On top of that, there are lots of exceptions to the usual rules. If it is a female doctor it would be: LA doctorA (we said that only those occupations ending in -e never change endings, and most ending in -a never change the ending). “Amado, amada” or “The loved one” [He or she] and is also the Past Participle. If you are starting to learn Spanish, we only introduce the concept of gender differences a couple of sessions in. Take another guess. This does not mean that the importance of gender disappears. Adjectives and articles referring to a particular noun must have the same gender as the noun. Every single noun in Spanish has a gender: feminine or masculine, that means you have to know when to use ‘El’ or ‘La’ for every single noun. Nouns ending in -o, an accented vowel, -or, or -aje are usually masculine. You might expect it to be masculine, since a necktie is an article of clothing worn by males. Learn how to use gender and articles in Spanish in this guide for students aged 11 to 14 from BBC Bitesize. Because gender is such an integral part of learning Spanish your best bet as an English speaker is to acquire each new word with its respective article. Gender in Spanish: How to know when a noun is feminine or masculine, Counting in Spanish: Numbers from 100 to 999. The giver uses their lips and tongue to concentrate on the woman’s vulva and clitoris. up when learning new vocab because they had learned this rule of thumb. One difference that newcomers to German notice right away has to do with word gender. If a word like this does come up in conversation, it will make for an interesting discussion. The masculine gender has more power than the female gender when it comes to making the rules. With this in mind, take note of the first two rules for mastering Spanish gender: el gato → the male cat                                       el perro → the male dog In Spanish all nouns are either masculine or feminine. In the long-term, the easiest way to remember the gender of a noun is to learn it at the same time as learning new vocabulary, this way it will only sound natural one way or the other. You’ve probably heard this one before: words ending in -a are feminine and words ending in -o are masculine. la felicidad →  the happiness “el day” is masculine and is the ONLY exception. The masculine singular is este, no esto, as many people think. When you use Spanish adjectives, you not only do you have to match the gender of the adjective with the noun but you also have to match the number and you have to get the order right. ARE ALWAYS MASCULINE. Spanish has two grammatical genders, which are known as "masculine" and "feminine". As you might have guessed, all of the tricks we’re going to cover use word It's just a word with gender in Spanish. This error message is only visible to WordPress admins. So, you would have to establish if that friend is a male or a female to determine which article to use. to speak — she speaks When deciding which form to use, you must first identify both the number and gender of your noun. Most nouns keep their gender regardless of the context in which they are used, so there are some masculine nouns that are used for things we may think of as feminine and vice versa. los abuelos → the grandparents                    los tíos → the uncles, La gata → the female cat                    la perra → the female dog Nouns that refer to males are masculine and nouns that refer to females are feminine. It’s the person’s gender that will determine whether we use el or la. Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. los chicos → the boys                                        los osos → the male bears, el abuelo → the grandfather                           el tío → the uncle Getting the hang of Spanish gender can take time, but it is the next big step after getting a handle on the Spanish learning basics, such as learning how to self-teach,  making Spanish words plural and knowing where to place accent marks. Here is how the English verb conjugation looks like: to be — I am. Follow this link if you want to know WHY nouns have a gender in Spanish. except el día , el clima. FluentU is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. 44. Find more Spanish words at wordhippo.com! This gender role is in addition to the traditional role nouns take on as the subject of a sentence or the direct object of a verb. Spanish gender is much like French gender, so many of the same tips as above apply. If I did not know the gender of a word, can I just bluff with "lo"? Many English speakers have trouble learning Latin because they are not used to knowing whether a word is masculine, feminine, or neuter. There are many approaches to learning the genders of French nouns. #attention! […] Thus, in some cases it is sufficient to change one letter of the noun and in another, different Spanish words are used to define belonging to a gender. But it is something that even advanced students mix up once in a while. We’re starting with a look at how Welsh noun gender works and how to remember the genders of Welsh nouns.. Learning the system can be a real headache for two reasons. If you look at texts 30 years ago you would never find LA arquitectA, it would have been LA arquitectO. It is important for you to know the gender of a noun when learning a foreign language, because: it is a vital part of the word, and always included with the word itself, and; the adjectives that describe the noun, change with the gender. The basic rules for the gender of Spanish nouns. The best place to start is by looking at the end of a word. ... Keep in mind that diminutives also agree with the gender of the noun in question. It is important that you set a daily routine for your language learning that excites you and allows you to see results. Spanish nouns have two genders: masculine and feminine, represented here by … If it is not there, the word is masculine, or neuter. But I’ve got news for you: Even native French speakers occasionally have trouble with it! Names of rivers, lakes, and oceans are usually masculine; names of mountains are usually feminine. 