Spanish Word Gender& Number

© Marie-Claire Hunter, 2013 www.learnenglishspanishonline.com

In Spanish every noun has a gender, it is either masculine or feminine.

Nouns that end in –o are usually masculine.

Spanish masculine nouns

chico = boy gato = cat zapato = shoe

Of course there will always be exceptions!

la mano = the hand

although mano ends in ‘o’ this is a feminine noun

Nouns that end in –a are usually feminine.

Spanish feminine nouns

chica = girl gata = cat luna = moon

Exceptions

Now it would be wonderful if the –o and –a ending rule always worked for us to know if a noun was masculine or

feminine but there are some exceptions.

Exceptions for nouns ending in ‘a’

There is a small group of words that come from the Greek language that end with –ma, -pa or –ta and these words are

masculine.

el problema = the problemel tema = the theme, subject

el sistema = the systemel mapa = the mapel poeta = the poet

el planeta = the planetel clima = the climate, the weather

Other common exceptions are …

el día – the day, daytimeel mediodía – noonel gorila – the gorillael pijama – pajamas

el sofá – sofa

But back to the easy ones, decide if these nouns are masculine or feminine by looking at their –o or –a endings (no tricks here)

•la abuela (grandmother)•el cartero (mailman/postman)•la revista (magazine)•el niño (child/son)•el tío (uncle)•la reunión (meeting)•el teatro (theater)•el abuelo (grandfather)•el dormitorio (bedroom) •la enfermera (nurse) •la profesora (teacher)•la hija (daughter)•el libro (book)•la rosa (rose)•la guitarra (guitar)•la piscina (pool)

How did you do?•la abuela (grandmother) feminine•el cartero (mailman/postman) masculine•la revista (magazine) feminine•el niño (child/son) masculine•el tío (uncle) masculine•la reunión (meeting) feminine•el teatro (theater) masculine•el abuelo (grandfather) masculine•el dormitorio (bedroom) masculine•la enfermera (nurse) feminine•la profesora (teacher) feminine•la hija (daughter) feminine•el libro (book) masculine•la rosa (rose) feminine•la guitarra (guitar) feminine•la piscina (pool) feminine

‘The’Did you notice that each noun had either ‘el’ or ‘la’ in front of it?

These are two of the Spanish words that mean ‘the’.

‘El’ and ‘la’ are called ‘definite articles’ because they indicate ‘definite’ or ‘specific’ nouns.

Just like nouns, definite articles are either masculine (el) or feminine (la).

Definite & Indefinite ArticlesThe definite article ‘the’ allows us to refer to a definite or specific noun.

‘the’ pencil – ‘el’ lapiz (the one on the table or the one that I’m pointing to etc)

The indefinite articles ‘a’ or ‘some’ allow us to speak about nouns in a general or non-specific way.

‘a’ pencil – ‘un’ lapiz (any old pencil) or

‘some’ pencils – ‘unos’ lapices (any old pencils)

A closer look at articles

The English definite article is ‘the’.

The English indefinite articles are ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘some’.

There are more articles in Spanish than there are in English:

The definite articles ‘el’, ‘la’, ‘los’ and ‘las’ all mean ‘the’ but as you can see there are masculine

and feminine, singular and plural forms.

And then you have the indefinite articles …

‘Un’ or ‘una’ meaning ‘a’

(nb. these words also mean ‘one’)

and ‘unas’ and ‘unos’ meaning ‘some’.

Nouns with their articlesMasculine articles go with masculine nouns

the man: el hombrea man: un hombre

Feminine articles go with feminine nouns

the woman: la mujera woman: una mujer

Now let’s practice, I’ll give you a phrase like ‘the’ man,

and you change it to ‘a’ man.

Eg. the man a man

el hombre un hombre

la señorita (the young lady) ____ señorita (a young lady)

el chico (the boy) ____ chico (a boy)

la mesa (the table) ____ mesa (a table)

Did you say?

la señorita (the young lady) una señorita (a young lady)

el chico (the boy) un chico (a boy)

la mesa (the table) una mesa (a table)

If so, well done!

Nouns can also be singular or pluralapple apples

If you want to make a noun plural: just add an -s if the noun ends in a vowel,

or add an -es if the noun ends in a consonant

manzana = apple manzanas = applesmujer = woman mujeres = women

hombre = man hombres = men

Change these nouns from singular to plural.

