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Gender of Nouns
  • All Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. Most are exclusively one or the other; a few can be either.
  • Since articles and many other adjectives must agree with the noun they modify in gender as well as number (singular or plural) it is important to know the gender of a noun.
  • Gender is a grammatical property. Biological gender, while helpful at times, is of limited application since most things (objects, places, ideas) have no biological gender.
  • Noun endings are a help in determining gender in many cases, but the number of exceptions and the number of nouns whose endings show no pattern mean that considerable memorization is necessary.
  • In the examples below, definite articles (el, la, los, las) are used to illustrate gender and agreement.
 
Patterns in Noun Gender
Masculine Nouns
 
  • Most nouns ending in -o: el chico, el libro, el río
    • Exceptions: la mano, la foto(grafía), la moto(cicleta)
  • Months, days of week: el enero, el abril; el lunes, los miércoles
  • Numbers: el dos de mayo; el cincuenta por ciento
  • Nouns ending in -aje, -or: el equipaje, el color
    • Exceptions: la flor, la labor
  • Compound nouns: el paraguas, el sacacorchos
 
  Feminine Nouns  
 
  • Most nouns ending in -a: la pluma, la chica, la casa
  • Exceptions:
    • A number of words, mostly from arts and sciences, ending in -ma: el clima, el diploma, el poema, el problema, el sistema, el tema
    • But: la cama, la crema, la forma
  • Letters of the alphabet: la a, la c, etc.
  • Nouns ending in -ción, sión, -dad, -tad, -tud, -umbre, -ie, -sis, -itis
    • la nación, la tensión, la verdad, la libertad, la actitud, la certidumbre, la serie, la hipótesis, la bronquitis
  • Exceptions: el análisis, el énfasis
  • Masculine singular article forms are used immediately in front of feminine nouns beginning with stressed (h)a:
    • un/el alma, un/el águila, un/el hacha
    • But: una/la magnífica águila
 
  Nouns of Variable Gender  
  Variation According to Biological Gender  
 
  • Many -a nouns referring to persona can be of either gender: el/la atleta, el/la joven, el/la líder, el/la poeta
  • Some nouns of occupation always end in -o; others have an -a ending when referring to females; usage of some words varies from country to country; the article generally changes, regardless of ending:
    • Nouns always ending in -o: el/la piloto, el/la soldado
    • Usage varies: el/la médico or el /la médico/a; el/la abogado or el/la abogado/a
    • Article and ending change: el/la biólogo, el/la psicólogo, etc.
  • -ista nouns: el/la artista, dentista, socialista, etc.
  • -nte nouns: el/la amante, adolescente, agente, etc.
  • Arte is masculine in singular, feminine in plural:
    • El arte es fascinante.
    • Las bellas artes
  
  Nouns That Change Meaning According to Gender  
 
 
Masculine
Feminine
  
  el capital money la capital capital  
  el cometa cometa la cometa kite  
  el mañana tomorrow la mañana morning  
  el orden order, sequence la orden command; religious order  
  el policía male police officer la policía police force; female officer  
       
 
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