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Gender
In this presentation,
we will look at two
very important
concepts in Spanish:
gender and agreement.
Gender
Look at these English
words and guess whether
they refer to male or
female:
Bull
Hen
Husband
Niece
Cousin
Calculator
Love
Gender
Some are obvious:
Bull (m.)
Hen (f.)
Husband (m.)
Niece (f.)
Others are unknown:
Cousin (m. or f.)
While others are neither
(“neuter”):
Calculator, love
Gender
In English, nouns and
pronouns fall into
three grammatical
groups:
Masculine: man,
husband, rooster, he
Feminine: woman,
wife, hen, she
Neuter: child, bird, it
Gender
In Spanish, all nouns fall
into just two categories:
Masculine (“masculino”)
Feminine (“feminino”)
There is no “neuter” class
in which to place nouns
such as “table” and
“chair.”
So what does this mean?
You should start
thinking about Spanish
nouns as being either
masculine or
feminine.
Let’s take a look!
Here are some nouns with
their corresponding
definite article (“the”):
el niño (the boy)
la niña (the girl)
el profesor (the professor)
la profesora (the professor)
el amigo (the friend)
la amiga (the friend)
Let’s reorganize these words.
Put all of the “el” words
together:
el niño
el profesor
el amigo
And all the “la” words
together:
la niña
la profesora
la amiga
That’s easy!
Masculine nouns use the definite article “el” while feminine nouns use “la.”
Let’s look at a few more:
La mesa (the table)
El libro (the book)
La pluma (the pen)
El teléfono (the phone)
Just a minute!!
Words that are neuter in
English are either
masculine or feminine in
Spanish.
This does not mean that
these words have
masculine or feminine
characteristics! It is just a
purely grammatical
classification.
Let’s practice!
Do you think these nouns are masculine (“el”) or feminine (“la”)? Don’t worry about the meanings for now.
___ hermano
___ mamá
___ trabajo
___ historia
___ planta
___ taco
How did you do?
el hermano
la mamá
el trabajo
la historia
la planta
el taco
Generally speaking, nouns that end in –o are
masculine, while those that end in –a are
feminine. There are exceptions, but we will
worry about them on a case-by-case basis.
Here are some different ones:
la ciudad
la universidad
la religión
la división
el actor
el doctor
el español
el túnel
Do you see the pattern?
Not all Spanish nouns end
in –o and –a, but they still
must be either masculine
or feminine.
Nouns that end in –ión are
usually feminine.
Nouns that end in –dad are
always feminine.
Nouns that end in –l and –r
are usually masculine.
What about…?
Nouns that end in –e can
be either masculine or
feminine:
la clase; el presidente
Some nouns can be both,
depending on the
meaning:
el presidente (a man)
la presidente (a woman)
What’s the bottom line?
Learn every Spanish
noun with its article.
It will pay off soon,
because you will be
able to classify new
nouns as you see the
patterns develop.
Agreement
Look at these sentences (alto = tall; guapo = good-looking):
El niño es alto y guapo.
La niña es alta y guapa.
Words that describe “niño” also end in –o: alto, guapo
Words that describe “niña” also end in –a: alta, guapa
What’s going on here?
Other words in the
sentence also change to
“agree” (match the form
of the noun they describe).
Here’s another one:
El profesor es bajo,
anciano, y gordo.
How would you change
this sentence to talk about
a woman professor?
Agreement
La profesora es baja,
anciana, y gorda.
What if there is more
than one male teacher?
Agreement
Los profesores son bajos, ancianos, y gordos.
What is happening??
Los > “the” plural
Profesores > plural
Son > “are”
Bajos, ancianos, gordos > adjectives match the ending of the nouns, too.
This doesn’t happen in English (except for “this/these” and “that/those”). But it’s an important feature in Spanish!
Let’s try one!
Put the correct ending
on each word.
La chica es bonit__ y
delgad__.
Mi auto es antigu__ y
fe__.
The envelope, please!
La chica es bonita y
delgada.
Mi auto es antiguo y
feo.
Now make these
sentences plural!
Your final answer…
Las chicas son bonitas
y delgadas.
Mis autos son antiguos
y feos.
How about this
sentence in the plural?
El estudiante es
inteligente y
trabajador.
How did you do?
Los estudiantes son
inteligentes y trabajadores.
Adjectives that end in –e
can be used with either
masculine or feminine
nouns. To make them
plural, just add –s.
Adjectives that end in –r
add –es for plural.
That’s enough for now!
This is a very tricky concept for learners of Spanish, mainly because it is so different from English.
However, it is extremely important and requires a lot of concentration on your part! Keep your eyes and ears open for gender and agreement, and soon the patterns will become clearer.
