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. Make sure you pay attention to the exceptions column. For instance, a table (la mesa) is feminine, while a desk (el escritorio) is masculine. Those singers are Spanish. Nouns ending in -cin, -sin, -dad, -tad and -tud are feminine: la cancin, relacin, la televisin, la expresin, la ciudad, la verdad, la libertad, la amistad, la solicitud, la juventud, etc. Otherwise, it would sound like laaagua. Uncle and aunt, for example, are el to andla ta. In his spare time, he enjoys reading and getting angry about things on. In the sections below, youll find tables with the most common endings for masculine words in Spanish. 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. (university) (United Kingdom) a. la vacaciones (F) to take a vacation tomarse unas vacaciones intransitive verb 2. The standard rules are here on the top of the page, but you shouldnt trust them fully. For English speakers, it is hard to determine when a noun is feminine or masculine simply because nouns in English have no gender. Masculine forms. Here's what's included: Get conjugations, examples, and pronunciations for millions of words and phrases in Spanish and English. -Fue un lunes, -Ha sido un septiembre hmedo -Nac en el 84 -Son las cinco y cuarto -Poner los puntos sobre las es -La hache delante de la 'a' es muda What Mono means? Composition 2 - 1020 Tema: Vacation plans Imagine you are planning your next vacation with your best friend to a Spanish speaking country or a specific city (assigned by your instructor). It's a good place to start for beginners though! There are some rules to determine if a noun is masculine of feminine. The 27 Letters of the Spanish Alphabet [2022], Learn Basic Spanish: The First 10 Spanish Words You Need To Learn [2022]. With these rules below, you'll know which to use with every word "el" or "la". 501 lessons. The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures. A Spanish noun is a word we use to name people, things, concepts, places, and animals. A noun is a word used to denominate a person, thing, place or concept. You are too stressed out; you should go on holiday. Les gusta irse de vacaciones a las Bahamas. This means that most Spanish adjectives will change their gender to match the noun. Men wish that they had been warriors, or are proud that they once were. All the Spanish nouns ending in cin, -sin, -tad, -tud, -dad or umbre are feminine: There are some Spanish nouns that have the same form for both masculine and feminine. 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. The idea here is that words that end in any of the letters L-O-N-E-R-S tend to be masculine. Because all the nouns that end with -in are feminine words in Spanish. Here are some of the letters that we usually see at the end of masculine words. Sugared water is bad for your health. Las aguas azucaradas son malas para la salud. Have you tried it yet? is vacation in spanish masculine or feminine. Most nouns that end in "a" are feminine nouns. We know that a person can be a man or a woman. Venir is an irregular verb in Spanish. Time to dive into a topic that combines grammar and etiquette. Feminine nouns have different letters at the end of them than masculine ones. (= Is the water cold or lukewarm?). To put it in simple terms, if youre working with a Spanish masculine noun, you must make sure its modifiers are also masculine. Exceptions to that rule are la crema and la yema, which come from French and Latin respectively. Yes, when speaking to someone you are familiar with it is t and the verb will end with an 's' such as t quieres. Mis perros son muy tranquilos. *People, animals and occupations have their own set of rules. A common mistake made by Spanish learners is to confuse the number one, uno, with un, which means a/an. 4. * This is the only word ending in -ua that takes a masculine article. The man sneezed.). Because aguas is plural in the second example, the s on the end of the article las breaks up the stressed a in aguas. Your lipstick is so pretty! La mano (hand) is feminine, but el pie (foot) is masculine. The same goes for some words that end in -o that are actually feminine: la mano, la radio, la foto, etc. Which brings us to the only exception to these rules! There is not a single pattern, as you can see from the following examples. Is vacation in Spanish masculine or feminine? Which is why it uses the article las which correctly matches the nouns gender. And they can be a little confusing because sometimes the noun endings change (the masculineel doctor and the feminine la doctora), but sometimes they dont (the masculineel poeta and the femininela poeta). Luis dog is