*A noun is a person, place, thing, or idea

*In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine.

*Most nouns that end in -o are usually masculine

*el libro

*el escritorio

*el colegio

*Most nouns that end in -a are usually feminine.

*la puerta

*la ventana

* la tarea

Exceptions: el dia = the day el problema = the problem

*Other Spanish nouns end in -e or a consonant.

For example:el ajedrez - chess el marcador - markerla clase - classla televisión = TV

*Some can be both masculine and feminine: el/la estudiante - the student

*The idea that nouns have gender seems perfectly natural when the noun stands for a living creature. This is because in English, living creatures often have different names depending on whether they are male or female.

Masculine Feminine

boy girl

father mother

lion lioness

uncle aunt

*Certain nouns that denote living things have both a masculine and feminine form in Spanish.

Masculine Feminine

el gato = male cat la gata = female cat

el abuelo = grandfather la abuela = grandmother

El chico = boy la chica = girl

You can’t predict the gender of a noun, except in the case of living creatures.

Do not try to analyze the nature of an object to look for masculine or feminine qualities!

IT WON’T WORK! Dress is a masculine word in Spanish--- el vestido Necktie is a feminine word in Spanish---

la corbata

REMEMBER!

*When you learn a new noun, you MUST memorize its definite article (el or la).

* El / la is a definite article

that means “the” as in:

the head – la cabeza

the arm – el brazo

Plural in English is simple: generally one add an “s” at the end

ex: the cat the cats

Exceptions:

Irreg. plural child children, foot feet

spy spies , knife knives

Singular PluralMasc.

EL LOS

Fem. LA LAS

Example: el chico los chicos the boy the boys

la chica las chicas the girl the girls

*To make nouns plural you usually add -s to words ending in a vowel and -es to words ending in a consonant.

*estudiante estudiantes

*animal animales

*Take out your dictionary.

*Look up a Spanish noun that you know for sure is masculine. Do you notice any symbols or abbreviations that tell you the noun’s gender?

*Now, look up a Spanish noun that you know is feminine. Are there any symbols or abbreviations that tell you the noun’s gender?

You cannot predict the gender of most nouns.

Not every noun that ends in an –o is masculine, and not every noun that ends in an –a is feminine.

Many nouns end in letters other than –a and –o.

The definite article is your CLUE as to whether a noun is masculine or feminine.