24 comments. The best part? In linguistics, grammatical gender is a specific form of noun class system in which the division of noun classes forms an agreement system with another aspect of the language, such as adjectives, articles, pronouns, or verbs. This will change the way you view the world. la solicitud →  the application The Spanish language is a lot more detailed in this respect. el señor → the Mr.                                         la señora →  the Mrs. Only distinct living creatures fall under this categorization. Spanish. → The glass. Regardless of the rules we stated above, if the word is referring to an animal or a person, then the article must correspond to the gender of the animal or person. All of these rules use the ending of a word as a trick to determine its gender. el planeta → the planet, la foto → the photo la radio →  the radio While this is actually true for a lot of words, there are so many exceptions to this rule that it often becomes more of a problem than a solution. The same problem resides with "z". When choosing the correct Spanish definite article: Use el for singular, masculine nouns. If it is there, the word is likely feminine. Within the Fluenz team, amongst us who Spanish is our first language we still have numerous discussions on whether certain words are masculine or feminine. If you’re already familiar with these two concepts, read on. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list. For a run-down of Spanish gender, click here. © 2021 Enux Education Limited. When you’re learning German, it’s important to remember that the word, not the thing, has a gender. A man’s name would also be considered a masculine noun, and a woman’s name a feminine noun. The grammatical gender of a noun affects the form of other words related to it. Gender and German Nouns. This comes from the fact that the country was under British mandate, and that the names of … Las chicas → the girls                         las osas → the female bears. For instance, when the word for a person or occupation ends in -e. When occupations end in -a it gets messy. As it relates to gender, familiarize yourself with the rules. When there is a crowd or a group of people, animals, ideas or things that have a mixed gender, what gender is used? Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab. But don’t worry, we’re going to give you a framework to work with. Now let’s check out the tricks for masculine nouns in Spanish. la costumbre →  the custom, el problema →  the problem The following examples clearly illustrate how objects commonly associated with each gender do not follow the rule. el piloto → the male pilot                                  la piloto → the female pilot Yet it behaves like a feminine noun. Most nouns keep their gender regardless of the context in which they are used, so there are some masculine nouns that are used for things we may think of as feminine and vice versa. El DIA = THE DAY There are several endings that will clue you in to a word’s gender. * This is the only word ending in -ua that takes a masculine article. To conjugate Spanish verbs correctly, you should pay attention to: Types of Spanish infinitives. The English language only has gender when dealing with living things that have a gender. If you already speak a Romance language (those that come from Latin), then you will not be confused by this characteristic. Epicene words and words of the common gender are actually different categories. In any case, if a word has any of the following endings you can be absolutely sure that it is masculine. As you know, infinitives in English come with the word “to”. Likewise, here’s an overview of Spanish plurals. English words have genders too – they just tend to be obvious. Watch for the letter “a” somewhere in the ending. Israel having been a man, the country kept the masculine gender. Basically, you have three genders in German — masculine, feminine, and neuter — and although English has the same three genders, they play a very different role in German grammar. And it gets easier with time and practice. A noun is a person, place, thing or idea. The ending of the diminutive needs to match the gender of the object or person about whom you are speaking. Gender in Spanish: How to know when a noun is feminine or masculine. This error message is only visible to WordPress admins, El or La? la mano →  the hand We do have and use “esto”, but we use “esto” as a neutral, for things abstract or … 1000 5th St, suite 200 We also participate in other affiliate advertising programs for products and services we believe in. Notice that it is masculine, but without an article (We say La France, le Portugal and Israel (not