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Gender of non-people nouns
Masculine
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Feminine
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Rule 1: masculine
nouns end in –o
ex:
el libro (book), el carro (car),
el huevo (egg),
el vestido (dress),
el suelo (floor),
el techo (roof),
el polvo
(dust), el sombrero (hat)
exceptions:
1. la mano (hand), la libido (libido),
la radio
(radio)
2. some words are shortened
from longer feminine versions:
ex:
-
la fotografía
→ la foto (photo)
- la
motocicleta → la moto (motorcycle)
-
la television → la tele (television)
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Rule 1: feminine
words end in –a
ex:
la casa (house), la paciencia (patience),
la oficina (office),
la vaca (cow),
la flauta
(flute), la camisa (shirt),
la cartera (wallet),
la guitarra (guitar)
exceptions:
1. el alerta (alert),
el
día
(day), el mediodía (noon),
el sofá
(couch), el tranvía (tram)
2. some words from Greek
that end in -ma, -ta, & -pa
ex:
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el idioma
(language), el problema
(problem),
el poema
(poem), el tema
(theme)
-
el planeta (planet),
el cometa
(comet),
-
el mapa
(map)
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Rule 2:
Masculine nouns end in -e
(-aje / -ambre)*
ex:
el equipaje (luggage),
el paisaje (landscape),
el calambre
(cramp), el enjambre
(swarm)
exceptions:
el hambre** (hunger), la pelambre
(thick hair)
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Rule 2:
Feminine nouns end in -e
(-ie / -nte / -umbre)*
ex:
la serie (series),
la superficie (surface)
la costumbre
(custom), la cumbre (summit),
la incertidumbre
(uncertainty), la legumbre
(vegetable),
la corriente (current),
la fuente (fountain),
la gente (people),
la mente (mind)
exceptions:
el puente (bridge),
el lente (lens)
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Rule 3:
masculine nouns end in -l
ex:
el animal (animal),
el
árbol
(tree),
el hospital
(hospital), el metal (metal),
el papel (paper),
el material (material),
exceptions:
la cárcel (jail), la miel (honey),
la piel (skin),
la sal (salt),
la vocal (vowel)
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Rule 3:
feminine nouns end in -d
ex:
la ciudad
(city), la felicidad (happiness),
la juventud (youth),
la libertad (freedom),
la pared
(wall), la salud (health),
la verdad (truth)
exceptions:
el ardid (scheme),
el
ataúd
(coffin), el césped (grass)
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Rule 4:
masculine nouns end in -n
ex:
el
balcón
(balcony), el
botón
(button),
el carbón
(coal), el
colchón (mattress),
el corazón
(heart), el examen
(test),
el jabón (soap),
el pan (bread)
exceptions:
la
imagen
(image), la razón (reason),
la
sartén
(frying pan)
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Rule 4:
feminine nouns end in -ión
ex:
la opinión
(opinion), la
canción (song),
la
confusión
(confusion), la nación
(nation),
la religión
(religion), la reunión (meeting)
exceptions:
avión
(airplane), bastión
(stronghold), camión
(truck)
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Rule 5:
masculine nouns end in -r
ex:
el amor
(love), el color (color),
el error
(mistake), el favor (favor),
el pulgar (thumb),
el valor
(value)
exceptions:
la flor (flower), la labor (labor),
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Rule 5:
feminine nouns end in -z
ex:
la cruz (cross),
la faz (face),
la voz (voice), la paz (peace),
la luz (light), la rigidez (stiffness),
la vejez
(old age), la vez (time)
exceptions
el arroz (rice),
el haz (bundle),
el
lápiz
(pencil), el matiz (shade),
el pez (fish)
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Rule 6:
masculine nouns end in -s
ex:
el análisis (analysis),
el
autobús
(bus),
el estrés
(stress), el gis (chalk),
el interés (interest),
el mes (month),
el país
(country) , el virus (virus)
exceptions:
1. la diabetes (diabetes),
la mies
(harvest),
a
res (beef),
la tos (cough)
2. many words ending in -is
- la crisis (crisis),
la
dosis (dose),
la
sintaxis
(syntaxis), la tesis
(thesis)
3 many words ending in -itis
ex:
-
la artritis
(arthritis), la apendicitis (appendicitis),
la
bronquitis (bronquitis)
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Rule 7: Masculine
nouns end in a stressed vowel
ex:
el café
(coffee), el champú
(shampoo),
el rubí
(ruby), el sofá
(couch), el tisú (tissue)
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Notas:
*There are many words that end with 'e' that don't
appear to have any reason to have one gender or
another.
masculine: el
valle, el cine, el yate, el títere, el
desaire, el aire, el desfile, el baile, el
paquete, el banquete
feminine: la
base, la calle, la carne, la clase, la fe, la
fiebre, la frase, la leche, la llave, la nieve, la
noche, la nube, la sangre, la sede, la suerte, la
tarde, la torre
**'el
hambre' is feminine but it uses 'el'
before it to not lose the sound of the 'a'.
We also see this with words like 'el
águila', 'el agua', 'el alma'
as well as others. This is because the
stress is on the first a. It isn't a problem
in words like: la habitación (because the
stress is on the 'o') |
Words that change meaning with gender
Some words change meaning depending on
their gender. Look at the
examples below.
Masculine
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Feminine
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el capital –
capital (money)
el
cólera – cholera
el
coma – coma
el
cometa – comet
el
corte – cut
el
cura – priest
el
frente – front
el
mañana – tomorrow
el
orden – order (arrangement)
el
papa – pope
el
parte – message, report
el
pendiente – earring
el
pez – fish
el
radio – radius, radium
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la
capital – capital (city)
la
cólera – anger
la
coma – comma
la
cometa – kite
la
corte – (king's/queen's)
court
la
cura – cure
la
frente – forehead
la
mañana - morning
la
orden – order (command)
la
papa – potato
la
parte – part, portion
la
pendiente – the hill or slope
la
pez – tar
la
radio – radio (some
say “el radio”)
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Animals
Many of the more
common animals have both genders.
Masculine
el gato (cat)
el
perro (dog)
el
caballo (stallion)
el
carnero (ram)
el
gallo (rooster)
el
pato (duck)
el
toro (bull)
el
león (lion)
el
venado (buck)
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Feminine
la gata (female
cat)
la
perra (female dog)
la
yegua (mare)
la
oveja (ewe)
la
gallina (hen)
la
pata (female duck)
la
vaca (cow)
la
leona (lioness)
la
venada (doe)
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Other animals are either masculine or feminine
when talking about the animal (regardless of it's
actual gender).
el
chimpancé (chimpanzee)
el
canguro (kangaroo)
el
gusano (worm)
el
gorila (gorilla)
el
pez (fish)
el
rinoceronte (rhinocerous)
el
sapo (toad)
el
tiburón (shark)
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la abeja (bee)
la
araña (spider)
la
ardilla (squirrel)
la
ballena (whale)
la
mariposa (butterfly)
la
serpiente (snake)
la
jirafa (giraffe)
la
rana (frog)
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Nota:
if you want to talk about a male or
female of on of the above you can place
the words: macho
(male) or hembra
(female) after them to clarify.
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