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Gender of Nouns
¡Hola! Me llamo Diego.
Your teacher has
invited me today to
help clarify your doubts
when deciding the
gender of words .
There are some things
you should keep in
mind when doing so.
Let me explain…
It’s all about understanding that in Spanish,
every noun (person, place or thing) has a gender, and
that in Spanish, a noun can be
either masculine or
feminine.
How are all of these
masculine nouns alike?
el abogadoel libroel chicoel baño
How are all of these feminine
nouns alike?
la casala maestra
la chicala doctora
Masculine Nouns generally end in – o
Feminine Nouns generally end in – a.
el /un diccionario el / un secretario
la / una computadora la / una profesora
If you look at both the beginning and
the ending of each line…
“el" and "la" both mean "the.“
el chico / the boyla chica / the girl
These two words (el, la) are called definite articles.
One cannot predict the
gender of a noun,
except in the case of
living creatures. Do not
try to analyze the
nature of the object,
looking for some
inherent masculinity or
femininity.
It won't work!
Take a guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "dress" is masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be feminine, since
a dress is an article of clothing worn by females.
Actually, the word for "dress" is a masculine word:
el vestido
Take another guess. Do you think the Spanish word for "necktie" is
masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be masculine, since a necktie is an article of
clothing worn by males.
Actually, the word for "necktie" is a feminine
word:
la corbata
Nouns that end in -sión,
-ción, -dad, -tad, & -tud
are feminine.
televisión
actitud
ciudad
conversaciónlibertad
Some nouns that end in -a are masculine.
el problema el dia
A few nouns that end in -ma are
feminine, such as la cama and la
pluma.
Many nouns that end in -ma are masculine.
el climael poema
A few nouns that end in -o are feminine.
la mano
Plural Forms of Nouns
If a noun ends in a vowel, make it plural by adding -s.
libro : libros señora : señoras
The definite articles (el, la) also change in the plural form. They become "los"
and "las."
el libro : los librosla señora : las señoras
Plural Forms of Nouns
If a noun ends in a consonant, make it plural by adding -es.
el profesor : los profesores
la ciudad: la ciudades
Definite and
Indefinite Articles
The difference between definite articles and indefinite articles can be
observed in the following two sentences:
Give me the chocolate chip cookie. Give me a cookie, please.
Imagine a plate full of cookies. There are peanut butter cookies, sugar cookies, gingerbread
cookies, and one chocolate chip cookie.
The first sentence speaks of a particular (or definite) cookie:
The second sentence speaks of any of a number of cookies (or an
indefinite cookie):
In Spanish, the definite article has 4 forms, depending on whether the noun
is…masculine, feminine, singular or plural.
el chico
los chicos
la chica
las chicas
I hope this
helped! Tengo
que irme.
¡Hasta la vista!
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