name.
Žena means “woman”; “wife” is a different word, coming in the family module.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Kto je to? — To Lukáš.” → To je Lukáš. (je can't be left out)
• NOT “Čo je to?” about a person → Kto je to?
Women: -ka and last names in -ová
Words for people have a feminine form with -ka: študent → študentka, učiteľ → učiteľka; the same with kamarát, priateľ, doktor, šéf, lektor. English “student” and “teacher” fit anyone; for a woman Slovak always uses the feminine word.
A woman's last name ends in -ová: Novák → Nováková. A final -o or -a drops: Šimko → Šimková, Varga → Vargová. Foreign women's names take it too: Petrov → Petrovová.
Pán goes with a man's last name, pani with a woman's: pán Novák, pani Nováková.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “Katarína je učiteľ.” → Katarína je učiteľka.
• NOT “To je pani Baláž.” → To je pani Balážová.
• NOT “Anna Petrov” → Anna Petrovová.