Identifying the gender of nouns in Spanish is one of the biggest challenges faced by students of Spanish as a foreign language, but here are some tips to help you determine whether one noun is feminine or masculine.
Identify masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish
Notice that although it is seldom possible to predict with certainty whether a given Spanish noun is of the masculine or feminine gender, Spanish has numerous guidelines that can usually be followed. The most well-known rule or guideline is that nouns ending in –o are masculine, and those ending in –a are feminine:
El libro (book) La casa (house)
El cuadro (painting) La mesa (table)
Nevertheless, there are numerous exceptions to this gender rule, especially for those ending in –a (Many of them are listed below), and words ending in any other letter can be either masculine or feminine, so the best advice is that you learn every new word along with its gender by using a definite article. Learn more about articles in Spanish:
El árbol (tree) El coche (car)
El lápiz (pencil) La mano (hand)
Anyway, below, you have some basic but valuable rules.
Spanish nouns, gender rules
1. Nouns ending in certain suffixes are usually feminine. They include –ción (usually the equivalent of “-tion”), -sión, -ía (usually equivalent of “-y”, although not in the diminutive sense), -za, –dad (often used like “-ty”) and –tis is (“-it is).
La nación (nation) La felicidad (happiness)
La ocasión (occasion) La caridad (charity)
La economía (economy) La meningitis (meningitis)
La pobreza (poverty)
2. Nouns of Greek origin ending in –ma are usually masculine.
El problema (problem) El poema (poem)
El drama (drama) El tema (subject)
3. Nouns ending in an accented vowel are usually masculine.
El sofá (sofa) El tabú (taboo)
El chalé (detached house) El rubí (ruby)
4. Nouns with certain endings are usually masculine. These include –aje (usually the equivalent of “-age”), -ambre and –or. An exception is la flor (flower).
El mensaje (message) El viaje (trip)
El hambre (hunger) El calambre (cramp)
El calor (heat) El dolor (pain)
5. Infinitives used as nouns are masculine.
El fumar (smoking) El cantar (singing)
El viajar (travelling) El escuchar (listening)
6. Months and days of the week are masculine.
Enero es frío (January is cold) El lunes (Monday)
7. Letters are feminine, while numbers are masculine.
La d (d) El 7 (seven)
Learning the gender of the nouns is quite essential because adjectives, articles, and demonstratives have to agree with this gender:
El coche es rojo (the car is red).
Estas flores son bonitas (these flowers are beautiful).
You can learn more about Spanish adjectives by clicking on the link.
Exercises about gender or nouns in Spanish
Now, you can practice what you have learned about the gender of nouns in Spanish with the quizzes below. If you have any questions, leave us a message in the comments. Our team will be happy to help you.