Nouns & gender
Every noun is masculine or feminine — no neuter, no escape. The good news: the ending predicts the gender far more reliably than in French or German. -o → masculine, -a → feminine covers most of the dictionary.
The rule of thumb
| ending | gender | examples |
|---|---|---|
| -o | masculine | el libro, el vino, el año |
| -a | feminine | la casa, la mesa, la playa |
| -ción, -sión | feminine | la nación, la televisión |
| -dad, -tad | feminine | la ciudad, la libertad |
| -tud, -umbre | feminine | la actitud, la costumbre |
| -aje | masculine | el viaje, el garaje |
| -or | usually masculine | el color, el amor (but la flor) |
The traps every learner hits
| word | gender | why it surprises |
|---|---|---|
| la mano | feminine | ends in -o |
| el día | masculine | ends in -a |
| la foto, la moto | feminine | short for fotografía, motocicleta |
| el mapa, el planeta, el sofá | masculine | just are |
The -ma club (Greek imports = masculine)
Words from Greek ending in -ma are masculine despite the -a:
el problema · el programa · el sistema · el tema · el clima · el idioma
Saying la problema is the classic learner giveaway. (Ordinary -ma words like la cama "bed" are still feminine — the rule is for the abstract Greek ones.)
el agua — feminine in disguise
Feminine nouns beginning with stressed a-/ha- take el / un in the singular purely for sound. They stay feminine — adjectives and plurals prove it:
el agua fría → las aguas · el hambre · un águila blanca → las águilas
People and animals
- Many nouns just swap the vowel: el hijo / la hija, el gato / la gata.
- -ista and -e nouns keep one form; only the article changes: el / la artista, el / la estudiante.
- A few change meaning with gender: el capital (money) / la capital (city) · el orden (tidiness) / la orden (command).
Why it matters
Gender is not decoration — articles and adjectives agree with it (el vino blanco, la casa blanca), and pronouns pick it up later. Learn every noun with its article: not mesa but la mesa.
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