Gender of Nouns: Part I Notes: 1. The written lesson is below. 2. Links to quizzes, tests, etc. are to the left.

A noun is a word used to denote a person, place, thing, or idea. Person: John, girl, dentist Place: garden, university, Venezuela Thing: book, car, tomato Idea: liberty, despair, intelligence

In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. Masculine el chico boy el jardn garden el libro book Feminine la chica girl la universidad university la revista magazine

el miedo fear

la libertad liberty

The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly natural when the noun stands for a living creature. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names, depending upon whether they are male or female.

Masculine man tiger aviator

Feminine woman tigress aviatrix

The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures. el gato male cat la gata female cat el perro male dog

la perra female dog el chico boy la chica girl el abuelo grandfather la abuela grandmother

How are all of these masculine nouns alike? el gato el perro el chico el abuelo Hint: look at both the beginning and the ending of each line.

How are all of these feminine nouns alike? la gata la perra la chica la abuela Hint: look at both the beginning and the ending of each line.

"El" and "la" both mean "the." el chico (the boy) la chica (the girl) el perro (the male dog) la gata (the female cat) Note: These two words (el, la) are called "definite articles." You will learn more about them in a later lesson.

What do you notice about the last letter of these nouns? Masculine gato perro chico abuelo Feminine gata perra chica abuela

Nouns that end in -o are usually masculine. Nouns that end in -a are usually feminine. Notice the word usually! There are exceptions to these two rules and you will soon be learning them.

One cannot predict the gender of a noun that stands for a non-living thing. Try to predict whether the Spanish words for the following things are masculine or feminine: Masculine or feminine? book house money window One cannot predict the gender of a noun, except in the case of living creatures. Do not try to analyze the nature of the object, looking for some inherent masculinity or femininity. It won't work!

Take a guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "dress" is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be feminine, since a dress is an article of clothing worn by females. Actually, the word for "dress" is a masculine word: el vestido

Take another guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "necktie" is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be masculine, since a necktie is an article of clothing worn by males. Actually, the word for "necktie" is a feminine word: la corbata

When you learn a new noun, you should also learn its definite article (el, la). There are several reasons for this:
y y

Because you cannot predict the gender of most nouns. Because not every noun that ends in -o is masculine, and not every noun that ends in -a is feminine. Because many nouns end in letters other than o or a. Because the definite article (el, la) is your clue as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine.

y y

Why do you care whether a noun is masculine or feminine? Good question! As you shall see in upcoming lessons, Spanish places a great deal more emphasis on gender than does English.

Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. There is no neuter gender noun. The typical rules you can lean on and the exceptions you should be aware of are listed here.

Articles
Masculine nouns have the article "el" in singular form and the article "los" in plural. Feminine nouns have the article "la" in singular form and the article "las" in plural. When a plural includes both masculine and feminine elements, the masculine noun is used with the article "los" (for example: parents are "los padres", children are "los nios" or "los hijos").

Feminine nouns
Generally nouns ending in "-a" la fruta, la mesa, la palabra See Masculine for exceptions! Nouns ending in "-dad" / "-tad" / "-tud" y la ciudad, la edad, la universidad

y y

la amistad, la facultad, la libertad la inquietud, la juventud, la virtud

Nouns ending in "-cin" / "-sin" / "-gin" y y y la cancin, la estacin, la leccin la profesin, la televisin, la tensin la legin, la regin, la religin

Nouns ending in "-ez", as long as they refer to abstract nouns formed with suffixes y y y y la rigidez -- rigidity la sensatez -- soberness la validez -- validity la vejez -- old age, oldness

Nouns ending in "-triz" la actriz, la directriz, la emperatriz Nouns ending in "-umbre" la costumbre, la incertidumbre, la legumbre Shortened version of originally feminine nouns y y y y la disco -- la discoteca* la foto -- la fotografa la moto -- la motocicleta la tele -- la televisin

* but when it refers to a disk, it's el disco Nouns referring to women y y la madre -- mother la mujer -- woman, wife

Exceptions

ending in "-d" y la merced -- mercy

y y y

ending in "-e" y la base -- basis

y y y

la pared -- wall la red -- net la salud -- health

la calle -- street la carne -- meat la clase -- class

la sed -- thirst

y y y

la clave -- clue la corriente -- current la fe -- faith la fiebre -- fever la frase -- saying, phrase la fuente -- source la gente -- people (!) la leche -- milk la lente -- lens la llave -- key la mente -- mind la muerte -- death la nieve -- snow la noche -- night, evening la nube -- cloud la sangre -- blood la sede -- headquarters la serpiente -- snake la suerte -- fate, luck la tarde -- afternoon la torre -- tower

ending in "-z" y la cruz -- cross

y y y y y y y y

la faz -- face
y

la luz -- light
y

la nariz -- nose
y

la nuez -- nut
y

la paz -- peace
y

la raz -- root
y

la vez -- time, turn

y

la voz -- voice
y

other
y y y y y y y y y

la filial -- affiliate la flor -- flower la imagen -- image la ley -- law la mano -- hand la miel -- honey la piel -- skin la sal -- salt la tribu -- tribe

y y y y y y y y y y

Masculine
In broad generality, all nouns not fitting into the above categories and exceptions - plus the following. Nouns of Greek origin, ending in "-ma" / "-ta" / "-pa" y y y el clima, el programa, el tema el cometa, el planeta (but to confuse you: la dieta :-)) el mapa

Exceptions y el da (el medioda) -- day, daytime (noon)

y y y y y

el gorila -- gorilla el pijama -- pajamas el sof -- sofa el tranva -- tram, streetcar el yoga -- yoga

Different gender, different meaning

Some words can be used as either feminine or masculine but this will change their meaning. Some examples:

capital clera coma corte cura final frente orden papa parte pendiente pez

masculine capital cholera coma cut priest ending front order pope message, report earring fish

feminine capital city bile, anger comma court cure sports final forehead decree, holy order potato part, portion slope, hillside tar, pitch

Different gender, same meaning

ertain nouns, usually referring to people, can be used in the same meaning as either feminine or

masculine, depending on who you refer to. y y y y y y y y y nouns ending in "-ista" (artista, florista, jurista) nouns ending in "-crata" (aristcrata, tecncrata) amante -- lover cliente -- client gua -- guide idiota -- idiot modelo -- model soprano testigo -- witness

Feminine nouns with the article "el"

When a feminine noun begins with a stressed "a-" or "ha-" syllable, its singular form will have an "el" instead of "la" (and "un" instead of "una" as an indefinite article). In plural, it's back to normal. y y el agua, el alma, el asma el habla, el hada, el hambre*

* doubly irregular: a noun ending in "-e" with the article "el" - and still feminine :-)