Herramientas de la lengua
Nouns: Gender and Number
Why do you want to know this?
In Spanish, nouns have to match in gender and number with articles and adjectives (ex. el perro gordo) so it is important to know how to determine the gender of a noun and also how to form the masculine, feminine, singular and plural forms!
1. ¿What is a noun?
Nouns are words that refer to people, animals, things and concepts. They have gender (masculine or feminine) and number (singular or plural). Gender in nouns has nothing to do with biology or gender identity (unless they refer to people or animals). Nouns use gender because Spanish is a romance language and has kept that trait.
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2. Determining the noun’s gender
- Nouns ending in -o, -aje, -or are masculine. (with some exceptions like flor, mano, moto, foto, radio)
- Nouns ending in -ma (most of Greek origin) are masculine: el sistema, el clima, but non-Greek words ending in -ma are generally feminine: la cama, la gema
- Nouns that express the names of days, colors, languages and cardinal points are masculine: el lunes, el azul, el sur.
- Nouns ending in -a -ción -sión -tad -dad -tud are feminine (with some exceptions: día, mapa, sofá, planeta)
- Other endings can be of either gender and we just have to learn them that way: la región, el avión, la imagen, el examen.
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3. Nouns that refer to people and animals
- Nouns referring to males usually end on an “O” or a consonant (el gato, el doctor) To refer to females many nouns change the last vowel to “A” or add an “A” amigo/amiga — doctor/doctora. *
- Nouns ending in -ista and -nte, differ only by context: el/la estudiante, el/la artista.
- In some cases each gender has its own word (padre/madre, yerno/nuera, toro/vaca)
* Inclusive language: You may have seen an “X” at the end of adjectives lately (hispanx, latinx). These are new variations that are emerging to address diversity and inclusion. Watch “What is with the X in Latinx”or “Inclusive Spanish”
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para un total de 10 puntos Debes lograr al menos 8 ¡Suerte!
4. Nouns that mean different things depending on gender
There are nouns that change meaning if they are masculine or feminine, for example:
- El capital (the money) – La capital (the capital city)
- El corte (the cut) – La corte (the court)
- El mañana (the future) – La mañana (the morning)
- El orden (neatness) – La orden (the command)
- El policía (policeman) – La policía (the police force)
- El Papa (the Pope) – La papa (the potato)
- El cura (priest) – La cura (the cure)
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para un total de 10 puntos Debes lograr al menos 8 ¡Suerte!
5. How to form the plural
- Words ending in a vowel, add -s (gato/gatos)
- Ending in a consonant, add –es (jardín/jardines)
- Ending in -z → -ces (lápiz/lápices)
- Ending in an unstressed vowel plus -s, no change BUT ending in a stressed vowel plus -s add -es (el lunes/los lunes, pero el francés/los franceses)
- Ending in stressed -í, -ú, add -s or -es (marroquí/marroquíes)
- Some words will lose or gain an accent in the plural
- Collective nouns take singular adjectives and articles (La familia grande, la gente simpática)
- Last names do not get plurals like they do in English (The Mirandas / Los Miranda – The Ortizes/ Los Ortiz)
¡Practiquemos!
¡Hola! A continuación tienes un ejercicio para un total de 10 puntos Debes lograr al menos 8 ¡Suerte!
This unit “Nouns in Spanish: Gender and Number” was created by Alegría Ribadeneira by combining original material and portions about nouns in Spanish Grammar Manual by Enrique Yépez licensed CC BY-NC-SA.
