Key Takeaways: Spanish Noun Gender
- Nouns ending in -a, -ción, -ía, or -dad are usually feminine.
- Nouns ending in -o, an accented vowel, -or, or -aje are usually masculine.
- Names of rivers, lakes, and oceans are usually masculine; names of mountains are usually feminine.
Are adjectives that end in a feminine in Spanish?
Ending in an a indicates that a person or animal is female or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically feminine. Nouns that end in in d, z, or -ión are also feminine. The following nouns are exceptions to the above rules and are masculine, not feminine. Spanish adjectives must match the nouns they describe in both gender and number.
Are most Spanish nouns masculine or feminine?
Most Spanish nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most ending in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions. Some of the exceptions occur because of how the words were treated in other languages, such as Latin and Greek. Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to.
What are the basic rules for the gender of Spanish nouns?
The basic rules for the gender of Spanish nouns. Masculine words usually end in the vowels E or O like PADRE and MAESTRO, whereas feminine words end with the vowel A such as HERMANA and CASA. The picture below introduces some examples of common masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish. El género de los sustantivos en español.
Are nouns that end in a masculine or feminine?
The following nouns are exceptions to the above rules and are feminine, not masculine. Most feminine nouns end in a. Ending in an a indicates that a person or animal is female or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically feminine. Nouns that end in in d, z, or -ión are also feminine.
What do feminine words end in Spanish?
-A-A, -ión, -dad, -tad and -tud are all endings for feminine words. One ending with a final -a, -ista, can be used on words for male or female people, and is both masculine and feminine. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules.
Is the ending feminine in Spanish?
Most Spanish nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most ending in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions.
Do feminine words end in E in Spanish?
And some common feminine nouns that end in "e" are la carne, la calle, la clase, la frase, la leche, la noche, and la sangre.
Are Spanish words ending in Z masculine or feminine?
In Spanish nouns that end in -z can be either masculine or feminine, but nouns that end in -ez are always feminine (however, there are a couple of exceptions). They tend to be abstract words. Have a look at some of the most common nouns ending in -ez: La niñez debe ser una época feliz para todo el mundo.
What is the rule for masculine and feminine in Spanish?
Key Takeaways: Spanish Noun Gender The most well-known rule or guideline is that nouns ending in -o are masculine and those ending in -a are feminine, but there are numerous exceptions to this gender rule, especially for those ending in -a. Some of the exceptions are listed below.
What makes a word feminine in Spanish?
Feminine. The feminine (femenino): As a general rule, nouns ending in -a (casa 'house', boca 'mouth') and nouns which refer to females (madre 'mother', mujer 'woman, wife') are feminine. Similarly, the endings -ción, -sión, -dad, -tad, and -umbre indicate feminine gender.
How do you know if a word is El or la?
Definite Articles for Nouns In most cases, el is used for masculine nouns and la is used for feminine nouns. Another rule supersedes this, and that is when the feminine noun is singular and starts with a stressed a- or ha- sound, like the words agua, meaning water, or hambre, meaning hunger.
Why is leche a feminine noun?
just it is female. Just remember this: when a word ends in "a" is suposed to be female. And when a word ends with "o", male but with "e" sometimes it changes.
Is it el or la mano?
In general, most nouns that end with "O" are masculine, so the article is el. But not all of them. Mano just happens to be an exception. It is feminine, despite the "O" ending, so the article is la.
Is AMA masculine or feminine?
feminineAma is an Akan feminine given name originating from the Akan people following their day naming system, meaning "born on Saturday".
Why is the couch not la couch?
"Ends in a -- feminine/ends in o -- masculine" While that is a fairly accurate rule, note that there are wayyyyyy too many exceptions to that rule. El sofá is one of them.
What Spanish nouns end in Z?
Spanish words that end in zatrozatrocious; appalling; tremendous; enormous; hugecapazcapable; able; competent; having room or capacity; capacious; roomy; capableeficazefficient; efficacious; effective; effectualfalazfalse; deceitful; deceptive; fallaciousfelizhappy; fortunate; good; felicitous21 more rows•Feb 12, 2007
Is the ending es masculine or feminine?
Add “es” at the end of singular nouns that end with a consonant, the letter “y” or a stressed vowel (á, í, ó, ú), except “é”. A few examples: The briefcase: El maletín (singular) – Los maletines (plural) The station:La estación (singular) – Las estaciones (plural)
How do you know if a word is feminine or masculine?
How do I know whether a word is masculine or feminine?If a noun refers to a male person it will be masculine, if it refers to a female person it will be feminine.Nouns with these endings will (generally) be masculine: -age. -ment. -il, -ail, -eil, -ueil. ... Nouns with these endings will (generally) be feminine:
Is Pupitre El or la?
What does “el pupitre” mean in Spanish? – Quora. It means “the desk”. And you use “el” instead of “la” because the gender of the word is male.
Is Los masculine or feminine?
Spanish Definite Articles: El, Las, Lo, Del, AlNoun GenderSingularPluralMasculineellosFemininelalas
What does it mean when a noun ends in a?
Feminine Nouns. Most feminine nouns end in a. Ending in an a indicates that a person or animal is female or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically feminine.
What adjectives must match the nouns they describe in both gender and number?
Gender and Adjectives. Spanish adjectives must match the nouns they describe in both gender and number. For example, apples ( manzanas) are feminine in Spanish, so this word must be used with feminine articles like la, las, and una.
What does an O mean in a noun?
Masculine Nouns. Most masculine nouns end in o. An o ending can indicate that a person or animal is male or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically masculine.
Do all Spanish nouns have genders?