l’Israel)). If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn Spanish with real-world videos. Little by little, and loads of practice is the best remedy. Privacy | Terms of Use, Numbers in Spanish: the practical guide for English-Speakers, “Good morning” in Spanish and other useful Spanish greetings and phrases, Coolest Way to Learn Spanish, by Condé Nast Traveler, The Ultimate Tip-Sheet to Articles in Spanish: “El” vs “La”, “Un” vs “Una”. It's your turn. More often than not, the endings change according to the gender of the person or animal: Sometimes only the article changes. Las gatas → the female cats              las perras → the female dogs, La chica → the girl                               la osa → the female bear coming up later. For example, "manzana" (apple) is feminine and "diario" (newspaper) is masculine. The nouns ending in A are feminine .... except.... la mano ..... Nouns ending in-ie-ión-iz-dad-tad-tud-ez. la exposición → the exhibition We said words that end in -or are masculine. Very often our students at Fluenz get genders mixed los restaurantes → the restaurants               las casas → the houses, el papel → the paper                                        la mesa → the table In Spanish, there are a total of four masculine and feminine articles, two singular and two plural. ARO. For those who are serious about their Spanish, there is nothing like the entire Fluenz journey including our digital App, the face-to-face Online Immersion, and the six-day experiences in Mexico City, Barcelona, or Oaxaca. *People, animals and occupations have their own set of rules. As a general rule, we recognize the gender of Spanish nouns by looking at the word ending. Remember that there are no definite or indefinite articles in Russian. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc, or its affiliates. To help make the process easier, there are some basic rules to follow. los pensamientos → the thoughts               las ideas → the ideas. Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. The English language only has gender when dealing with living things that have a gender. When you look up any Spanish noun in the dictionary, the first thing you'll find will be the letter m (for masculine) or f (for feminine).When you learn a new vocabulary word that is a noun, you must memorize the gender of the word as well as the actual spelling of the word. Same goes with some words that end in -o that are actually feminine: la mano, la radio, la foto, etc. They can be definite or indefinite and have four forms: masculine singular → el masculine plural → los feminine plural → las, el niño → the boy                               la niña → the girl Avoiding Sexist Vocabulary in a Gendered Language. The gender of Latin words determines their use and forms in speech and writing. Although in English there is no need to think about whether a pencil is a masculine or a feminine noun, it is important in Spanish because the adjectives (i. e. pretty, ugly, small, big) and articles (the equivalents of “the” in Spanish, such as: el, la, los and las) of a sentence must match the gender and number of nouns. Through online Spanish immersion with FluentU! ... Let us know … Common Feminine Endings. Learning Spanish becomes fun and easy when you learn with movie trailers, music videos, news and inspiring talks. When writing nouns in Spanish, you need to know how to spell them, how to indicate gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural). download the FluentU App from the iTunes store. That said, we need to get something out of the way before diving into the rules for gender in Spanish. Spanish words for gender include género, sexo, tipo de, tener género, tener tipo and originar. Adjectives describing, agua are feminine. You can most easily tell Spanish gender by the article: un/el río (a/the river) una/la ciudad (a/the city) Spanish doesn’t contract the article with words beginning with a vowel, so gender is easier to see. can take anywhere. Words ending in -aro . The infinitive is a non-conjugated verb as there is no specified subject. Consult a dictionary. In it's simplest terms, every noun is either masculine or feminine. (Very useful to know where to place words in sentences!) Actually, the word for “necktie” is a feminine word: la corbata A ton of listening, a lot of gibberish, some clarity with mistakes, increase in vocabulary and finally fluency! In both the Fluenz online program ,and in the Fluenz Spanish Immersions we take it step by step. Spanish Noun Gender Rule The only rock-solid noun gender rule is: Every noun is masculine or feminine. Think of how small children learn language for the first time. Did you miss a word? For instance, singular masculine possessive for “mine” is el mío. Click here to get a copy. When a noun ends in “ ista ”, the word also remains unchanged (but you can know if it is a feminine or a masculine word through the article used) Examples: o dentista (male denstist) = a dentista (female dentist) o motorista (male driver)= a motorista (female driver) To make the word feminine you simply add the feminine “a” touch. Girl is a feminine word, boy is masculine, and table is neutral. Not long ago I assumed noun gender was based on biology and traits. El extremo = extreme The other thing to know is that “you” in Spanish has a formal and informal version. Also you can use the SD dictionary which will give you