Gender of Nouns in Spanish Grammar
What does noun gender mean in Spanish?
Nouns (sustantivos), describe people, places, things and concrete or abstracts concepts.
In Spanish grammar, nouns are classified by gender as masculine or feminine. The gender of a noun in Spanish can generally be identified by the noun ending, however, there are some exceptions.
Learn the rules for identifying masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish grammar with Lingolia. In the exercises, you can practise what you have learnt.
Contents
Example
Tengo un sentido del orden muy estricto.
Todo en mi mesa tiene un lugar asignado:
El ordenador, el ratón, la taza de café, el cuaderno, la agenda, el bolígrafo, la planta, los subrayadores… ¡Todo!
Noun gender in Spanish grammar
Nouns in Spanish have a grammatical gender: they can be masculine or feminine.
Generally, nouns that end in -o are masculine and nouns that end in -a are feminine.
- Examples:
- masculine: el caramelo, el librosweet, book
- feminine: la casa, la comidahouse, food
However, there are some exceptions:
- Examples:
- feminine: la mano, la radiohand, radio
- masculine: el día, el problemaday, problem
Nouns that end in -e or in a consonant can be masculine or feminine.
- Examples:
- masculine: el autobús, el ajedrez, el arroz, el café, el césped, el cine, el coche, el puente, el solbus, chess, rice, coffee, grass, cinema, car, bridge, sun
- feminine: la calle, la catedral, la clase, la fuente, la gente, la leche, la noche, la paz, la redstreet, cathedral, fountain, people, milk, night, peace, network
el frente, la frente
The noun frente can be masculine or feminine depending on its meaning:
- el frente (masculine) = front
- la frente (feminine) = forehead
- Examples:
- La niebla está poniendo las cosas difíciles en el frente del conflicto.The fog is making things difficult at the front of the conflict.
- Me he dado un golpe en la frente.I got hit on the head.
Masculine nouns in Spanish
Along with the ending -o, there are other endings that typically indicate that a Spanish noun is masculine.
The table below shows a list of typical endings for masculine nouns in Spanish grammar:
Ending | Examples | Exceptions |
---|---|---|
-aje | el trajesuit, el viajetrip | |
-ambre | el calambrecramp | |
-ar, -er, -or | el colmenarapiary, el tallersize, el ordenadorcomputer | la florflower |
-an, -en, -in, -on, -un (tónicas) | el panbread, andénplatform, el espadínsword, el jamónham, el atúntuna | |
-ate, -ete, -ote | el escaparatewardrobe, el billeteticket, el camarotecabin | |
-é | el cafécoffee | |
-és | el arnésharness | |
-che | el cochecar, el porcheporch | la lechemilk, la nochenight |
-l | el papelpaper, el nivellevel | la cárcelprison, la mielhoney, la pielskin |
-ma | el poemapoem, el programaprogramme | la camabed, la cremacream |
-miento | el pimientopepper, el sufrimientosuffering | |
-n | el trentrain | la imagenimage |
-pa | el arpaharp, el mapamap | la capalayer, la copaglass |
-ta* | el cometacomet, el planetaplanet | |
-x | el tóraxthorax | |
-y | el bueyox, el jerseyjumper |
*The ending -ta is typical of both masculine and feminine nouns.
Category | Examples |
---|---|
masculine people | el hombreman |
compound nouns with a verb stem | el paraguas (parar + agua)umbrella |
cardinal points | el nortenorth |
days of the week | el lunesMonday |
months | eneroJanuary |
numbers | el unoone |
rivers, lakes, oceans and mountains | el Atlántico, el Teidethe Atlantic, Teide |
Feminine nouns in Spanish grammar
Along with the ending -a, there are other endings that typically indicate that a Spanish noun is feminine.
The table below shows the most common endings for feminine nouns in Spanish:
Ending | Examples | Exceptions |
---|---|---|
-ia, -ie | la historiastory, la serieseries | el piefoot |
-ad, -ed, -id, -ud | la facultadfaculty, la paredwall, la vidvine, la saludhealth | el ataúdcoffin |
-ez,-eza | la tristezasadness, la veztime | el pezfish |
-is | la crisiscrisis, la tesisthesis | el arcoírisrainbow |
-ncia | la pacienciapatience, la provinciaprovince | |
-ta* | la apuestabet, la bicicletabike, la camisetat-shirt, la cartaletter, la maletasuitcase | |
-umbre | la costumbrecustom, la cumbresummit | |
-z | la cruzcross, la nariznose | el arrozrice, el lápizpencil |
-ción, -sión, -zón | la informacióninformation, la presiónpressure, la razónreason | el corazónheart |
*The ending -ta is typical of both masculine and feminine nouns in Spanish.
