Kasarian ng mga Pangngalan

A couple of years ago I posted a list of common nouns and categorized them according to gender. Upon reviewing that list, I realized that some entries were incorrect for reasons which I will explain in this post. I have revised that list, added more entries, and categorized quite a lot of them. The link to the revised list (a PDF file) is provided below.

A Filipino noun (pangngalan) may be categorized according the natural gender (male or female/lalaki o babae), the uncertainty of gender (male or female), or the lack of gender (nouns for nonliving things or concepts) of the person, animal, object, or idea the noun is pertaining to.

A Filipino noun may be classified as having one of the four genders: masculine gender (panlalaki), feminine gender (pambabae), common gender (pambalaki o di-tiyak), or neuter gender (walang kasarian).

Nouns with masculine gender are used for male persons and animals such as the nouns father/ama and rooster/tandang. Nouns with feminine gender are used for female persons and animals such as the nouns mother/ina and hen/inahin. Nouns with common gender are used for either male or female persons and animals such as the nouns parent/magulang and chicken/manok.

Nouns with masculine, feminine, and common genders are used for people and animals. The nouns with neuter gender are used for nonliving things, living things that are not classified as either male or female (such as trees and plants), and abstract nouns. The Filipino nouns puno, kahoy, bulaklak, and kalikasan are examples of nouns with neuter gender.

Some nouns with masculine gender are paired with their corresponding nouns with feminine gender. A tabular list of such Filipino noun pairs is provided in the PDF file below entitled “Kasarian ng mga Pangngalan sa Filipino.” Several of these Filipino noun pairs originated from the Spanish language.

Note that the noun pairs in this table are gender-specific. This means that Filipino nouns under the column heading “Pangngalang panlalaki” may only be used to refer to male persons (or animals) and those under the column heading “Pangngalang pambabae” may only be used to refer to female persons (or animals).

Filipino nouns such as doktor, senador, alkalde, and arsobispo have common gender; they may be used to refer to either men or women who hold these positions. (There are women in other parts of the world who hold religious occupations such as ministers, bishops, and priests.) So I have classified such nouns under the category pangngalang pambalaki or nouns with common gender.

In my previous list I incorrectly categorized the Filipino nouns arsobispo, obispo, pari and other religious occupations under nouns with masculine gender. Filipino nouns like empleyado, propesor, and eredero were similarly categorized incorrectly under pangngalang panlalaki. These nouns actually have the common gender.

The Filipino nouns doktora, senadora, alkaldesa, empleyada, propesora, and eredera have feminine gender. These nouns are gender-specific; they refer to women (not men) who hold these positions.

Nouns with the neuter gender are nouns used for living and nonliving things that may not be classified as either male or female. Nouns that refer to places and inanimate objects, as well as abstract nouns, have the neuter gender.

The PDF file below has 5 pages. It includes the following:

  1. the discussion on the gender of nouns in Filipino;
  2. a table with the Filipino noun pairs (masculine and feminine) and their English translations;
  3. a list of Filipino nouns with the masculine gender and their English translations; and
  4. a list of Filipino nouns with the feminine gender and their English translations.

Click on the link below to open the file in another tab. If you find an error in the PDF file, please leave a comment below.

Kasarian ng mga Pangngalan

This is available for free, so the least you can do in return is to follow these terms:

  • The PDF file is for personal and classroom use ONLY.
  • You may print and distribute the PDF file to your children or students.
  • You MAY NOT print and distribute the PDF file for profit or use it for any commercial purpose.
  • You MAY NOT upload the PDF file or any part of it in any other website such as (but not limited to) Scribd or SlideShare, or cloud storage sites such as (but not limited to) Google Drive or Dropbox. 

My list of Filipino nouns with common gender will be posted soon. I have categorized these nouns according to different fields. It resulted in a list of occupations, roles, and responsibilities in Filipino.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Kath

    Thank you soo much po, very helpful sa tutorial sessions ko. God Bless

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