Eg. mesa (table) mesas (tables)

libro (book) _______ (books)mujer (woman) _______ (women)

hombre (man) _______ (men)pared (wall) ______ (walls)

Hopefully you said …

libro (book) libros (books)mujer (woman) mujeres (women)

hombre (man) hombres (men)pared (wall) paredes (walls)

If you did, great work!

You will need to use the plural articles with plural nouns.

. Singular Plural

Definite article ‘the’ el, la los, las

Indefinite articles ‘a’ or ‘some’ un, una unos, unas

Eg. The children. Los niños.

Some children. Unos niños

See how these singular nouns go with singular articles, but that the plural nouns

go with plural articles

the man: el hombrethe men: los hombres

some men: unos hombres

the woman: la mujerthe women: las mujeres

some women: unas mujeres

Try this exercise!Depending on the gender and number of the noun, add the correct article.

Eg. The men. Los hombres Some men. Unos hombres.

• The children. ____ niños.• Some children. ____ niños.• The girls. ____ chicas.• Some girls. ____ chicas.• The books. ____ libros.• Some books. ____ libros.• The tables. ____ mesas.• Some tables. ____ mesas.

How did you do?

• The children. Los niños.• Some children. Unos niños.• The girls. Las chicas.• Some girls. Unas chicas.• The books. Los libros.• Some books. Unos libros.• The tables. Las mesas.• Some tables. Unas mesas.

Everything must agree!We’ve learnt that nouns and their articles need to match, they can be singular or plural, masculine

or feminine.

El libro. The book. Los libros. The books.La mesa. The table. Las mesas. The tables.

This rule also applies to words that describe nouns – adjectives.

In English, adjectives usually go before the noun that they refer to, the ‘red’ book. But in Spanish they usually go after the noun.

Try to train your ear to listen out for the similar sounds in a row of words in a sentence.

(Masc/Sing) The red book. El libro rojo.(Fem/Sing) The red table. La mesa roja. (Masc/Pl)The red books. Los libros rojos.(Fem/Pl) The red tables. Las mesas rojas.

Here are some more adjectives that match the nouns that they describe - can you identify the masculine or feminine, singular or

plural forms?

El hombre gordo. = The fat man.Los hombres gordos. = The fat men.

La mujer gorda. = The fat woman.Las mujeres gordas. = The fat women.

gordo = fat (masculine singular) gorda = fat (feminine singular)gordos = fat (masculine plural) gordas = fat (feminine plural)

El chico _________. (The fat boy.) La chica ____________. (The fat girl.)Los chicos ______. (The fat boys.) Las chicas ________. (The fat girls.)

Can you choose the right form of gordo to complete the sentences?

You should have said …El chico gordo. (The fat boy.)

La chica gorda. (The fat girl.)

Los chicos gordos. (The fat boys.)

Las chicas gordas. (The fat girls.)

If you did, well done!

Some nouns are feminine but are used with the masculine singular article

Agua is still really feminine noun, but to make it easier to say, it borrows the masculine singular article ‘el’.

el agua (water)

For the plural form it goes back to using the feminine plural articles ‘las’ or ‘unas’ as usual.

las aguas (the waters), unas aguas (some waters)

Now let’s see how much you can remember, fill in the gaps …

In Spanish every ______ has a gender, it is either masculine or feminine.

Nouns that end in –o are usually ________ and nouns that end in –a are usually _________.

There are exceptions however, what gender are the following words? mapa, mano, día, agua, tema, planeta, sofa, mediodía?

What are the four Spanish words that mean ‘the’?

How do you say ‘a’ and ‘some’ in Spanish (four options)?

How would you translate ‘the white tables’?

What about ‘the white books’?

What is special about ‘agua’ in its singular form?

How did you do?In Spanish every noun has a gender, it is either masculine or feminine.

Nouns that end in –o are usually masculine and nouns that end in –a are usually feminine.

There are exceptions however, what gender are the following words? mapa (masc), mano (fem), día (masc), agua (fem), tema (masc), planeta (masc),

sofa (masc), mediodía (masc)?

What are the four Spanish words that mean ‘the’? el,la, los, las

How do you say ‘a’ and ‘some’ in Spanish (five options)? un, una, unos, unas

How would you translate ‘the white tables’? las mesas blancas

What about ‘the white books’? los libros blancos

What’s special about ‘agua’ (water) in its singular form?

