To know the gender of the words in Spanish there are several rules. In the following we will see the basic rules that help us distinguish the female gender from the male gender.
Today we have decided to dedicate our blog to some ways of knowing the genre of words in Spanish. Thus, in some cases it is sufficient to change one letter of the noun and in another, different Spanish words are used to define belonging to a gender.
To learn Spanish well it is important to know that nouns in Spanish can be feminine or masculine. In addition, there is no gender neutral. Next we will explain the main rules.
General rule
Nouns that defend objects, concepts and feelings have only one gender. Thus, some are feminine words and others are masculine. Generally, words that end in o are masculine and those that end in a are feminine. For example:
Masculine words: el perro – a dog, el colegio – a school, el enfado – an anger.
Feminine words: la ventana – a window, la curiosidad – a curiosity, la gallina – a hen.
Special rules
On the other hand, the words that come from Latin and some nouns that end in a, are masculine. For example:
El clima – a weather, el mapa – a map, el planeta – a planet, el programa – a program, el problema – a problem…
In addition, there is an exception for short forms of feminine words and some nouns ending in o. For example:
La radio – radiofonía (a radio), la moto – la motocicleta (a motorcycle), la foto – la fotografía (a photo), la mano (a hand)…
Also, the words that end in –aje and –or they are usually masculine. For example:
El masaje – a massage, el garaje – a garage
El amor –a love, el dolor – a pain
However, words that end in –ción, -sión, – dad and –tad they are feminine. For example:
La canción – a song, la expresión – an expresión, la verdad – a true, la libertad – a liberty
For the latter, we note that for the rest of the Spanish words you have to consult the dictionary to know its gender. For that we recommend you always consult with RAE as the first reference for any questions about Spanish.
We hope that this post will help you with your Spanish classes. Thus, next Wednesday we will continue with the theme of the genre of nouns in Spanish. And if you have any questions, the teachers of our Spanish school in Valencia will be happy to help you;)
Until the next blog!