Quick Answer. All Spanish nouns ( sustantivos ), including people, places, animals, things, ideas, and feelings, have a gender (male or female). The fact that inanimate objects have a gender in Spanish does not mean that things like tables and books are physically feminine or masculine. They have genders in a grammatical sense ...
Is "d" feminine or masculine?
Nouns that end in in d, z, or -ión are also feminine.
Is "ma" masculine or feminine?
Not all words ending in -ma are masculine. Some, like forma ( form ), are feminine.
Is an apple feminine or masculine in Spanish?
Any adjective used to describe an apple in Spanish must also be feminine (for example roja ). On the other hand, bananas ( plátanos) are masculine, and must be used with masculine articles and adjectives. La manzana es roja. The apple is red.
What are some examples of masculine nouns in Spanish?
Two examples of common masculine nouns are CORAZÓN (heart) and CARRO (heart).
What letters do sustantivos femeninos end in?
Los sustantivos femeninos or feminine nouns usually end in the letters -A, -DAD, -TAD, -ED, -SION, -CIÓN, -DEZ, -TIS, -IZ and some end in -E too. Again, these endings are not absolute so you may find some Spanish masculine nouns ending in those letters as well.
How to tell gender in Spanish?
As a general rule, we recognize the gender of Spanish nouns by looking at the word ending. Masculine words usually end in the vowels E or O like PADRE and MAESTRO, whereas feminine words end with the vowel A such as HERMANA and CASA. The picture below introduces some examples of common masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish.
Is "cura" a feminine noun?
Some of them change their meaning depending on the article they are used with. For example, the noun CURA seems to be a feminine noun, but when add the article EL and say “El cura” then it becomes a priest, but if we add the feminine article LA then it becomes “La cura” (the cure).
Is "cura" masculine or feminine?
Finally, some nouns could be treated as masculine and feminine nouns. They are usually called SUSTANTIVOS INVARIABLES. The article or pronoun that is placed before them help us determine their gender and meaning. Some of them change their meaning depending on the article they are used with. For example, the noun CURA seems to be a feminine noun, but when add the article EL and say “El cura” then it becomes a priest, but if we add the feminine article LA then it becomes “La cura” (the cure). You can learn more with this video, which explains how a slight change in articles affects the meaning of words.
What are proper nouns in Spanish?
Proper nouns in Spanish include the names of people and places, days of the week, months of the year and countries.
When to use singular Spanish nouns?
Singular Spanish nouns are used when there is only one item or object or person being described.
How to pluralize a noun in Spanish?
For Spanish nouns that end in -z, you pluralize them by removing the -z and adding -ces. For example, the plural form of the Spanish noun la voz would be las voces .
How to pluralize "el estres"?
For instance, to pluralize the Spanish noun el estrés just add -es to the end to pluralize it. Los estreses .
What are the categories of nouns?
The main categories are proper and common nouns, concrete and abstract nouns, and countable and uncountable nouns and compound nouns.
What is the noun for health in Spanish?
One example of this is the Spanish noun for “health”, which is la salud.
When to use "el" or "la" in Spanish?
So, although English speakers are used to identifying all nouns with the article “the”, when you’re talking about a noun in Spanish and want to identify it, you should use either el or la to refer to it.
Learn about Spanish nouns ending in -ud
In Spanish there are lots of nouns with the ending -ud. Most of these nouns are feminine and refer to abstract things.
Examples and resources
Debemos dibujar el mapa con mucha exactitud. We must draw the map with a lot of precision (exactitude).
What are some exceptions to Latin?
Words that are just exceptions, such as mano and día. Usually these exceptions come from the way the words were treated in Latin.
What are some feminine words that begin with a stressed a?
Also not included in the top list are combinations such as el agua (water) and el águila (eagle) —feminine words that begin with a stressed a- or ha- and are immediately preceded by el (rather than la) in the singular form only.
Is "foto" feminine or masculine?
Words that are shortened versions of other words. For example, la foto (photograph) is feminine because it's short for la fotografía. Words that end in -ista as the equivalent of the English "-ist.".
Is the word "hand" masculine or feminine?
Yes, usually. But there are plenty of exceptions to this gender rule, of which the two best known are mano, the word for hand, which is feminine, and día, the word for day, which is masculine.
Does El indicate gender?
With these words, el doesn't indicate gender but is used instead for ease of pronunciation. It is similar to the way in which English substitutes "an" for "a" in front of some nouns, as the rule applies to the opening sound of the word, not how it's spelled. Erichsen, Gerald.
Is "o" masculine or feminine in Spanish?
Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to.
The Basic Rules For The Gender of Spanish Nouns
Recognizing Masculine Nouns in Spanish: List and Examples
- You will recognize masculine nouns in Spanish, los sustantivos masculinos, because these words end in the letters -N, -O, -R, -S, -R, –L. Two examples of common masculine nouns are CORAZÓN (heart) and CARRO (car). In addition, some masculine nouns end in the syllables –MA, -PA and –TA, just like the word PROBLEMA and MAPA. Know that there are also some feminine nouns i…
Identifying Feminine Nouns in Spanish: List and Examples
- “Los sustantivos femeninos” or feminine nouns usually end in the letters -A, -DAD, -TAD, -ED, -SION, -CIÓN, -DEZ, -TIS, -IZ and some end in -Etoo. Again, these endings are not absolute, so you may find some Spanish masculine nouns ending in those letters as well.
Confusing Spanish Nouns
- Finally,some nouns could be treated as masculine and feminine nouns. They are usually called SUSTANTIVOS INVARIABLES. The article or pronoun that is placed before them help us determine their gender and meaning. Some of them change their meaning depending on the article they are used with. For example, the noun CURA seems to be a feminine noun, but when add the article E…