It borrows the masculine article ‘el’ to make it easier to pronounce.

Well done, if you were able to answer the previous questions I think you are ready to move on to the next subject.

But if you would like to know more about nouns and their gender, the following is supplementary information.

What about nouns that don’t end in o or a how can you know if they are masculine or feminine?

Here are some general rules …..Nouns ending in -dad / -tad / -tud are normally feminine

la ciudad = the cityla edad = the age

la universidad = the university

Can you make those nouns plural?

la ciudad = the cityla edad = the age

la universidad = the university

hmmmm….

Did you say? ….

las ciudades = the citieslas edades = the ages

las universidades = the universities

Then you would be quite right!

Nouns that end in –cion / -sión / -gion are usually feminine

la canción = the songla estación = the stationla lección = the lesson

… so are nouns that refer to women:

la madre – motherla mujer – woman, wife

la chica – the girlla hija – the daughter

la tía – the auntla abuela – the grandma

Nouns with a stressed ‘a’ or ‘ha’ syllable at the beginning

In their singular form these nouns borrow the masculine singular pronouns "el” and "un" .

el asma (asthma), el habla (speech), el hada (fairy), el hambre (hunger)

But in their plural forms, it's back to normal with the feminine articles ….

el alma (soul) las almas (souls)

Some nouns have different meanings depending on which article you with them.

el capital = capital la capital = capital cityel cólera = cholera la cólera = anger, bileel coma = coma la coma = commael corte = cut la corte = courtel cura = priest la cura = cureel final = ending la final = sports finalel frente = front la frente = foreheadel papa = the pope la papa = potatoel pendiente = earring la pendiente = slope, hillsideel pez = fish la pez = tar, pitch

Abstract nouns ending in –ez are also usually feminine

rigidez – rigidityla sensatez – soberness

la validez – validityla vejez - old age, oldness

So are nouns ending –triz

la actriz – the actressla directriz – the directive

la emperatriz – the empress

More feminine nounsNouns ending in –umbre

la costumbre (habit, custom)la incertidumbre (uncertainty, doubt)

la legumbre (legume)

Nouns that are feminine in their full form stay feminine even when shortened:

la disco* – la discotecala foto – la fotografía

la moto – la motocicletala tele – la televisión

*(but when referring to a disk it’s el disco, masc)

Masculine Noun EndingsMost nouns that end in –r, -l, -s and –n will be masculine.

Other endings that can indicate a masculine noun include …. – ambre and –aje

el alambre = wireel enjambre = swarm of bees

el equipaje = luggageel paisaje = landscape

More masculine noun endings

Nouns that end in –or or –án are usually masculine as are those that end in a stressed

vowel (í, ú etc).

el amor = loveel calor = heat

el sudor = sweatel champú = shampoo

Nouns that refer to peopleSome nouns referring to people don’t change their endings but used with the

feminine article they refer to a female and with the masculine article they refer to a male.

la modelo = the model el modelo = the model

A number of these nouns end in –ista or –crata.

un/una amante = a lover un/una guía = a (tour) guide el/la idiota = the idiot, el/la testigo = the witness

el/la artista = artist el/la florista = florist el/la aristócrata = aristocrat

Would you like to see how much you remember?

Name the Spanish singular masculine article that means ‘the’.How about the feminine ‘one’ that also means ‘the’?

What are the plural forms of ‘el’ and ‘la’?Now can you tell me the two Spanish words for ‘some’?

Halfway there, now let’s test those noun endings, are these nouns masculine or feminine?: alambre? and how about lección?

And what’s different about ‘mano’ (hand)?

And here you have the answers.Name the Spanish singular masculine article that means ‘the’: el

How about the feminine one that also means ‘the’? la

What are the plural forms of ‘el’ and ‘la’? los and las

Now can you tell me the two Spanish words for ‘some’? unos or unas

Now let’s test those noun endings, are these nouns masculine or feminine?

alambre? masculine because it has the –ambre ending lección? feminine because it has the -ción ending.

And what’s different about ‘mano’ (hand)? It ends in ‘o’ but it’s a feminine noun, la mano.

Top work ¡bien hecho! I think you’re ready to move on to the next subject! © Marie-Claire Hunter, 2013 www.learnenglishspanishonline.com