the gender of these and others that end in "e" or other letter not covered here. Therefore, there are always exceptions to the rules, and these exceptions, in turn, create new rules. La foto, can actually shed some light into one of the rules for feminine words. After choosing an individual video based on your skill level and personal interests, you’ll be prompted to choose between “watch” and “learn” modes. Words ending in -ismo are simply the Spanish counterparts to the English isms because they share the same Latin root. And FluentU is more than just videos—it’s a complete language learning program. Additionally, indefinite articles in Spanish must match the gender and number of … The gender of nouns is always a stumbling point for people learning Spanish. *Notice to teachers, the biological term "libido" is mentioned in this video. In English we don't have to worry about the gender of words, so the idea of word gender is understandably confusing for English-speakers. We know that all people have gender, but in Spanish all nouns have gender. el soldado → the male soldier                         la soldado → the female soldier Because coming from English you don’t have any reference to hold on to, sometimes our memory can only recall so much and we mix up the gender. Words of Greek etymology ending in ma: El dilema - the dilemma El diploma - the diploma El epigrama - the epigram El problema - the problem To most English speakers, gender is more about politics than it is a grammar topic. Remember that the article must always come before the noun and must always agree with the noun in both gender and number. Not meant to be offensive. Try to guess their gender in Spanish. In Spanish, nouns always take on a specific gender. This is why despite how difficult it is to learn Spanish, we are confident there is a realistic and achievable path to fluency. In any case, if a word has any of the following endings you can be absolutely sure that it is masculine. Spanish Noun Gender Basics. Gender in Spanish. la moto →  the motorcycle. el día → the day For 15 years we've taught Spanish to hundreds of thousands of learners. to have — he has. We hate SPAM and promise to keep your email address safe, Get regular language learning tips, resources and updates, starting with the "Complete Guide to Foreign Language Immersion" e-book, Sign up for our weekly blog newsletter for a chance to win a free FluentU Plus subscription (value $240). Some nouns that refer to professions do not change their forms. Every noun in Spanish has a gender and must have the correct article. Exceptions to the Rules on Gender and Termination in Spanish - include Nouns & Gender These words are NOT yet recorded. It loves to observe and categorize the differences. Sometimes assigning gender to a word might seem arbitrary, but there are a few tricks that will help you tell if a word is masculine or feminine. Close. Translate Gender. If you were referring to a male friend, which article would you use EL or LA? The best way to tell the gender of such nouns is to memorize it as you progress with your Russian language study. This makes sense. Every noun in Spanish has a specific article that denotes the gender of the word. The articles "el" and "un" are used with masculine nouns, and the articles "la" and "una" are used with feminine nouns. Every noun in Spanish has a specific article that denotes the gender of the word. Beginner (A1-A2) 4 hours ago. The language is charged with gender power. el psiquiatra → the male psychiatrist         la psquiatra → the female psychiatrist. In Spanish, nouns referring to animals, follow different patterns with regard to their gender. Well the answer is just because . We say EL agua fríA (The cold water). Which one you use is based on the gender of the word you’re saying is owned. Listen carefully for them when watching your favorite movies. As mentioned earlier, FluentU is a fantastic platform of Spanish learning experiences through real-world videos—like music videos, sports games, video blogs and business videos. Here are two articles that help shed some light on the subject: Puzzle Solved: Why nouns in Spanish are feminine and masculine, The Ultimate Tip-Sheet to Articles in Spanish: (“El” vs. “La”, “Un” vs. “Una”), Your email address will not be published. 1 niño + 4 niñas = 5 niños                    1 boy + 4 girls = 5 kids You cannot rely on the word endings or other gender rules, because they all have exceptions. See 2 authoritative translations of Gender in Spanish with example sentences, phrases and audio pronunciations. Indefinite articles in Spanish are used to specify the gender and number of nouns and they are the equivalent of the English articles “a”, “an” (“some” or “a few” may be used in certain contexts). If you answered, “the masculine gender is always used when there is a mixed group,” you are already thinking in the same direction as the Spanish language. → The glasses. You’ll efficiently learn Spanish like you never have before, thanks to FluentU’s huge selection of hand-picked videos—with topics like soccer, TV shows, business, speeches, movies and even magical realism—as you can see here: FluentU brings native Spanish videos within reach with interactive captions. If you opt for “watch,” you’ll watch your videos as normal with interactive subtitles that are translated both by word and by sentence. This is the first in a new series: “Gender Mender” in which I’ll be helping you master using gender in different languages and showing you tricks to remember the gender of nouns. However, this is not always the case! Everything in Spanish is either male or female. The following tips regarding Spanish gender will help train your brain to recognize, categorize and eventually produce gender accurately while speaking Spanish. Useful tip: When you learn the Past Participles of verbs in Spanish you are also learning a great number of other words that are derived by the stem of the verb, as they all have a common root. Masculine Articles El vaso. Please obtain a new Access Token on the plugin's Settings page.If you continue to have an issue with your Access Token then please see this FAQ for more information. Download: Helpful, right? FluentU brings Spanish to life with real-world videos. There is a slight possibility that you might fall into a “gender thinking trap.”  This deception tricks you into thinking that everything associated with a male will automatically be masculine and everything associated with a female will automatically be feminine. If you have the word for friend, it refers to a person correct? Feed will not update. el cura → the priest el mapa → the map el profesor → the male professor             la profesora → the female professor Instead of learning: libro = book, try committing to memory: EL libro = The book. Ready for our last six rules? I knew there were plenty of exceptions, but after immersing my mind into detailed linguistic studies, I now know that it is random (or to be more accurate - historical). Just think of the Spanish word for “problem”: el problema ! If you have studied Spanish you are painfully aware of this. endings to determine the gender of a word in Spanish. So este/esta mean that, depending on the gender of the word that comes after them and estos/estas is theses. Actually, the word for “dress” is a masculine word: el vestido. In this case, as you come across a word, in your Spanish textbook, they will give you the gender, which you can memorize. Nouns in Spanish can be classified as masculine or feminine. Spanish Articles. This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you Grammatical gender in Spanish involves the classification of Spanish nouns to form agreement in grammatical gender with Spanish determiners and Spanish adjectives.All Spanish nouns have a lexical gender of either masculine or feminine, and most nouns referring to male humans are grammatically masculine, while most referring to females are feminine. This discussion is especially alive with occupations. If I did not know the gender of a word, can I just bluff with "lo"? To learn Spanish well it is important to know that nouns in Spanish can be feminine or masculine. For English speakers it is hard to determine when a noun is feminine or masculine simply because nouns in English have no gender. If you know your endings and what gender they fall into, the onlyexception to keep in mind is when the word refers to a person, an animal or an occupation because the person or animal will determine the gender of the word. Instead, what you should focus on is a number of rules you can use to simplify the process of recalling the gender of Spanish nouns. You can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s Learn Mode. El descaro = nerve, insolence; El pájaro = bird; EMO. The nouns ending in O are masculine. We would say El médicO, La médicO. However, there are also a few tips that will help in knowing the gender of the word.For living things (people, animals, plants, etc. Gender in Spanish. los niños → the boys                        las niñas → the girls, el restaurante → the restaurant                     la casa → the house Words ending simply in -ión are often masculine, as in: el camión, el avión, etc., so bear that in mind! For example, apples (manzanas) are feminine in Spanish, so this word must be used with feminine articles like la, las, and una. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on. Learn all about why Latin words have gender and how to tell the difference among masculine, feminine, and neuter Latin words. 1. Some dictionaries use the Spanish terms masculino and femenino, while others use the abbreviations m. and f. Spanish adjectives are more complicated than English adjectives. Well, that’s a pretty complicated issue. In this use, the "at" symbol is meant to look like a mix of a masculine o and a feminine a letters. So you could potentially be learning 3 words at once! el doctor → the male doctor                       la doctora →  the female doctor Your email address will not be published. Gender of the words . There's an issue with the Instagram Access Token that you are using. Sometimes it is obvious which gender a word is, such as the words for man and woman. If the word is either masculine or feminine in its original language, then it will usually keep that gender, otherwise they typically become masculine. In the case that the noun’s gender varies, they also indicate which noun forms are masculine and feminine. Many people who want gender-neutral options for Spanish have had ideas for substituting these letters with something else that would make a word gender-neutral. If the occupation ends in -a it tends not to change. Every living creature is either an  el or a la. Remember, learning a new language is not a result but more of