white. And with -(a)tra, especially in the medical field: el/la foniatra, el/la pediatra, el/la obstetra. You know that people and animals are masculine or feminine, but did you know that nouns in Spanish have gender? The dish is white with blue stripes. I love smoked salmon. Tu voz es muy chillona. The food was delicious. Este semestre est bien pesado. Given that this may be a new concept for new learners, many people wonder what grammatical gender in Spanish is. But then you find out that its la foto, not el foto. The general rule states that all Spanish nouns are masculine or feminine. In contrast to English, the Spanish plural of the masculine forms of these words refers to "not-all-feminine" groups, i.e. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names, depending upon whether they are male or female. . These key rules will make it easier for you! Spanish gender is a complex topic. and the Spanish Civil War failed in reality to place him in a distinctly different camp from Chamberlain and . Fish are very pretty. L'immigration est + masculine que fminine : INFO ou INFOX ? This is the only noun ending that does not have a guideline gender classification. Also, in plural they keep the feminine definite article (las), because the S avoids the cacophony: las aguas. We would say El mdicO, La mdicO. coming up later. Este silln es muy cmodo. Nouns with other endings, such as other consonants, usually need to be memorized. This attribute allows us to classify words as either masculine or feminine. Names of rivers, lakes, and oceans are usually masculine; names of mountains are usually feminine. As a result, here are some frequently asked questions that most of my students usually have. (m) means that a noun is masculine. My students are already speaking Spanish and using it in their everyday lives. Irregular Masculine Nouns. One of the biggest exceptions to the LONERS rule we talked about for masculine nouns above is-in. Words ending in -o are generally masculine, while ones ending in -a are generally feminine . This power point explains how Spanish nouns, articles and adjectives have gender and number. (2020,May 08 ). So with people you may not know well, perhaps someone older, or people of authority/higher status than oneself such as a college professor. To keep the sentence consistent, adjectives, articles, and pronouns must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Most adjectives in Spanish can be either feminine or masculine depending on the genre of the accompanying noun. Unfortunately, there are not as many rules to know whether a noun in Spanish is masculine. If you happen to have an excellent grasp on etymology, youll have a leg up! He made the wrong decision. Cardinal directions are masculine, too: el norte, el sur, el este, el oeste. Dolphins are adorable. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. 0 && stateHdr.searchDesk ? In Spanish, all nouns have a gender. Este restaurante es muy famoso. Instead of learning: libro = book, try committing to memory: EL libro = The book. While some of these exceptions just have to be memorized, you can scroll up and see that a lot of exceptions have their own rules in the-ta, -ma and-pasection. There are three genders in Spanish: masculine, feminine, and neutral. In this lesson, we'll look at the differences between masculine and feminine nouns and learn some tips to remember them. This free website is created with love and a great deal of work. We know that all people have gender, but in Spanish all nouns have gender. el gato male cat I am going to travel to Mexico during summer vacation. We know, we know, the exceptions are very frustrating. Just think of the Spanish word for problem: el problema! Browse Spanish translations from Spain, Mexico, or any other Spanish-speaking country. Take the Spanish words for "colour" and "tooth": el color, el diente. If the occupation ends in -a it tends not to change. In fact, a few masculine words also end with this vowel. I want a more intense red. A lot of them are identical or almost identical to words you already know in English! FR8 En Ville - Location Sort - Masculine/Feminine Group sort. From students and tourists to doctors and soldiers whove moved and visited here over the years. Every single noun in Spanish has a gender: feminine or masculine. Because coming from English you dont have any reference to hold on to, sometimes our memory can only recall so much and we mix up the gender. Copyright Curiosity Media, Inc., a division of IXL Learning. The Spanish gender can be distinguished with certain endings or by checking the gender of the adjectives, pronouns and Spanish articles surrounding that word. If you