Lesson 1: What is Gender?Lesson 2: The Four TypesLesson 3: Forming FemininesLesson 4: Pronouns and Gender
Exercises
Ex 1: Sort the Four GendersEx 2: Royal ReunionEx 3: Match the PairsEx 4: Choose the Feminine (-ess)Ex 5: Compound PairsEx 6: Odd One OutEx 7: Rewrite the SentenceEx 8: Complete the Story
Quiz
Riddle GateFinal Quiz
What is Gender?
Lesson 1 of 4 — The Big Idea
In English, every noun belongs to a gender. Gender tells us whether the noun refers to something male, female, both, or neither.
You already know that nouns name people, places, animals and things. Now we look at something that tells us even more about a noun: its gender.
Look at these four words: king, queen, teacher, desk. Each one belongs to a different gender. A king is male. A queen is female. A teacher can be either. A desk is neither. These are the four genders in English.
There are four genders: Masculine, Feminine, Common and Neuter.
The Four Wings of the Royal Palace
Lesson 2 of 4 — Masculine, Feminine, Common and Neuter
👥Common Hallteacher, student, doctor, parent, child, friend, cousin, author, artist, bakerhe or she
📚Neuter Vaultbook, table, idea, city, river, happiness, knowledge, chair, phone, tree, cloudit
Notice that Common gender nouns name people whose sex is not stated. A teacher could be a man or a woman. A student could be a boy or a girl. We use they or he or she for these.
Neuter gender nouns name things with no sex at all: objects, ideas, feelings, and most plants. We use it for these.
One interesting exception: Ships, countries and the Earth are sometimes called she in older writing and poetry. You may see this in books. It is a poetic choice, not a grammar rule.
How to Form Feminine Nouns
Lesson 3 of 4 — Four methods, many pairs to learn
Many masculine nouns have a matching feminine form. There are four main ways to form them.
Method 1: A completely different word
These have no connection in spelling. You simply must learn them as pairs.
Every gender uses a different pronoun. Get the gender right and the pronoun follows automatically.
When you replace a noun with a pronoun, the gender of the noun decides which pronoun to use.
The king sat on his throne. King = masculine, so we use HE / HIS.
The queen wore her crown. Queen = feminine, so we use SHE / HER.
The teacher read from his or her notes. Teacher = common, so we use THEY / THEIR.
The book had its cover torn. Book = neuter, so we use IT / ITS.
📸 The Pronoun Quick Guide
Masculinehe, him, his
Feminineshe, her, hers
Commonhe or she, him or her
Neuterit, its
🏛 Exercise 1: Sort into the Palace Wings 0/12
Drag each word into its correct gender wing. You can also tap a word then tap the bin.
🤴 Masculine
👸 Feminine
👥 Common
📚 Neuter
🏛 Exercise 2: The Royal Reunion 0/10
Read the story, then type the name of who belongs with the character at the gate. Press Enter or tap Check.
Story 1 of 10
🎯 Exercise 3: Match Masculine and Feminine 0/8
These are all Method 1 pairs: completely different words. Tap one from the left column then one from the right to make a pair.
🤴 Masculine
👸 Feminine
✏️ Exercise 4: Add -ess to make the Feminine 0/8
Each question gives you a masculine noun. Choose the correct feminine form using the -ess method. Watch out for nouns where a vowel is dropped before adding -ess!
🏫 Exercise 5: Compound Gender Pairs 0/6
In compound nouns, one part of the word changes gender. Tap the masculine form on the left, then its feminine match on the right.
🤴 Masculine
👸 Feminine
🚫 Exercise 6: Odd One Out! Gender detective
In each group, three words belong to the same gender and ONE does not. Tap the odd one out.
✏️ Exercise 7: Change the Gender 0/5
Each sentence is written with masculine nouns. Rewrite it using the feminine forms of the highlighted nouns. Change everything that needs to change.
📚 Exercise 8: Complete the Royal Story All types
Read this story set in the Royal Palace and choose the correct word for each blank. Every gender type appears!
🔐
The Quiz Gate
Nine exercises done. One riddle stands between you and the final quiz.