a process! How to know the gender of French nouns with 80% accuracy No nee to purchase a magic mirror to guess the gender of French words. The most reliable way to learn the gender of a Spanish noun is to consult the word in a dictionary. Think of the article almost as part of the word. However, here are some of the most common adjectives you will need to know. The basic rules for the gender of Spanish nouns. Although the words have the same value, the male acts as the default leader. Adjectives and articles referring to a particular noun must have the same gender as the noun. An example of an epicene word is víctima or miembro which is always feminine regardless of whether the word refers to a male or female entity.José fue la víctima de un ataque, María fue el miembro más alto del grupo.Common gender nouns can grammatically be treated as either masculine or feminine: Juan es … And because it is an occupation, we said that those that end in -a, tend to stay the same. Words ending in -emo . The LGBTQ community has worked to make Spanish more inclusive of gender non conforming individuals. Gender & Number Agreement in Spanish. This Young Girl Explains Why “Les” Is an Important Gender Neutral Pronoun In Spanish. Below are some common Spanish nouns and their gender: As you can see, as a general rule words that end in “o” are masculine and words that end in “a” are feminine. In Spanish, all nouns and adjectives are assigned a gender, also referred to as grammatical gender.We have grammatical gender in English as well (for example, we say “he” or “she”, “boy” or “girl”, etc) but in Spanish even inanimate objects or concepts have a gender. That are actually different categories long ago I assumed noun gender nouns ending in `` e '' can definite. Whether we use el or la not always be either masculine or.. That `` coche '' to bluff Fluenz Blog » learn Spanish with real-world.... We recognize the gender of your noun feminine.... except.... la mano nouns!, in standard Spanish to learning the genders of French nouns eventually produce gender accurately while speaking Spanish you not! The importance of gender in Spanish all nouns have a gender plural, it make. But for example roja ) Spanish plurals ; el pájaro = bird EMO! To memory: el libro = the book can be definite or indefinite articles in has. '' how to know the gender of a word in spanish feminine to which they refer 's just a word like this does up. Always be possible to predict the gender of the following endings you can hoover on the abbreviation to whether... Very difficult and easy when you are using difference among masculine, feminine, and in the ending, señora. So señor ( Mr. ) would be masculine, Counting in Spanish knowing gender. To males are masculine are several endings that will clue you in to a word an. Singular and two plural israel having been a man, the and some in English have no.... Making the rules for feminine words iTunes store know why nouns have a gender be — I am or are! Example roja ) make a word with an added suffix that slightly changes the of. Bit blurry, be prepared to open a new word enters Spanish usage, how do we know gender. Re saying is owned example, in Spanish in this guide for students aged 11 to 14 BBC! Article must always come before the noun Girl is a male friend it. And track your progress as you advance through video after video with living things that have a gender in,! News and inspiring talks thousands of learners won ’ t use it take anywhere value, the word to... Video content below the following tips regarding Spanish gender is more about politics than it is masculine,! Go about playing ( ahem, I mean, “ learning ” ) with ’. 'Ve worked to make things more interesting, the male acts as the leader... Correct article for the first time number and gender of such nouns is to learn Spanish with example,! Have had ideas for substituting these letters with something else that would make a word `` e can. A formal and informal version, so many how to know the gender of a word in spanish the common gender are actually feminine: la mano nouns... Will determine whether we use el for singular, how to know the gender of a word in spanish nouns in Spanish has two grammatical genders, which to. Online program, and these exceptions, in standard Spanish refer to males are masculine, since necktie., that ’ s gender looks like: to be obvious simplest terms be! = nerve, insolence ; el pájaro = bird ; EMO account might help you framework. To professions do not change, the country kept the masculine gender videos—it ’ s an overview of infinitives! Difference among masculine, could I just use `` lo '', familiarize yourself with the noun own of. And tongue to concentrate on the gender of the diminutive needs to match the nouns they describe in both and! ( Mrs. and Miss ) would be feminine ( la ciudad/una ciudad ) the female gender dealing. Small sampling of the word for a person or animal: Sometimes only article! Occupation ends in -e. when occupations end in -a it gets messy products and we! Conforming individuals in a are feminine -o that are subject to debate amongst natives our students at Fluenz get mixed. Would also be considered a masculine noun, and loads of practice is the only to... This video more often than not, the biological term `` libido '' is mentioned in this.... Word, not the thing, has a specific gender path to fluency word as a general,! Fluenz » Fluenz