Nouns are either masculine of femenine in Spanish. Sometimes to identify the gender in these nouns is not that obvious and the ending is an indication of grammatical gender. Most nouns ending in –a are femenine and most ending in –o are masculine. Besides, the masculine article el and the femenine article la are placed […]
Besides , the masculine article el and the femenine article la are placed before the nouns to indicate the gender. El and la are equivalent in English to the definite article the. Learn more about Spanish nouns.
Spanish nouns – MASCULINE NOUNS AND THEIR ENDINGS
The following endings generally indicate the masculine:
- Male beings ending –o :
El cartero mailman el general general
El hombre man el profesor teacher/professor
- Referring to animals, things or ideas ending in –o :
El año year el queso cheese
El caballo horse el zapato shoe
- Some nouns that end in –a are masculine with endings –ía, -ma, -ama,
-ema and –oma :
El día day el dilema dilemma
El anagrama anagram el idioma language
El aroma fragance el poema poem
El clima climate el problema problem
- Nouns woth endings –ambre and –aje :
El calambre cramp el alambre wire
El equipaje luggage el paisaje landscape
El montaje setting el personaje character
- Nouns with endings –or and –án :
El amor love el refrán proverb
El calor heat el rencor hate
FEMININE NOUNS AND THEIR ENDINGS IN SPANISH
The following endings generally identify feminine nouns:
- Female beings end in –a :
La enfermera nurse la profesora professor
La hija daughter la yegua mare
- All other nouns ending –a :
La cocina kitchen la p elota ball
La guitarra guitar la piscina pool
- Nouns with endings –ción and –sión :
La canción song la dirección direction, address
La división division la estación station, season
- Nouns with endings -dad and –tad (in English ending –ty ):
La dificultad difficulty la dignidad dignity
La ciudad city la libertad liberty
- Nouns with endings –ie, -eza, -sis and –itis :
La crisis crisis la serie serie
La dermatitis dermatitis la tesis thesis
La especie species la tristeza sadness
- Most abstract ideas that end in –tud and –umbre :
La costumbre tradition la esclavitud slavery
La cumbre summit, mountaintop la virtud virtue
OTHER ENDINGS THAT MAY BE EITHER MASCULINE OF FEMENINE
Some nouns do not fit into any of the previous groups:
- Nouns ending in –e or in consonant that may be either feminine or masculine:
El cine movies la clas e class
El examen exam la cruz cross
- Nouns of professions ending –a, -ante, -e or –ista that may be either feminine or masculine:
El/la atleta athlete el/la periodista journalist
- Nouns of professions, people or some animals that end in –és, -n, -ón and –or are masculine. They add –a to create femenine form:
El campeón/la campeona champion
El director/la directora principal
El león/la leona lion
- Some nouns are spelled the same for the masculine and femenine and only the article changes:
El joven/la joven young man/woman
El modelo/la modelo male/female model
- Nouns referring to people change both the ending and the article:
El muchacho/la muchacha boy/girl
El niño/la niña boy/girl child
- Feminine nouns that begin with a stressed a- or ha- take a masculine article for purposes of pronunciation:
El agua water el aula classroom
El alma soul el hambre hunger
OTHER MASCULINE NOUNS
- Days of the week and months of the year
- Colors
- Infinitive used as nouns
- Rivers, seas and oceans (except islands which are femenine)
- Many trees
- Languages
Some nouns referring to people or animals may have different forms for the masculine and femenine:
El actor/la actriz actor/actress
El caballo/la yegua horse/mare
El conde/la condesa count/countess
El heroe/la heroína heroe/heroine
Some nouns have different meaning if used with the masculine or the femenine article:
El capital/la capital capital (money)/capital (city)
El cometa/la cometa comet/kite
El corte/la corte cut/court
El cura/la cura priest/cure
Next post, let´s see how to form singular and plural in spanish.
