1. Noun Gender |
Every noun in Sindhi has gender , either masculine or feminine. In the case of nouns that refer to humans ("boy", "teacher") the gender matches the sex of the human. In the case of nouns that refer to animals, the gender of the noun matches the sex of the animal only if it's known or obvious, otherwise the lexical gender of the noun is used. The lexical gender is arbitrary, and doesn't follow any clear pattern. For example, the Sindhi word for "cat" is bbilii  and is a feminine noun. You would use this word to refer specifically to a female cat, or to a cat whose sex is unknown to you. On the other hand, the Sindhi word for "dog" is kuto  and is a masculine noun which you can use to refer specifically to a male dog or to dog of unknown sex. |
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Even nouns for inanimate objects, place, and abstract things have a gender--masculine or feminine--although the gender is arbitrary and does not relate to the meaning of the word. You must learn the gender of a noun when you learn the noun, as gender is an important feature in the agreement system of Sindhi. |
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| Adjectives must agree with the noun they modify for the gender feature, and the verb typically (though not always) agrees with its subject for gender, too. In the vocabulary introduced in this lesson, you will learn many noun words and their gender. Many of the pronouns are also gender specific, including some of the demonstrative pronouns covered in this lesson. |
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2. Common noun gender patterns in singular and plural |
| Masculine and feminine nouns can most often be identified on the basis of their final vowel. As all words in Sindhi end in a vowel, this is in nearly all cases a reliable way to identify the gender of a noun. Look at the tables below for masculine and feminine nouns to learn how to identify the noun gender from the final vowel in the singular and plural forms. You can also simply memorize the noun gender for each word as you learn it, and the pattern will emerge as your vocabulary increases. |
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 As you practice Sindhi, don't worry in the beginning about making a mistake in the gender of a noun, because in most cases the meaning of the noun will still be clear to the listener, though your mistake may elicit a smile. You'll be more certain about the noun's gender as you gain practice using the noun and hearing others use it. |
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| Masculine nouns commonly occur with the vowel endings -o and -u in the singular , and feminine nouns in singular form commonly end in -a, -aa, -i, or -ii. Nouns with these endings in the singular form their plural by changing the vowel ending as follows: |
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| Masculine |
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Singular |
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Plural |
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-o  |
-aa  |
| chhokiro 'boy' |
chhokiraa 'boys' |
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-u  |
-a  |
| kitaabu 'book' |
kitaaba 'books' |
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