Spanish Word Gender
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Spanish Word Gender
In Spanish every noun is either masculine or feminine.
Nouns that end in –o are usually masculine.
Spanish masculine nouns
chico = boy gato = cat zapato = shoe
Of course there will always be exceptions!
la mano = the hand
although mano ends in ‘o’ this is a feminine noun
Nouns that end in –a are usually feminine.
Spanish feminine nouns
chica = girl gata = cat luna = moon
Exceptions for nouns ending in ‘a’
There is a small group of words that come from the Greek language that end with –ma, -pa or –ta and these words are
masculine.
el problema = the problemel tema = the theme
el sistema = the systemel mapa = the mapel poeta = the poet
el planeta = the planetel clima = the climate, the weather
Other common exceptions are …
el día – the day, daytimeel mediodía – noonel gorila – the gorillael pijama – pajamas
el sofá – sofa
What are articles?
The English definite article is ‘the’.
The English indefinite articles are ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘some’.
There are more articles in Spanish than there are in English:
There are the definite articles ‘el’, ‘la’, ‘los’ and ‘las’ – all meaning ‘the’.
and the indefinite articles ‘unas’ and ‘unos’ meaning ‘some’.
In Spanish, masculine nouns go with the masculine articles and feminine nouns go with feminine articles.
Nouns with their articlesMasculine nouns go with masculine articles
the man: el hombrea man: un hombre
Feminine nouns go with feminine articles
the woman: la mujera woman: una mujer
Your turn …. change ‘the’ to ‘a’ – make sure that you use the right gender, masculine or feminine.
Eg. el hombre un hombre
la señorita (the young lady) ____ señorita (a young lady)el chico (the boy) ____ chico (a boy)
la mesa (the table) ____ mesa (a table)
Nouns can have number as well as gender, that means they can be singular or plural
If you want to make a noun plural: just add an -s if the noun ends in a vowel,
or add an -es if the noun ends in a consonant
mujer = woman mujeres = womenhombre = man hombres = men
Change these nouns from singular to masculine.
Eg. mesa (table) mesas (tables)
libro (book) _______ (books)mujer (woman) _______ (women)
hombre (man) _______ (men)pared (wall) ______ (walls)
The articles: can also be pluralthe (pl) and some
Singular nouns go with singular articles, plural nouns go with plural articles
the man: el hombrethe men: los hombres
some men: unos hombres
the woman: la mujerthe women: las mujeres
some women: unas mujeres
Fill the gaps with the appropriate plural article
Eg. The men. Los hombres Some men. Unos hombres.
• The children. ____ niños.• Some children. ____ niños.• The girls. ____ chicas.• Some girls. ____ chicas.• The books. ____ libros.• Some books. ____ libros.• The tables. ____ mesas.• Some tables. ____ mesas.
Adjectives too can have gender and number
gordo = fat (masculine singular)gordos = fat (masculine plural)
El chico gordo. (The fat boy.) La chica gorda. (The fat girl.)
gorda = fat (feminine singular)gordas = fat (feminine plural)
Adjectives match the noun they describe in gender & number
El hombre gordo. = The fat man.Los hombres gordos. = The fat men.
La mujer gorda. = The fat woman.Las mujeres gordas. = The fat women.
What about nouns that don’t end in o or a?
Here are some general rules …..Nouns ending in -dad / -tad / -tud are normally feminine
la ciudad = the cityla edad = the age
la universidad = the university
Can you make those nouns plural?
la ciudad = the cityla edad = the age
la universidad = the university
hmmmm….
Did you say? ….
las ciudades = the citieslas edades = the ages
la universidades = the universities
Then you would be quite right!
But back to nouns that don’t end in –a or –o
• Nouns that end in –cion / -sión / -gion are usually feminine
la canción = the songla estación = the stationla lección = the lesson
… so are nouns that refer to women:
la madre – motherla mujer – woman, wife
la chica – the girlla hija – the daughter
la tía – the auntla abuela – the grandma
Abstract nouns ending in –ez are also usually feminine
rigidez – rigidityla sensatez – soberness
la validez – validityla vejez - old age, oldness
So are nouns ending –triz
la actriz – the actressla directriz – the directive
la emperatriz – the empress
More feminine nounsNouns ending in –umbre
la costumbre (habit, custom)la incertidumbre (uncertainty, doubt)
la legumbre (legume)
Nouns that are feminine in their full form stay feminine even when shortened:
la disco* – la discotecala foto – la fotografía
la moto – la motocicletala tele – la televisión
*(but when referring to a disk it’s el disco, masc)
Some nouns are feminine but are used with the masculine singular article
Agua is still really feminine noun, but to make it easier to say, it borrows the masculine singular article ‘el’.
For the plural form it goes back to using the feminine plural articles ‘las’ or ‘unas’ as usual.
el agua (water)las aguas (the waters), unas aguas (some waters)
Nouns with a stressed ‘a’ or ‘ha’ syllable at the beginning
In their singular form these nouns borrow the masculine singular pronouns "el” and "un" .
el asma (asthma), el habla (speech), el hada (fairy), el hambre (hunger)
But in their plural forms, it's back to normal with the feminine articles ….
el alma (soul) las almas (souls)
Masculine Noun EndingsMost nouns that end in –r, -l, -s and –n will be masculine.
Other endings that can indicate a masculine noun include …. – ambre and –aje
el alambre = wireel enjambre = swarm of bees
el equipaje = luggageel paisaje = landscape
More masculine noun endings
Nouns that end in –or or –án are usually masculine as are those that end in a stressed
vowel (í, ú etc).
el amor = loveel calor = heat
el sudor = sweatel champú = shampoo
Some nouns have different meanings depending on which article you with them.
el capital = capital la capital = capital cityel cólera = cholera la cólera = anger, bileel coma = coma la coma = commael corte = cut la corte = courtel cura = priest la cura = cureel final = ending la final = sports finalel frente = front la frente = foreheadel papa = the pope la papa = potatoel pendiente = earring la pendiente = slope, hillsideel pez = fish la pez = tar, pitch
Nouns that refer to peopleSome nouns referring to people don’t change their endings but used with the
feminine article they refer to a female and with the masculine article they refer to a male.
la modelo = the model el modelo = the model
A number of these nouns end in –ista or –crata.
un/una amante = a lover un/una guía = a (tour) guide el/la idiota = the idiot, el/la testigo = the witness
el/la artista = artist el/la florista = florist el/la aristócrata = aristocrat
Would you like to see what you can remember?
Name the Spanish singular masculine article that means ‘the’: elGood, now how about the feminine one that also means ‘the’? la
What are the plural forms of ‘el’ and ‘la’? los and lasExcellent, now can you tell me the two Spanish words for ‘some’? unos or unas
You’ve got it, now lets test those noun endings, are these nouns masculine or feminine?: alambre? masculine because it has the –ambre ending
lección? feminine because it has the -ción ending.
Great, now to finish up, what’s special about ‘agua’ (water) in its singular form? It borrows the masculine articles to make it easier to pronounce. Exactly!
And what’s different about ‘mano’ (hand)? It ends in ‘o’ but it’s a feminine noun, la mano.
Top work – ¡bien hecho! I think you’re ready to move on to the next subject!
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