liked this post, you can share it with someone else who might find it helpful! That pattern works for things too. Mi gatita est enferma. by Classroom52. by Mgomezhernandez. copyright 2003-2023 Study.com. Uruguay is very pretty. They have a master's degrees in English from Southeast Missouri State University and a master's degree in Spanish literature from the University of Missouri Columbia. For 15 years we've taught Spanish to hundreds of thousands of learners. The only exception to the weekly sampling rate occurred between sessions 11 and 12 when the family took a two-week. For objects and concepts, Spanish gender is, The Spanish masculine gender can be used to talk about a, Most feminine words in Spanish end with , Singular feminine words that start with a, Certain nouns related to professions have fixed endings. tony bloom starlizard. Fluenz Fluenz Blog Learn Spanish Basic Spanish El or La? The judge is always on time. You cant apply it to plural nouns or that would mean that every word would be masculine. Within the Fluenz team, amongst us who Spanish is our first language we still have numerous discussions onwhether certain words are masculine or feminine. An intransitive verb is one that does not require a direct object (e.g. The Ultimate Tip-Sheet to Articles in Spanish: El vs La, Un vs Una [2022], Puzzle Solved: Why nouns in Spanish are feminine and masculine [2022]. LONERS - words that end with any of the letters in LONERS are usually masculine. Be aware that these guidelines are not set in stone, and there are some exceptions that youll need to memorize. 2. Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions, how to tell if a word is masculine or feminine in spanish, what is the difference between masculine and feminine in spanish, 35 Vegetables Translated to Spanish | The Ultimate Master List, Demonstrative Adjectives: This, That, These, and Those Get Them Right. Boroditsky proposes that because the word for "bridge" in German die brucke is a feminine noun, and the word for "bridge" in Spanish el puente is a masculine noun, native speakers. While some exceptions (like la mano) are just exceptions, many words that seemingly end in -o are actually shortenings of other words. 250 words that are the same in English and Spanish, Spanish words that are similar to English words, its not really incorrect to use the feminine form. Our car is dirty. The general rule is that words ending with -o are masculine and words ending with -a are feminine. Yet if you are referring to a person or occupation this is what happens: EL espa = The spy (if the spy is a man) LA espa = The spy (if the spy is a woman. Two examples are doctora (female doctor) and camisa (shirt). The two most basic rules about gender are based on the last letter of the noun: A word that ends in -o is masculine, and a word that ends in -a is feminine. * These words are shortened from words that do end in A: discoteca, fotografa, motocicleta, pornografa, and radiodifusin. You may have come across this strange exception before where the masculine article el is used for a feminine word. Some examples are hijo (son), zapato (shoe) and mono (monkey). With these rules below, youll know which to use with every word el or la. As you may already know, most masculine words in Spanish end with -o. La comida estuvo muy rica. Here is a quick overview of the topics well cover: By the end of this article, youll have a more solid understanding of how Spanish gender works. Nouns ending in -o, an accented vowel, -or, or -aje are usually masculine. El frica El Agua- Las Agua (plural) the waters Larry fue a Londres un par de das durante las vacaciones, El ao pasado pasamos unas vacaciones maravillosas en Mallorca. Now lets see how to know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish when talking about people and animals. La luz es bastante brillante. Because of this, most people assume that vestido is feminine, only to find out that theyre wrong. NOTE: The masculine gender has been used for brevity and includes the feminine gender. But that has changed with time, and thus we end up with rules that are blurry which do not help when those starting to learn Spanish. When My Masculine Met My Feminine | Tijana Tamburic | TEDxBucharest Is vacation feminine or masculine in Spanish? In these cases, we use. Do you see those words ending with -ma? Very often our students at Fluenz get genders mixed Sometimes the word just breaks the rules, and we have to memorize that they are different, such as la mano (hand). This means that every word for a person, place, thing or idea is either masculine or feminine. Here are some key points that you should keep in mind about masculine and