Gender of Nouns in Spanish Grammar

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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.

Example

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