We can check this by going to the plural and to its modifiers: The waters = las aguas" The water is cold = "El agua est fria." Shopping! This is the only noun ending that does not have a guideline gender classification. For English speakers, it is hard to determine when a noun is feminine or masculine simply because nouns in English have no gender. There is not a single pattern, as you can see from the following examples. I have an extra pen. All of the nouns ending with -o are usually masculine: el bolgrafo, el dinero, el edificio, el vaso, etc. Given that this may be a new concept for new learners, many people wonder what grammatical gender in Spanish is. In those cases, you can always look it up on a dictionary, such as the Diccionario de la Lengua Espaola. A few of the most common ones are: Any words that are actually a shorter form of a longer word. As explained before, a big portion of masculine words in Spanish end with an -o. Fish are very pretty. Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. Sometimes you cant tell if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish only by its form. Because of this, most people assume that vestido is feminine, only to find out that theyre wrong. The electric scooter is very practical. *People, animals and occupations have their own set of rules. Tengo una pluma extra. I feel like its a lifeline. Tell Me In Spanish (tellmeinspanish.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. The letters of the alphabet are feminine: la a, la be, la ce, la de, etc. My dogs are very quiet. And if theres another word between the definite article (el/la) and the noun, we use the feminine article: La extensa rea / La imponente aula / La hermosa guila. I know we said we would only be giving you rules that didnt have any exceptions, the rules above are full proof- its when you get to people and occupations where you need to put your thinking cap on. Soy Daniela Sanchez, Ive taught Spanish in Mexico to a wide array of foreigners. Composition 2 - 1020 Tema: Vacation plans Imagine you are planning your next vacation with your best friend to a Spanish speaking country or a specific city (assigned by your instructor). 1) For example, the days (el da), months (el mes), and years (el ao) are masculine; while letters of the alphabet (la letra) and the hours (la hora) of the day are feminine. One of the first things that Spanish students learn is that most Spanish nouns that end in -o are masculine and most that end in -a are feminine. Cardinal directions are masculine, too: el norte, el sur, el este, el oeste. "Favourite" is "favorito" in Spanish. In Spanish nationalities are expressed through origin adjectives (known as gentilicios in Spanish). " El nio es bonito y gordo ". Here we will explain the rules, and then the 3 categories of exceptions: Below are a number of words you would think should be la according to the rules above, but they are el, as they are exceptions to the el/la rules. For instance, a table (la mesa) is feminine, while a desk (el escritorio) is masculine. Whether its a good idea to split the world into two genders is a subject for a different article, but for now well go through the various kinds of nouns that switch genders. It's the person's gender that will determine whether we use el or la. Memorizing just the exceptions will be a lot easier than memorizing every single word in the Spanish language. La parte - the part. "Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions." Not only in Spanish, but also in other Romance and non-Romance languages, such as German and Russian. All of these expressions, as well as a number of others, have one thing in common. In Italian (including all Italian dialects) and Portuguese, the sea is strictly masculine: il mare (Sicilian: u mari, Venetian: el mar, Neapolitan: 'o mare, Sardinian: su mari, Corsican: u mare) and o mar (the same for Galician); however in French and Romanian it is feminine: la mer and la mare. The Ultimate Tip-Sheet to Articles in Spanish: El vs La, Un vs Una [2022], Puzzle Solved: Why nouns in Spanish are feminine and masculine [2022]. The wall is newly painted. vacation translate: vacances [feminine, plural], vacances [feminine, plural], passer ses vacances, vacances, passer des. Very often our students at Fluenz get genders mixed Feminine forms. They actually come from Ancient Greek and they are all masculine: el dilema, el emblema, el teorema, el fonema, el lexema. Here's what's included: Get conjugations, examples, and pronunciations for millions of words and phrases in Spanish and English. This is a little more complicated but my recommendation is to learn the more common words in a first moment. Yet if you are referring to a person or occupation this is what happens: LA espa = The spy (if the spy is a woman. Larry fue a Londres un par de das durante las vacaciones, El ao pasado pasamos unas vacaciones maravillosas en Mallorca. We would say El mdicO, La mdicO. To put it in simple terms, if youre working with a Spanish masculine noun, you must make sure its modifiers are also masculine. There are some nouns that end in a, but they are not feminine, but masculine: And vice versa, some nouns that end in -o are feminine: When a masculine noun ends in a consonant, its feminine form ends in a (We just have to had an a after that last consonant). [Determiner] + [noun] + [verb conjugated] + [adjective]. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. Nouns that end with -ma, -pa, -ta, or any of the letters in the word LONERS are usually masculine. Talking about people, especially family members, often includes referring to gender. What gender is the sea in your mind? Why? Just like with nouns, Spanish masculine adjectives usually end in the vowel -O like "Bonito" and "Creativo", e.g. However your friend is a hypochondriac and you need to assure him/her everything is going to be fine. There are three genders in Spanish: masculine, feminine, and neutral. In fact, a few masculine words also end with this vowel. Miami Beach, FL 33139, All Rights Reserved, 2017-2023. Comment *document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "afd5b14b53088abe26398d903d076933" );document.getElementById("a465f5e1c1").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. With these rules below, youll know which to use with every word el or la. Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions. While some of these exceptions just have to be memorized, you can scroll up and see that a lot of exceptions have their own rules in the-ta, -ma and-pasection. For example: Subscribe for free weekly updates from this Spanish Language site. And they can be a little confusing because sometimes the noun endings change (the masculineel doctor and the feminine la doctora), but sometimes they dont (the masculineel poeta and the femininela poeta). Also, in plural they keep the feminine definite article (las), because the S avoids the cacophony: las aguas. Then little by little you will learn the others. When we have 2 or more nouns with different genre (one is masculine and the other one is feminine), and there is 1 adjective used to describe both of them, the genre of this adjective will be masculine. Forms of feminine and masculine nouns. Which brings us to the only exception to these rules! Los nios juegan en el parque. Im always glad to reach and help more people around the world. And it gets easier with time and practice. Esta camisa es negra. As mentioned above, this rule comes into effect with amounts superior to two hundred. To keep the sentence consistent, adjectives, articles, and pronouns must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. (general) a. vacation (United States) Me urge una vacacin! I love smoked salmon. Two examples are doctora (female doctor) and camisa (shirt). List of colors in Spanish 1. It's a good place to start for beginners though! This semester is really tough. In the tables below, youll find the most common endings for feminine words in Spanish. LinguaLinkup.com 2023. The Masculine and feminine 1 Whack-a-mole. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. Learn about masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish. Nuestros perros son pequeos. La foto, can actually shed some light into one of the rules for feminine words. I hope you have enjoyed this article about masculine and feminine in Spanish! Benoit Hamon, CEO de SINGA, est venu sur Komune pour donner des faits face aux ides Tom la decisin equivocada. Before a stressed A vowel sound, use EL instead of LA even if the noun is feminine. Many nouns that refer to jobs or roles of people can be either masculine or feminine depending on the person they refer to. Your neighbor is very noisy. Fortunately, even the exceptions have rules. A common mistake made by Spanish learners is to confuse the number one, uno, with un, which means a/an. Many people mistakenly think the gender of a noun in Spanish is determined by who uses that object. When they refer to professions, words ending with -ista have the same form for masculine and feminine: el/la dentista, el/la artista, el/la periodista, el/la pianista. A Spanish noun is a word we use to name people, things, concepts, places, and animals. Why? Get to Grips with Spanish: Spanish Grammar for Beginners: Masculine & Feminine, Singular & Plural (English Edition) eBook : Helliwell, Julie: Amazon.nl: Boeken Create your account. Me encanta el salmn ahumado. The kids play in the park. Boroditsky proposes that because the word for "bridge" in German die brucke is a feminine noun, and the word for "bridge" in Spanish el puente is a masculine noun, native speakers. Estas manzanas estn muy agrias. I am going to travel to Mexico during summer vacation. Tu voz es muy chillona. The journalist works all day. Copyright Curiosity Media, Inc., a division of IXL Learning All Rights Reserved. In both theFluenz online programand the Fluenz Spanish Immersions, we take it one step at a time. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. Most Spanish nouns ending in -o are masculine, and most ending in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions. el clima (the weather) Descubr lo que tu empresa podra llegar a alcanzar. The idea here is that words that end in any of the letters L-O-N-E-R-S tend to be masculine. Ests muy estresado; necesitas irte de vacaciones. Next year I am going to vacation in Europe. El nino y el gato. Our tutors at Fluenz Spanish Immersion like to explain the noun gender in this way: Think of the article almost as part of the word. either to a group of male persons or a . In Spanish if there is a group of people, both males and females, you use the masculine to address them all, so masculine will work in most cases. Making educational experiences better for everyone. Spanish speakers always like to have vacations in plural. When you are starting out in Spanish knowing the gender of nouns is very difficult. Our dogs are small. The general rule states that all Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine. NEWMAGICFOR THE NEWAGE Daring to challenge old stereotypes and misconceptions surrounding magical practice, New Millenni. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. All of these rules use the ending of a word as a trick to determine its gender. Most adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. Me urge una vacacin! Nuestro coche est sucio. During the day Im a freelancer and marketer, while at night Im here writing for students of the world wide web looking to learn Spanish. Dijiste que the letters of the alphabet are masculine, pero son feminine, Muchas gracias, Ann! * This is the only word ending in -ua that takes a masculine article. Possible excuses include hospitalization. Nouns that end in -ma are masculine, such as the word problema (problem), Nouns that end in -pa, like the word mapa (map), are also masculine. 4 Answers. My horse is black and my mare brown. For example, we usually say la moto for motorcycle, which ends in an -o. El plato es blanco con rayas azules. So with people you may not know well, perhaps someone older, or people of authority/higher status than oneself such as a college professor. According to the standard rules, you would think the opposite, but as youll see in the exceptions below, youll learn the nuances with the Spanish language. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. La casa blanca es muy bonita.The white house is very pretty. An intransitive verb is one that does not require a direct object (e.g. Why? If the noun is masculine and singular, use the masculine, singular ending (usually - o ). He studied English literature and linguistics at New York University, but spent most of his time in college working for the student paper. One of the biggest exceptions to the LONERS rule we talked about for masculine nouns above is-in. Now lets see how to know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish when talking about people and animals. Its important to know the grammatical gender of a noun in Spanish because all of the elements referring to them (articles, adjectives, pronouns) will agree in grammatical gender, too: There are some rules that you can follow when it comes to identifying masculine and feminine in Spanish.