The basic forms (Nominative – used as the subject in the sentence) of the male nouns end generally with a consonant, e.g. "student", with some exceptions, e.g. "poeta" (as in Spanish and Italian) and few other forms with different endings.

The basic forms of female nouns end generally with –a, e.g. "szkoła", with some exceptions.

The basic forms of neuter nouns end generally either with –o, e.g. "dziecko", or with –e "ćwiczenie". There are few forms which end with –ę, e.g. "imię". The words of Latin origin in Polish, e.g. "museum", "forum", "centrum" keep their original gender (i.e. neuter).

The basic forms of male adjectives end either with –i (after soft consonants, e.g., tani (cheap), and after -k- and -g-), or with –y. The basic forms of female adjectives have the same ending as the nouns, i.e. –a. The basic forms of neuter adjectives have the ending –e.