Category | Examples | Exceptions |
---|---|---|
feminine people | la mujerwoman | |
islands | Mallorca | el Hierro |
cities | Barcelona, Bilbao | |
countries | EspañaSpain, ItaliaItaly | el Congo |
letters of the alphabet | la a |
Note
While these patterns can often help us determine whether a noun is masculine or feminine, there are always exceptions. That’s why it’s best to learn the article and gender together with the noun.
People and animals
When a noun refers to a person or pet, the noun’s gender matches the gender of said person or animal.
Masculine | Feminine | ||
---|---|---|---|
people | el hombreman | la mujerwoman | |
animals | el gatomale cat | la gatafemale cat |
Some noun endings are invariable; this means that they remain the same and only the article changes to reflect the noun’s gender.
- Examples:
- un rehén, una rehénhostage
- un testigo, una testigowitness
- un turista, una turistatourist
Nouns for family members
Generally, nouns that refer to family members (los sustantivos de parentesco) have a masculine form ending in -o and a feminine form ending in -a.
- Ejemplo:
- el hermano - la hermanabrother – sister
- el hijo - la hijason – daughter
- el primo - la prima(male) cousin – (female) cousin
- el tío - la tíauncle – aunt
- el abuelo - la abuelagrandfather – grandmother
However, in some cases, the masculine and feminine forms are completely different.
- Examples:
- el padre - la madrefather – mother
- el yerno - la nuerason-in-law – daughter-in-law
Noun gender with jobs and titles in Spanish
When talking about a person’s job, we change the gender of the noun to reflect that of the person we’re talking about.
- Examples:
- el enfermero, la enfermeranurse
- el profesor, la profesorateacher
Professions that end in -e don’t usually change in the feminine form. We simply change the article to reflect the person’s gender.
- Examples:
- el/la cantantesinger
- el/la comerciantebusinessman/businesswoman
- el/la intérpreteinterpreter
- el/la representanterepresentative
There are some exceptions where a title that ends in -e takes the ending -a in the feminine.
- Examples:
- el jefe, la jefaboss
- el dependiente, la dependientashop assistant
- el presidente, la presidentapresident
In some cases, the noun is the same in both the masculine and the feminine, with only the article changing to refect gender.
- Example:
- el/la artistaartist
- el/la astronautaastronaut
- el/la atletaathlete
- el/la colegacolleague
- el/la dentistadentist
- el/la guardaguard
- el/la guíaguide
- el/la guitarristaguitarist
- el/la líderleader
- el/la modelomodel
- el/la pianistapianist
- el/la pilotopilot
- el/la policíapolice officer
There are other professions and titles where the masculine and feminine forms are completely different, as shown in the table below:
Masculine | Feminine |
---|---|
el abad | la abadesaabbot, abbess |
al actor | la actrizactor, actress |
el alcalde | la alcadesamayor, mayoress |
el barón | la baronesabaron, baroness |
el conde | la condesacount, countess |
el duque | la duquesaduke, duchess |
el emperador | la emperatrizemperor, empress |
el héroe | la heroinahero, heroine |
el monje | la monjamonk, nun |
el poeta | la poetisa*poet |
el príncipe | la princesaprince, princess |
el rey | la reinaking, queen |
*The form la poeta is also accepted for the feminine.
Gender of animal nouns in Spanish
The gender of nouns for pets and some wild animals usually corresponds to the sex of the animal.
- Examples:
- el gato, la gatacat
- el león, la leonalion
- el oso, la osabear
- el perro, la perradog
However, the nouns for some wild animals have only one form (masculine or feminine) that is used for both male and female animals. The gender of these animals is specified via the words machomale or hembrafemale.
- Examples:
- un delfín macho, un delfín hembraa male dolphin, a female dolphin
- una rana macho, una rana hembraa male frog, a female frog
Always Masculine | Always Feminine |
---|---|
el avestruzostrich | la ballenawhale |
el caracolsnail | la culebrasnake |
el cisneswan | la jirafagiraffe |
el colibríhummingbird | la langostalobster |
el delfíndolphin | la liebrehare |
el gusanoworm | la moscafly |
el lincelynx | la panterapanther |
el pezfish | la ranafrog |
el rinoceronterhinoceros | la serpientesnake |
la víboraviper |
In other cases, the masculine and feminine forms are different for the animal, as shown in the table below:
Masculine | Feminine |
---|---|
el caballo | la yeguahorse, mare |
el carnero | la ovejaram, ewe |
el elefante | la elefantaelephant |
el gallo | la gallinarooster, hen |
el jabalí | la jabalinawild boar, wild sow |
el tigre | la tigresatiger, tigress |
el toro | la vacabull, cow |
el zángano | la abeja reinadrone, queen bee |