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 Fruits are generally feminine | 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 |
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