Gender of Nouns – Spanish 4 By Spanish 4 you should have noticed that Spanish nouns are either masculine or feminine. This does not mean that words have masculine or feminine characteristics! It is just a purely grammatical classification.

Let’s take a look! Here are some nouns with their corresponding definite article (“the”): el niño (the boy) la niña (the girl) el profesor (the professor) la profesora (the professor) el amigo (the friend) la amiga (the friend)

These are the easy ones! Masculine nouns use the definite article “el” while feminine nouns use “la.” La mesa (the table) El libro (the book) Generally speaking, nouns that end in –o are masculine, while those that end in –a are feminine. There are exceptions, which is what we will review today, but we will worry about them on a case-by-case basis.

Here are some different ones: la ciudad la universidad la religión la división el actor el doctor el español el túnel *Not all Spanish nouns end in –o and –a, but they still must be either masculine or feminine.

What to know… Nouns that end in –ión are usually feminine. Nouns that end in –dad are always feminine. Nouns that end in –l and –r are usually masculine.

More to know… Nouns that end in –e can be either masculine or feminine: la clase; el presidente Some nouns can be both, depending on the meaning: el presidente (a man) la presidente (a woman)

What’s the bottom line? Learn every Spanish noun with its article. It will pay off soon, because you will be able to classify new nouns as you see the patterns develop.

The List! Be sure to use the list from Señora to help you study and memorize nouns that are tricky.

Just a Reminder – Agreement! Other words in the sentence also change to “agree” (match the form of the noun they describe). Here’s another one: El profesor es bajo, anciano, y gordo. How would you change this sentence to talk about a woman professor?

Agreement La profesora es baja, anciana, y gorda. What if there is more than one male teacher? Los profesores son bajos, ancianos, y gordos.