Gender of nouns Nouns (Los sustantivos)

People, places, things Nouns in Spanish have a gender. They are either masculine or feminine, and you will need to know the gender of a word so that you can use the correct article and adjective with it. Gender is arbitrary, but there are some ways to help you remember.

These words are feminine. What do you notice about their endings? la pluma la silla una televisión una conversación la universidad la libertad

These words are feminine. What do you notice about their endings? la pluma la silla una televisión una conversación la universidad la libertad Most words that have these endings are feminine. -a -ión -ad Use la (the) and una (a, one) with feminine words. Most words that have these endings are feminine. -a -ión -ad Use la (the) and una (a, one) with feminine words.

These words are masculine. What do you notice about their endings? un libro el estadio el baño un pupitre el coche el pizarrón el inglés un profesor el papel

These words are masculine. What do you notice about their endings? un libro el estadio el baño un pupitre el coche el pizarrón el inglés un profesor el papel Most words that have these endings are masculine. -o -e -consonant Use el (the) and un (a, one) with masculine words. Most words that have these endings are masculine. -o -e -consonant Use el (the) and un (a, one) with masculine words.

¡¡¡Las excepciones!!! FeminineMasculine la claseel pupitre la nocheel coche -MA el problema el programa el sistema But a few words ending in –e turn out to be feminine. And a few words ending in –a are actually masculine!

Four ways to say “the” and Four ways to say “a” SingularPlural Definite (the)el, lalos, las Indefinite (a)un, unaunos, unas The article you use depends on whether the word is: masculine or feminine singular or plural The article you use depends on whether the word is: masculine or feminine singular or plural