{"id":144874,"date":"2023-05-29T05:12:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T09:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/masculine-and-feminine-spanish\/"},"modified":"2025-03-26T15:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T19:45:08","slug":"masculine-and-feminine-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/spanish\/masculine-and-feminine-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"Masculine and Feminine in Spanish: What You Need to Know About Spanish Gender"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every noun in Spanish<\/a> is either masculine <\/strong>or\u00a0feminine.\u00a0<\/strong>To use them properly, you need to know which nouns belong to which gender and a few other things\u2014like how to make adjectives and quantities agree with the gender.<\/p>\n

Today, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the Spanish masculino\u00a0<\/em>(masculine) and\u00a0feminino<\/em> (feminine).<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

Masculine Nouns in Spanish<\/h2>\n

You can tell which gender a noun is by looking at the Spanish articles<\/a> el<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(masculine) or la<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong>(feminine). Have a look at the following masculine nouns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Spanish<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
el perro <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The dog<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el hombre <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The man<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el vaso <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The glass<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el libro <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The book<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el detergente <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The detergent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el escritorio <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The desk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el espejo <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The mirror<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el ventilador <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The fan<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el lunes <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>Monday<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el rub\u00ed <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The ruby<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Most nouns that end in –o<\/em><\/strong> are masculine and most that end in –a<\/em><\/strong> are feminine. But some masculine nouns also end in -e<\/em><\/strong>, -r <\/em><\/strong>and -\u00ed.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>The easiest way to remember if a noun is masculine or not is to learn each noun with its article.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here are some examples of masculine nouns that end in -a<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Spanish<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
el d\u00eda <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The day<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el mapa <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The map<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el aroma <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The aroma, the scent<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el problema <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The problem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el diploma <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The diploma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el fantasma <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The ghost<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el enigma <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The enigma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el planeta <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The planet<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el tema <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The topic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
el idioma <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The language<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Feminine Nouns in Spanish<\/h2>\n

Here are some common feminine nouns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Spanish<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
la cama <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The bed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la foca <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The seal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la piedra <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The stone<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la mesa <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The table<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la silla <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The chair<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la ciudad <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The city<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la mitad <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The half<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la canci\u00f3n <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The song<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la profesi\u00f3n <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The profession<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la vida <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The life<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la gente <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The people<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la mujer <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The woman<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la parte <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The part<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la noche <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The night<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la vez <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The time, the occasion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

Feminine nouns usually end in -a. <\/em><\/strong>But as you can see, not always. There are even feminine words that end in the traditionally masculine ending -o<\/strong><\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Spanish<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
la mano <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The hand<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la radio <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The radio<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la moto <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The motorbike<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la foto <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The photograph<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la libido <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The libido<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

You can easily remember that two of these words are feminine because they’re shorter versions of words<\/a> that end in -a<\/em><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

<\/em>la moto<\/em><\/strong><\/em>\u2192<\/em><\/strong> <\/em>la motocicleta<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>la foto<\/em><\/strong><\/em>\u2192<\/em><\/strong><\/em>la fotograf\u00eda<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, nouns ending in -ci\u00f3n\/-si\u00f3n<\/strong><\/em> and -dad\/tad<\/strong> <\/em>are always feminine. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Spanish<\/th>English<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
la instituci\u00f3n<\/b> <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The institution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la prisi\u00f3n<\/b> <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The prison<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la reflexi\u00f3n<\/b> <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The reflection, the thinking<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la cantidad<\/b> <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The quantity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la universidad<\/b> <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The university<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
la lealtad<\/b> <\/a>\n <\/i><\/td>The loyalty<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

How to Use Adjectives and Quantity with Spanish Gender<\/h2>\n

An adjective has to represent both the gender<\/strong> of the noun it\u2019s describing and its quantity. <\/strong>This usually means the ending of the adjective will change slightly.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

El<\/strong> perro blanco<\/strong><\/em> (the white dog)<\/p>\n

La<\/strong> rosa blanca<\/strong> <\/em>(the white rose)<\/p>\n

When an adjective ends in a letter like\u00a0-e<\/em>, their endings don’t<\/strong> change according to gender.<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n

El<\/strong> \u00e1rbol verde<\/strong><\/em> (the green tree)<\/p>\n

La<\/strong> chica inteligente<\/strong><\/em> (the intelligent girl)<\/p>\n

El<\/strong> zapato grande<\/strong><\/em> (the big shoe)<\/p>\n

And this same rule applies if the adjective ends in a consonant.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

La<\/strong> ni\u00f1a emocional<\/strong><\/em> (the emotional girl)<\/p>\n

El<\/strong> ni\u00f1o emocional<\/strong><\/em> (the emotional boy)<\/p>\n

El<\/strong> perro gris<\/strong> <\/em>(the gray dog)<\/p>\n

If you haven’t learned much about adjectives yet, you can check out this list of the most common 50 here:<\/p>\n

50 Most Common Spanish Adjectives [With PDF Download]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n