Gender of Spanish Nouns
Gender of Spanish Nouns
Why should you care whether a noun is masculine or feminine? That is a very good question! In the Spanish language a lot more emphasis is placed on the gender of a noun than English does. So it is very important to know the Gender of a Noun.
What is a noun?
A noun is a word used to denote a person (Kevin, Doctor), place (Home,Mexico), thing (computer, potato), or idea (freedom, justice).
In The Spanish language, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. With the Spanish language when a noun stands for a living creature, having a gender seems perfectly natural, because in English, living creatures often have different names, depending upon whether they are male or female. The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures.
Masculine Feminine
gato gata (Cat)
perro perra (Dog)
chico chica (Boy/Girl)
abuelo abuela (Grandpa/Grandma)
Can you see the similarities between the masculine and feminine nouns?In Spanish when it comes to living creatures, nouns that end in -o are usually masculine. Nouns that end in -a are usually feminine.
There are of course exceptions to this rule. You cannot always predict the gender of a noun, even when you are talking about a living creature. When it comes to non-living things, it’s nearly impossible to predict the gender of that noun.
What do you think the Spanish noun for “dress” would be, masculine or feminine? You would probably expect it to be feminine, considering that a dress is typically worn by females. But you might be surprised to learn that the Spanish noun for “dress” is a masculine word: vestido
What do you think the Spanish noun for “necktie” would be, masculine or feminine? You might expect it to be masculine, since a necktie is an article of clothing worn by males. Where in reality, the word for “necktie” is a feminine word: corbata
In Spanish “el” and “la” both mean “the.”
El
la chica (the girl) El perro (the male dog)
la gata (the female cat) When you learn a new Spanish noun, you should also learn its definite article (el, la). There are several reasons for this:
- The definite article (el, la) is your clue as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine.
- Not every noun that ends in -o is masculine, and not every noun that ends in -a is feminine.
- You cannot predict the gender of most nouns.
- Many nouns end in letters other than o or a.
In a nutshell learning Spanish Nouns involves Memorizing whether a word is masculine or feminine, Memorizing it definite article.
These are just the basics on Spanish nouns. To learn more about nouns and the Spanish language Click Here.