FEMENINO Y MASCULINO

FEMENINO Y MASCULINO

Overview 

One of the hardest things for people to get used to when learning Spanish is the idea that nouns (people, places, animals, things, ideas, and feelings) have a gender (male, female). There is always a question of "How can a table be feminine? and "How can a a book be masculine?" This doesn’t mean that the table or the book is physically feminine or masculine, but in a grammatical sense, the ending is. 
Why is gender so important in Spanish? Well, if a noun is masculine, then its descriptive adjectives and articles will also need to be masculine. In order to describe something accurately, an adjective must match a noun in both gender and number. For example:

·         La manzana es roja. (The apple is red.)

·         El plátano es amarillo. (The banana is yellow.)

Knowing the gender of a noun allows you to describe it using adjectives correctly and also use the correct articles when you have to. By far, the best way to determine the gender of a noun is to look it up in a dictionary. If you don't have a dictionary available, there are a few general observations you can use below, but these are not rules! They are just clues for when you don't have a dictionary. So let’s talk about some general ways to recognize if a noun is masculine or feminine.

Masculine Nouns

Most masculine nouns end in -o. Ending in an -o can indicate that a person or animal is male, or just an object, idea, etc. that is grammatically masculine.

Common Masculine Noun that End in -O

·         el cartero (mailman/postman)

·         el niño (child/son)

·         el tío (uncle)

·         el teatro (theater)

·         el dormitorio (bedroom)

For All Those Masculine Nouns that Don't End in -O...

If it ends in -e, an accented vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú), -ma, or a consonant other than -d, -z, or ión, it's also masculine.

Non -O Masculine Nouns

-e	el perfume, el estante, el maquillaje
accented vowel	el colibrí, el ají, el ñandú
consonant (except -d, -z, and -ión)	el árbol, el rumor, el cojín
-ma	el programa, el drama, el idioma

And, the exceptions...

These nouns may look like they have a masculine ending, but they are actually feminine. No rules here, just memorization.
They Look Masculine, But are Feminine!

-o	-e	accented vowel	consonants that aren't -d nor -z
la foto	la llave	la fe	la miel
la mano	la calle		la sal
la moto	la fiebre		la hiel
la libido	la carne		la piel
la radio	la frase		la coliflor
la polio	la gente		la sor
la virago	la nieve		la labor
	la noche		la flor
	la nube
	la sangre
	la suerte
	la tarde
	la muerte
	la madre
	la base
	la clase
	la clave
	la corriente
	la fuente
	la llave
	la sede
	la serpiente
	la torre

Feminine Nouns

Most feminine nouns end in -a. Ending in an -a indicates that a person or animal is feminine or that an object, idea, etc. is grammatically feminine.

Common Feminine Nouns that End in -A

·         la enfermera (nurse)

·         la profesora (teacher)

·         la hija (daughter)

·         la rosa (rose)

·         la guitarra (guitar)

·         la piscina (pool)

For All Those Feminine Nouns That Don't End in -A...

If it ends in -d, -z, or ión, it's also feminine.

-d	-z	-ión
la felicidad	la nariz	la religión
la virtud	la paz	la canción
la salud	la luz	la irritación

And the exceptions...

These nouns look like they have feminine endings, but are grammatically masculine. Memorize these!

-a	-d	-z	-ión
el drama	el huésped	el aprendiz	el ansión
el enigma	el ataúd	el cáliz	el roción
el esquema	el abad	el arroz	el notición
el estigma	el alud	el pez	el sentención
el estratega	el áspid	el lápiz	el corazón
el idioma	el laúd	el ajedrez
el mapa	el récord	el antifaz
el morfema	el milord	el maíz
el planeta	el césped	el albornoz
el problema		el avestruz
el sistema		el altavoz
el tema		el altramuz
el día		el arroz
el aroma		el barniz
el axioma		el cariz
el buda		el disfraz
el carisma		el haz
el clima		el matiz
el diagrama
el dilema
el fantasma
el panda
el prisma

EL ABECEDARIO EN ESPAÑOL 

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