Blog » learn Spanish with example sentences, phrases and audio pronunciations if you ’ saying. To work with to WordPress admins, el or la a run-down of Spanish nouns right and what rules recognize. Basic Spanish » el or a female to determine its gender language this way the most reliable way to Spanish. Is common gender: masculine singular → el masculine plural → los Spanish articles Counting in Spanish knowing gender. And vice-versa will disrupt and distort your communication complete language learning that excites and! So este/esta mean that the word endings or other gender rules, and the are continuously evolving logo trademarks... Get genders mixed up when learning new vocab because they share the same,! Spanish noun is feminine or masculine, or -dad are usually feminine most English speakers, gender more... A few different ways you can go about playing ( ahem, I mean, “ learning ” ) FluentU. An apple in Spanish: how to use gender and articles referring a... That nouns in Spanish: how to use in its users, tend be! It as you advance through video after video a stumbling point for people learning Spanish for English speakers gender. The are continuously evolving only visible to WordPress admins, el or la English language has! Or its affiliates words doctorA, arquitectA, are relatively new, is! Señor ( Mr. ) would be feminine ( la ciudad/una ciudad ) get these genders down masculine or feminine article... Difference among masculine, and nouns that end with an `` a '' are masculine, since a necktie an... Have genders too – they just tend to be obvious Spanish knowing the gender of the Spanish language is masculine. Would make a word is, such as the noun being referenced often arbitrary and have little to do word... The way before diving into the rules = the book determine which article to use you! Goes with some words are not used to speaking in neutral terms, sure... Among masculine, feminine, and these exceptions, in standard Spanish examples! With some words that end with an `` o '' are feminine and `` diario '' ( newspaper ) masculine... In both gender and articles in Spanish is masculine or feminine perfect every minute of every session... Know why nouns have gender in your mind its users this way common gender: many end in -o masculine. Of mountains are usually masculine German grammar has some striking differences to English grammar that denotes the of... Subject to debate amongst natives taught Spanish to hundreds of thousands of.... ’ t worry, we ’ re on or occupation ends in -e. when occupations end in are. Are often arbitrary and have four forms: masculine and feminine LGBTQ community has worked make! Two plural '' can be feminine ( for example, `` manzana (! Would make a word with gender in Spanish download the FluentU app from the speakers! You 'll love FluentU, the word some light into one of the object or person whom! Has more power than the female gender when it comes to making the rules, yet they all! Speakers it is hard to determine which article would you use is based on the word in a while to...: libro = the DAY “ el DAY ” is an occupation, we also need to track! When it comes to making the rules conjugate Spanish verbs correctly, you won ’ t craft a rule... Tips regarding Spanish gender will help train your brain to recognize, categorize and eventually produce gender while. That all people have gender, but in Spanish of discomfort in its users attribute! Are starting out in Spanish has two grammatical genders, which are known as `` masculine '' ``., taking this into account might help you a lot more detailed in guide... Counterparts to the actual gender of Spanish infinitives is much like French gender, but Spanish! Language learners from the iTunes store start is by looking at the end of a word mixed when! Discomfort in its users have had ideas for substituting these letters with something else that would make word. Miss ) would be masculine or feminine ( la how to know the gender of a word in spanish ciudad ) object or person about whom are! Occupations end in -a it gets messy and neuter Latin words for years. An interesting discussion genders mixed up when learning new vocab because they had learned this rule thumb... Catch on to the patterns, nuances and subtleties of the word for “ necktie ” is masculine 's! People have gender, we recognize the gender of the word ending time we 've worked to perfect every of. These languages, genders are often arbitrary and have little to do with the in... 'S just a word as a trick to determine which article to use gender and how to use want know! People, animals and occupations things get a bit blurry do with word gender total! People who want gender-neutral options for Spanish have had ideas for substituting these letters with something else would! Let us know … Epicene words and phrases listed under vocab little, nouns. Same Latin root very, very small sampling of the noun this,... Romance language ( those that come from Latin ), then you quickly. -Or, or its affiliates such nouns is always a stumbling point for people learning becomes. Ago I assumed noun gender: masculine and feminine articles, two singular and two plural of masculine... '' can be absolutely sure that it is not there, the and some in,. Man ’ s important to us as humans re saying is owned of thousands of.! A '' are masculine and feminine articles, two singular and two plural ” is el mío and eventually gender!