Spanish Gender
Gender is Spain - EL, LA and LO
All nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine.
They take the article “el” and “la” respectfully, and they are placed in front of the noun.
The Spanish don’t have neutral nouns.
–but there is a neutral form of the article. i.e. (’lo’), ( the).
It is used before an adjective to express quality.
For example;
lo malo = the worst,
lo mejor = the best,
Nouns ending in (o) are usually masculine while nouns ending in (a) are feminine.
Masculine examples are;
el numero= the number, el caballo= the horse, el burro = the donkey, el palo= the stick.
Female examples are;
la señora = the lady, la flora= the flower, la cara= the face, la escoba= the broom.
A noun which refers to people may be used with reference to both sexes and in these cases the
masculine form is always used.
For example;
the plural of el hijo (son) is los hijos.
Los hijos may mean either sons only, or it may mean sons and daughters (i.e. together).
There may be a group of children and if this group consists of boys and girls then the
Spanish masculine form (los hijos) is used.
Further more, even if a group consists of only one boy amongst two, or many girls, then the
Spanish masculine form (los hijos) is used.
To make the Spanish noun plural;
you add an ’s’ to the end of the word if it ends in a vowel (a,e,i,or,u), or you add ‘es’ to the end of the word if it ends in a consonant (b,c,d,f,g,h, etc.).
The Spanish article (el) and (la) must conform and take the plural form as well.
The Spanish feminine article conforms, (la) becomes (las),
For example;
La señora becomes las señoras.
- but take note of the radical change in the form of the Spanish masculine article - (el) becomes (los).
For example;
El nombre changes to los nombres.
Some noun endings do not conform with this and do not easily indicate their gender.
There are not too many exceptions, but some examples are;
el pasaporte = the passport, el nombre = the name, la mono = the hand, la moto = the motor scooter
Therefore it is advisable to learn each word with it’s own corresponding article.
We English are not used to forming sentences whilst thinking of the gender of each noun and as you have seen the article
(el, la or lo) is always before the noun. So we need to think ahead at first, to get it correct, until it becomes automatic
to us.
Student’s can often make mistakes regarding the correct gender, mixing (el) for (la), in even those nouns that do conform.
Usually they realize their error immediately afterwards and correct it straight away in their mind, or better still, repeat
it out loud.
Don’t worry too much about that. You will be understood, as the Spanish won’t be confused by his error.
They will appreciate that you are making an effort to speak their language.
Spanish nouns ending in; — (ad, ud, ie, and ión) are usually feminine,
some examples are;
la ciudad = the city, la juventud = the youth, la serie = the series, la habitación = the room.
Spanish nouns ending in — (e, el ,il, ón, iz) are generally masculine.
Some examples are;
el timbre = the bell, el papel = the paper, el barril = the barrel, el buzón = the letter box, el lapiz = the pencil
Spanish nouns ending in; — (ista) can be either masculine or feminine.
Some examples are;
el periodista (masculine) and la periodista (feminine) = the journalist.
el dentista (masculine) or la dentista (feminine) = the dentist.
As you can see in our examples, they are quite often names of professions, but note;
el doctor (masculine) and la doctora (feminine),
el profesor (masculine) or la profesora (feminine).
Once again, it is advisable to learn each word with it’s own corresponding article.
There are not too many exceptions of this either.