Is That Noun Masculine or Feminine? Many Words Follow Predictable Patterns…
Transcript
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Is That Noun Masculine or Feminine? Many Words Follow
Predictable Patterns
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In Spanish, nouns, pronouns and adjectives all have gender.
Although it is seldom possible to predict with certainty whether a
given Spanish noun is of masculine or feminine gender, Spanish has
numerous guidelines that can usually be followed. The most
well-known rule or guideline is that nouns ending in -o are
masculine and those ending in -a are feminine, but there are
numerous exceptions to this gender rule, especially for those
ending in -a. Many of them are listed below. Here are some other
guides to gender determination. Many words have definitions in
addition to those listed:
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Nouns ending in certain suffixes are usually feminine. They
include -cin (usually the equivalent of "-tion"), -sin, -a (usually
the equivalent of "-y," although not in the diminutive sense), -za,
-dad (often used like "-ty") and -itis ("-itis").
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la nacin (nation) la intervencin (intervention) la
hospitalizacin (hospitalization) la ocasin (occasion) la tensin
(tension) la economa (economy) la taxonoma (taxonomy) la probreza
(poverty) la felicidad (happiness) la caridad (charity) la mastitis
(mastitis) la meningitis (meningitis)
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Nouns of Greek origin ending in -a are usually masculine. el
problema (problem) el drama (drama) el poema (poem) el tema
(subject)
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Nouns ending in an accented vowel are usually masculine. el sof
(sofa) el tab (taboo) el rub (ruby)
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Nouns with certain endings are usually masculine. These include
-aje (usually the equivalent of "-age"), -ambre and -or. *An
exception is la flor (flower). el corage (courage) el mensaje
(message) el espionaje (espionage) el hambre (hunger) el calambre
(cramp) el calor (heat) el dolor (pain) el interior (interior)
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Infinitives used as nouns are masculine. el fumar (smoking) el
cantar (singing) el viajar (traveling)
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Months and days of the week are masculine. el enero (January)
el martes (Tuesday)
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Letters are feminine while numbers are masculine. la d (d) el 7
(seven)
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The gender of abbreviations typically matches the gender of the
main noun. la ONU (United Nations; in Spanish, the O stands for
Organizacin, which is feminine) los EE.UU. (United States; estado
is masculine) las FF.AA. (armed forces; fuerza is feminine) la NASA
(NASA; the word for agency, agencia, is feminine)
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Words or phrases typically retain the gender of a missing or
shortened noun. la moto (motorcycle; the word is a shortened form
of la motocicleta) la disco (disco; the word is a shortened form of
la discoteca) un Toyota (a Toyota. The masculine may be used here
as a short form of un coche Toyota, as coche, the word for "car,"
is masculine. However, una Toyota may refer to a Toyota pickup
truck, because the common word for "pickup" is the feminine
camioneta.)toy la Alcatraz (the word for "prison," prisin, is
feminine)
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Compound nouns formed by following a verb with a noun are
masculine. el rascacielos (skyscraper) el dragaminas (minesweeper)
el guardarropa (clothes closet)
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Two-word nouns, which are unusual in Spanish, carry the gender
of the first noun. un kilowatt hora (kilowatt-hour) el sitio web
(website)
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With the *exception of la plata (silver), names of the chemical
elements are masculine. el flor (fluorine) el cinc (zinc)
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Names of rivers, lakes and oceans are masculine because el ro,
el lago and el ocano, respectively, are masculine. el Danubio (the
Danube) el Amazonas (the Amazon) el Titicaca (Titicaca) el Atlntico
(the Atlantic)
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Names of mountains are usually masculine, because el monte
(mountain) is masculine. An exception is that the Rockies are
usually referred to as las Rocosas or las Montaas Rocosas). los
Himalayas (the Himalayas) el Cervino (the Matterhorn) los Andes
(the Andes)
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Names of islands are usually feminine because la isla (island)
is feminine. las Canarias (Canary Islands) las Azores (Azores) las
Antillas (West Indies)
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Names of companies usually are feminine, because la compaa
(company) is feminine, as are sociedad annima (corporation),
corporacin (corporation) and empresa (business). This rule is not
consistently followed, however. la Microsoft (Microsoft) la
ExxonMobil (ExxonMobil)
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The default gender for foreign words adopted into the language
is masculine, but a feminine gender is sometimes acquired if
there's a reason for doing so. Thus foreign nouns that end in -a
sometimes become feminine, as do some words related in meaning to a
Spanish feminine word.
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el marketing (marketing) la web (the Web or World Wide Web; the
feminine is usually used because the Spanish words red(net) and
telaraa, words for "web" and "network," respectively, are feminine)
los jeans (jeans) el rock (rock music) el software (software) el
show (show) el champ (shampoo) el bistec (beefsteak) la pizza
(pizza)