Gender of Nouns — Part I
A noun is a word used to denote a person, place, thing, or idea.
PERSON: John, girl, dentist
PLACE: garden, university, Venezuela
THING: book, car, tomato
IDEA: liberty, despair, intelligence
In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine.
MA S C U L I N E F EMI N I N E
el chico .................... boy la chica ........................ girl
el jardín .................... garden la universidad ............... university
el libro ..................... book la revista ...................... magazine
el miedo ................... fear la libertad .................... liberty
The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly natural when the noun stands for a
living creature. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names,
depending upon whether they are male or female.
MA S C U L I N E F EMI N I N E
man woman
tiger tigress
aviator aviatrix
The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures.
el gato ..................... male cat la gata ......................... female cat
el perro .................... male dog la perra ........................ female dog
el chico .................... boy la chica ........................ girl
el abuelo .................. grandfather la abuela ...................... grandmother
How are all of these masculine nouns alike?
el gato el perro
el chico el abuelo
HINT: look at both the beginning and the ending of each word pair.
How are all of these feminine nouns alike?
la gata la perra
la chica la abuela
HINT: look at both the beginning and the ending of each word pair.
"El" and "la" both mean "the."
el chico (the boy) la chica (the girl)
el perro (the male dog) la gata (the female cat)
NOTE: These two words (el, la) are called "definite articles." You will learn more about them in a later lesson.
What do you notice about the last letter of these nouns?
MA S C U L I N E F EMI N I N E
gato gata
perro perra
chico chica
abuelo abuela
Nouns that end in -o are usually masculine. Nouns that end in -a are usually feminine. Notice the
word "usually!" There are exceptions to these two rules and you will soon be learning them.
One cannot predict the gender of a noun that stands for a non-living thing. Try to predict
whether the Spanish words for the following things are masculine or feminine:
MA S C U L I N E O R F EMI N I N E ?
book house
money window
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
When you learn a new noun, you should also learn its definite article (el, la). There are
several reasons for this:
• Because you cannot predict the gender of most nouns.
• Because not every noun that ends in -o is masculine, and not every noun that ends in -a is
feminine.
• Because many nouns end in letters other than o or a.
• Because the definite article (el, la) is your clue as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine.
Why do you care whether a noun is masculine or feminine? Good question! As you shall
see in upcoming lessons, Spanish places a great deal more emphasis on gender than does
English.
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