The gender of Spanish nouns: masculine and feminine
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The general rule states that all Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine.
Words ending in -o are generally masculine, while ones ending in -a are generally feminine. The articles which accompany a masculine noun are el (definite) / uno (indefinite), while the feminine ones are la (definite) / una (indefinite).
Masculine nouns ending in -o | Feminine nouns ending in -a |
---|---|
|
|
Usually words with the following endings are masculine:
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Besides, nouns that designate male beings generally end in -o.
Examples:
However, nouns that designate male beings may have other endings:
Examples:
Although nouns ending in -a are mostly feminine, some of them are masculine.
Note that nouns ending in -ía, -ma, -ama, -ema, -oma have similar spelling and meaning in both English and Spanish.
Endings | Examples |
---|---|
-ía | El día (day) |
-ma | El clima (weather, climate) |
-ama | El programa (programme) |
-ema | El problema (problem) |
-oma | El idioma (language) |
Endings | Examples |
---|---|
-ambre | El hambre (hunger) |
-aje | El lenguaje (language) |
Endings | Examples |
---|---|
-or | El amor (love) |
-án | El refrán (proverb) |
Certain groups of nouns are masculine.
Noun groups | Examples | English translation |
---|---|---|
Days of weeks / months of the year | El lunes me voy a la universidad. Éste ha sido un octubre lleno de sorpresas. | On Monday I'm going to university. This has been an October full of surprises. |
Compound nouns | El paraguas El lavavajillas | Umbrella Dishwasher |
Colours | El azul El amarillo | Blue Yellow |
Infinitives as nouns | El hacer ejercicio es muy recomendable. | Working out is advisable. |
Rivers / seas / oceans | El río Támesis está en Londres. | The Thames River is in London. |
Trees
| El naranjo
La naranja | Orange tree
Orange |
Usually words with the following endings are feminine:
Besides, nouns which designate female beings generally end in -a.
Examples:
However, nouns that designate female beings may have other endings:
Example:
La mujer (woman)
Although nouns ending in -o are mostly masculine, some of them are feminine. Except for mano, most of them are abbreviations of compound nouns.
Examples:
Endings | Examples |
---|---|
-dad | La calidad (quality) |
-tad | La amistad (friendship) |
Endings | Examples |
---|---|
-ción | La calefacción (heating) |
-sión | La decisión (decision) |
Endings | Examples |
---|---|
-ie | La serie (serie) |
-eza | La naturaleza (nature) |
-sis | La crisis (crisis) |
-itis | La laringitis (laryngitis) |
Endings | Examples |
---|---|
-tud | La virtud (virtue) |
-umbre | La certidumbre (certainty) |
Endings | Use | Example |
---|---|---|
-e | using for both masculine and feminine nouns | El examen (exam) La clase (class)
|
-a -ante -e -ista | using for both masculine and feminine nouns designating individuals and professions
| El/La atleta (athlete) El/La cantante (singer) El/La intérprete (interpreter) El/la dentista (dentist) |
-és -ón -or < -a | using for professions, animals, people
| El inglés/La inglesa (Englishman/Englishwoman) El campeón/La campeona (champion) El profesor/La profesora (professor)
|
/ | invariable nouns: the article does not change | El ángel (angel) La victima (victim) |
/ | invariable nouns: the article identify the gender | El/La turista (tourist) El/La joven (young man/youngwoman) |
Feminine nouns which begin with a stressed -a or -ha take the masculine definite article in their singular form.
Examples:
The following goup of nouns include some common words:
Masculine form | Femnine form |
---|---|
El actor (actor) | La actriz (actress) |
El padre (father) | La madre (mother) |
El marido / esposo (husband) | La esposa (wife) |
El padre (father) | La madre (mother) |
El príncipe (prince) | La princesa (princess) |
El héroe (hero) | La heroína (heroine) |
El rey (king) | La reína (queen) |
Masculine form | Feminine form |
---|---|
El capital - capital (money) | La capital - city |
El corte - cut | La corte - court |
El cura - priest | La cura - cure |
El editorial - newspaper editorial | La editorial - publishing house |
El frente - front | La frente - forehead |
El guía - guide | La guía - female guide, telephone guide, guidebook |
El policía - police officer | La policía - the police force |
Fill in the missing definite articles.
1- exposición (exposition, exhibit)
2- hombre (man)
3- costumbre (habit)
4- ambientalista (environmentalist)
5- blanco (white)
6- cantidad (quantity)
7- madre (mother)
8- amor (love)
9- capital (capital city)
10- problema (problem)
El bolígraf__ (pen)
-o
-a
La certid___ (certainty)
-umbre
-ambre
El agu__ (water)
-o
-a
La profes__ (professor)
-or
-ora
El maestr__ (teacher)
-o
-a
La man__ (hand)
-a
-o
La educa___ (education)
-ción
-cián
El carter__ (mailman)
-a
-o
El lengu___ (language)
-aje
-eza
El idi___ (langauge)
-omo
-oma
El bolígraf__ (pen)
-o
La certid___ (certainty)
-umbre
El agu__ (water)
-a
La profes__ (professor)
-or
El maestr__ (teacher)
-o
La man__ (hand)
-o
La educa___ (education)
-ción
El carter__ (mailman)
-o
El lengu___ (language)
-aje
El idi___ (langauge)
-oma
Fill in the missing definite articles.
1- exposición (exposition, exhibit)
2- hombre (man)
3- costumbre (habit)
4- ambientalista (environmentalist)
5- blanco (white)
6- cantidad (quantity)
7- madre (mother)
8- amor (love)
9- capital (capital city)
10- problema (problem)
El bolígraf__ (pen)
-a
-o
La certid___ (certainty)
-umbre
-ambre
El agu__ (water)
-a
-o
La profes__ (professor)
-or
-ora
El maestr__ (teacher)
-a
-o
La man__ (hand)
-a
-o
La educa___ (education)
-ción
-cián
El carter__ (mailman)
-a
-o
El lengu___ (language)
-aje
-eza
El idi___ (langauge)
-oma
-omo
El bolígraf__ (pen)
-o
La certid___ (certainty)
-umbre
El agu__ (water)
-a
La profes__ (professor)
-or
El maestr__ (teacher)
-o
La man__ (hand)
-o
La educa___ (education)
-ción
El carter__ (mailman)
-o
El lengu___ (language)
-aje
El idi___ (langauge)
-oma
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This review was written by a coLanguage team member during a manual screening of this teacher profile.
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I have helped people prepare for presentations, negotiations, examinations and conducted workshops to assist in how to optimise written and audio communication and informal conversation "small talk".
My methodology depends on you and how you feel you can best learn. For that I would greatly appreciate your input. There are many different learning styles and we have a good forum to use many of them.
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