LEARNING SPANISH : NOUNS AND GENDER

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Hello , my friends ..Now we enter for the first lesson in Spanish Language , About Masculine and feminine Gender for Grammatical in Spanish, This article adopted by Teach your self Spanish book that I kept in my little Cupboard. Ok..Let´s begin

In Spanish, all nouns (people, places, and things) are classified as either masculine or feminine. This does not necessarily mean that all masculine nouns are more “manly” or that all feminine nouns are more “womanly.” Rather, the use of gender comes from the Latin word genus, which means kind. As such, the use of gender classifi es words by kind: either masculine or feminine.

NOUNS REFERRING TO PEOPLE

That said, nouns that refer to people generally do reflect their genders: father   and brother  are masculine, mother  and sister  are feminine. The same is true for animals. The gender of these types of words is easy to guess. Here are some

examples:

Masculine		Feminime
Spanish	English	Spanish	English
el niño	little boy	la niña	little girl
el chico	boy	la chica	girl
el hermano	brother	la hermana	sister
el padre	father	la madre	mother
el hijo	son	la hija	daughter
el nieto	grandson	la nieta	granddaughter
el primo	cousin (male)	la prima	cousin (female)
el abuelo	grandfather	la abuela	grandmother
el amigo	friend (male)	la amiga	friend (female)
el tio	uncle	la tia	aunt
el hombre	man	la mujer	woman
el sobrino	nephew	la sobrina	niece
el toro	bull	la vaca	cow
el perro	dog	la perra	dog (female)
el gato	cat	la gata	cat (female)
el chileno	little boy	la niña	little girl

As you have seen above, when talking about people, nouns ending in -o are masculine and nouns ending in -a are feminine. The -o is easily changed to an -a to make the masculine noun feminine. In some cases, masculine nouns referring to people end in a consonant or -e. You can make these nouns feminine by adding an -a after the consonant, or by changing  the -e to an -a.

PEOPLE AND THINGS

This is the next example for masculine and feminime

Masculine	Feminine	English Translation
el autor	la autora	Autor
el profesor	la profesora	Teacher
el jefe	la jefa	Boss
el francés	la francesa	Frenchman; Frenchwoman
el español	la española	Spanish man; Spanish woman

Nouns ending in -ista refer to people as well, but can be either masculine or feminine

depending on whether the person you are referring to is male or female. Many

of these words are easy to use and remember because they are just English words _

-a. To make these feminine, all you need to do in this case is change the article from

masculine (un; el) to feminine (una; la). (You will learn more about articles later

in this chapter.)

Masculine                               Feminine

el actor actor                            la actriz actress

el rey king                                la reina queen

NOUNS ENDING IN -A AND -O

As you have seen above, when referring to people, as a general rule, nouns ending in -o are masculine, and almost all nouns ending in -a are feminine. This is often true when talking about things as well. Here are some examples:

Masculine		Feminine
Spanish	English	Spanish	English
el libro	book	la casa	house
el museo	Museum	la mesa	table
el trabajo	Work	la playa	beach
el carro	Car	la escuela	school
el dedo	Finger	la cocina	kitchen
el cuarto	Room	la fruta	fruit

Exceptions to the -a/-o Rule.

Of course there are some exceptions to the -a/ -o rule. For instance, some masculine nouns end in -a. Many of these, but not all, come from Greek roots and have the suffi x -ama, -ema, -ima, or -ista. Some of the feminine nouns ending in -o are actually shortened versions of longer words, such as moto/motocicleta (motorcycle), or disco/discoteca (discotheque).

Masculine		Feminine
Spanish	English	Spanish	English
el tema	Theme	la mano	hand
el mapa	map	la disco	disco
el dia	Day	la foto	photo
el programa	Program	la moto	motorcycle
el planeta	Planet	el idioma	language
el sofá	Sofá
el tema	theme

MORE RULES FOR FEMININE NOUNS

Words ending in -tad, -dad, -tud, -ion, and -umbre are always feminine.

la universidad university                       la cancin song

la ciudad city                                       la costumbre custom

la dificultad diffi culty                           la profesion profession

la virtud virtue                                       la región región

NOUNS WITHOUT RULES

Some nouns don’t follow any rules. In these cases you just have to use your

memory.

Masculine		Feminine
Spanish	English	Spanish	English
el coche	car	la piel	skin
el parque	park	la leche	milk
el cine	cinema/movies	la clase	class
el arte	art	la noche	night
el viaje	trip	la calle	street
el pie	foot	la pared	wall
el café	coffee	la fl or	flower
el postre	dessert	la miel	honey
el pais	country	la sal	salt

NOUNS WITH TWO GENDERS

Some nouns change meaning according to gender. Here are some examples:

Masculine		Feminine
Spanish	English	Spanish	English
el cura	priest	la cura	cure
el capital	capital (money)	la capital	capital (city)
el coma	coma	la coma	comma
el corte	cut	la corte	court
el fi nal	end	la fi nal	sports fi nal
el policia	police offi cer (male)	la policia	police department

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