feminine words in Spanish: Hola! *Note: la moto and la foto are a shortened version of the feminine words motocicleta and fotografa. La casa blanca es muy bonita.The white house is very pretty. Hay un frente fro en la ciudad. Spanish Nouns That Can Be Both Masculine And Feminine While most nouns refer to objects and concepts that don't have gender, there are also the nouns that do. While most nouns refer to objects and concepts that dont have gender, there are also the nouns that do. Why is a car masculine but a house feminine? Here, well go through some of the most common giveaways that a word is masculine or feminine, as well as the cases when Spanish grammatical gender can switch for a single word. Qu bonito est tu labial! vacacin ( bah - kah - syohn ) feminine noun 1. Reading comprehension. Most masculine nouns end in -o, like hermano, meaning 'brother' and most feminine nouns end in -a, like hermana, meaning 'sister'. But if you paid close attention to those words, you may have noticed that none of them had the suffix -in: El balcn es muy grande. Why? When using adjectives to describe a person, use the gender that the person identifies with. If you look at texts 30 years ago you would never find LA arquitectA, it would have been LA arquitectO. Feminine forms. Dijiste que the letters of the alphabet are masculine, pero son feminine, Muchas gracias, Ann! As you can see, below that chart, youll then see the el & la exceptions for Spanish words. One of the first things youll find out when learning Spanish is that all nouns have a gender. The journalist is very persistent. Youll find a few Spanish singular feminine words that end with -a that are preceded by a masculine article. Estas manzanas estn muy agrias. When talking about people, animals and occupations things get a bit blurry. Te lo has pasado bien en las vacaciones? Over time we've worked to perfect every minute of every learning session. So, its important to memorize the feminine words that end with the consonant z. La torre - the tower. We said all words ending in -a are feminine. If you were referring to a male friend, which article would you use EL or LA? To do so, youll use Spanish articles, adjectives, or pronouns. Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. Required fields are marked *. I like the red bag more. If a word ends with these three letters, you can be almost certain its a feminine noun. Adjectives that end with an -e or a consonant cannot be modified to express the Spanish grammatical gender. La camisa rosa es muy grande. As established before, a Spanish noun can be classified as masculine or feminine depending on its gender. They went to Europe on vacation. Lingua Linkup. Nouns ending with -dez and -umbre are usually feminine, too: la solidez, la desnudez, la costumbre, la incertidumbre, etc. As you can see, most of them are nouns used to describe a persons profession or occupation: And here are some examples of what you can do to mark the gender of these words: [Masculine or feminine determiner] + [noun]+ (adjective). That color is pretty. Got all that? Singular and plural feminine & masculine maze Maze chase. Professions also refer to people, but are kind of their own subset. La foto, can actually shed some light into one of the rules for feminine words. The opposite time of day, la noche (night), is feminine, so you can think of them as a pair. Me urge una vacacin! But, sometimes a word is a shorter forms of a longer word, like moto or radio. If you are starting to learn Spanish, we only introduce the concept of gender differences a couple of sessions in. -A, -in, -dad, -tad and -tud are all endings for feminine words. 1) For example, the days (el da), months (el mes), and years (el ao) are masculine; while letters of the alphabet (la letra) and the hours (la hora) of the day are feminine. ). Remember that nouns that end with z do not follow a default gender guideline. The same thing in the other direction the rules say it should be el, but the word is actually la. La sangre - the blood. Nouns ending with -aje are usually masculine: el masaje, el garaje, el paisaje, el pasaje, el peaje, etc. Claudias make-up is very good. Generally, if the masculine form ends with an -o, to form the feminine you just need to replace it with an -a: If the masculine form ends witn a consonant, to form the feminine we just add an -a: They usually have the same form for masculine and feminine: el/la estudiante, el/la cantante, el/la agente, el/la paciente, etc. In both theFluenz online programand the Fluenz Spanish Immersions, we take it one step at a time. . Feminine or masculine? The letters of the alphabet are feminine: la a, la be, la ce, la de, etc.