Nouns are the names of objects (persons, things or ideas).
Číslo. Number. V češtině jest jednotné a množné číslo.
In Bohemian there is singular and plural number. The old Bohemian had also a third number the dual, used when speaking of two objects. It is now used only in few cases, see [lesson XX].
Rod, Gender. Všechna podstatná jmena v češtině jsou rozdělena ve tři třídy dle mluvnického rodu. A sice v: rod mužský, rod ženský, neb rod střední.
All nouns in Bohemian are divided into three classes, according to their grammatical gender: masculine, feminine or neuter.
(Grammatical gender may differ from the natural gender denoting the sex. Děvče, the girl is neuter although denoting a female being. Inanimate things may belong to any gender e. g. stůl, table is masculine, okno, window is neuter, voda, water is feminine).
It is important to know the gender of nouns, because adjectives, pronouns and participles vary their endings according to the gender of the noun which they modify.
The following rule, which holds good in the majority of cases, will be useful in determining the gender of nouns:
Nouns ending in a hard or neuter consonant are masculine.