There are a few exceptions to this rule (for example, la mano and el mapa ). . Most Spanish adjectives must agree in gender and number with the accompanying noun. The general rule is that words ending with -o are masculine and words ending with -a are feminine. In Spanish, all nouns are either masculine or feminine. In the tables below, youll find the most common endings for feminine words in Spanish. Its The picture identification task consisted of a booklet (which subjects read), containing a story about two characters preparing to go on, For example, the domain order for choosing the destination of a. When working as adjectives, numbers have to agree in gender and number with the noun they are modifying. Copyright Curiosity Media, Inc., a division of IXL Learning. Common exceptions: not feminine, masculine El mapa- the map- masculine El da- the day- masculine. An intransitive verb is one that does not require a direct object (e.g. It's a good place to start for beginners though! Plural of Masculine Nouns [edit | edit source]. *People, animals and occupations have their own set of rules. As we mention in the masculine section, many words that end in-e are masculine. In plain English, this book explains the Masculine & Feminine elements of Spanish, plus the rules around Singular & Plural. Just think of the Spanish word for problem: el problema! Here are the exceptions to this rule. Take Note: You can also imply the gender of these nouns by saying the name of the person youre talking about. It's the person's gender that will determine whether we use el or la. The man sneezed.). Beware of exceptions! I love smoked salmon. For those interested in a little history, masculine Spanish nouns that end in-ta,-pa and-ma tend to come from Greek originally. https://lingualinkup.com/el-la-spanish/ (accessed var d = (new Date()).toString().split(' ').splice(1,3).join(' '); When we have 2 or more nouns with different genre (one is masculine and the other one is feminine), and there is 1 adjective used to describe both of them, the genre of this adjective will be masculine. And because it is an occupation, we said that those . Ese rbol es muy viejo. Also, in plural they keep the feminine definite article (las), because the S avoids the cacophony: las aguas. -Fue un lunes, -Ha sido un septiembre hmedo -Nac en el 84 -Son las cinco y cuarto -Poner los puntos sobre las es -La hache delante de la 'a' es muda Your house is big and pretty. We know that a person can be a man or a woman. Which brings us to the only exception to these rules! In contrast to English, the Spanish plural of the masculine forms of these words refers to "not-all-feminine" groups, i.e. Youre more likely to hearel gato when someone is talking about a generic cat, for example. How do numbers and gender affect adjectives in Spanish? If a word ends with these three letters, you can be almost certain its a feminine noun. Estamos de vacaciones en la Florida ahora mismo. Your neighbor is very noisy. Take the Spanish words for "colour" and "tooth": el color, el diente. Now lets check out the tricks for masculine nouns in Spanish. And they can be a little confusing because sometimes the noun endings change (the masculineel doctor and the feminine la doctora), but sometimes they dont (the masculineel poeta and the femininela poeta). The food was delicious. Spanish gender is a complex topic. Browse Spanish translations from Spain, Mexico, or any other Spanish-speaking country. One might phrase it like thisand I am sincerely sorry if the address here is too masculine, but there is no help for it. That color is pretty. Singapore is very expensive. Do you see those words ending with -ma? My dogs are very quiet. Youll find a few Spanish singular feminine words that end with -a that are preceded by a masculine article. Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions. This means that every word for a person, place, thing or idea is either masculine or feminine. The following Spanish nouns all denote living creatures. . Exceptions to that rule are la crema and la yema, which come from French and Latin respectively. Adjectives describing, agua are feminine. Lesson outline 1. We say EL agua frA (The cold water). This t-shirt is black. La luz es bastante brillante. 501 lessons. Lingua Linkup, May. A lot of them are identical or almost identical to words you already know in English! How to know if a word is masculine or feminine in Spanish? I want a coffee, please. In Spanish if there is a group of people, both males and females, you use the masculine to address them all, so masculine will work in most cases. However, on top of its irregularities, this verb also has E to I and E to IE stem changes in certain tenses. So with people you may not know well, perhaps someone older, or people of authority/higher status than oneself such as a college professor. Reading comprehension. -Tud, like in the word actitud (attitude) is also a common ending for feminine nouns. But then you find out that its la foto, not el foto. La serpiente - the serpent. These noun endings can tip you off that a noun is probably feminine. They wish that they were in love now. Exceptions: el mapa, el da, el planeta, el sof, el problema, el tema, el sistema, el idioma, el drama, etc. But, as youll see in the examples below, some popular words are the exception to this rule. Those singers are Spanish. las vacaciones de Navidad, las vacaciones de Pascua, las vacaciones de verano. However, in certain situations, changing the gender of a noun can also change its meaning, as you can see in the graphic and examples below: Mi mam tiene un cerezo. "Uncle" and "aunt," for example, are el to and la ta. Both are masculine in Spanish, but when translated to French they become feminine even though the words are almost exactly the same: la couleur, la dent. Retrieved from https://lingualinkup.com/el-la-spanish/. A common mistake made by Spanish learners is to confuse the number one, uno, with un, which means a/an. You will find them in the list below. There are one hundred chairs available. As you can see, below that chart, you'll then see the "el" & "la . (in summer) a. veranear Copyright 2006 Harrap Publishers Limited vacation noun 1 especially (Britain) (Jur) receso (m) vacacional (formal); periodo (m) vacacional With these types of nouns, you still have to mark the gender. Spanish speakers always like to have vacations in plural. Sometimes the word is the same and we can only figure out the meaning with the articles or pronouns that go with them: El capital (money) La capital (capital city), El editorial (editorial) La editorial (publisher), El pendiente (earring) La pendiente (slope). So far, youve learned some of the most common endings used to form feminine and masculine words in Spanish and their exceptions. I've still got some vacation time left before the end of the year. All rights reserved. For example, we usually say la moto for motorcycle, which ends in an -o. Remember that nouns that end with z do not follow a default gender guideline. Nouns that end with -ma, -pa, -ta, or any of the letters in the word LONERS are usually masculine. Then little by little you will learn the others. Sugared water is bad for your health. He studied English literature and linguistics at New York University, but spent most of his time in college working for the student paper. Example 1: We said all words ending in -a are feminine. (general) a. vacation (United States) Me urge una vacacin! Search millions of Spanish-English example sentences from our dictionary, TV shows, and the internet. Las aguas azucaradas son malas para la salud. When referring to people or animals, most of the time Spanish nouns can be transformed into feminine words by simply replacing the -o with an -a. The Masculine and feminine 1 Whack-a-mole. Objectos de clase (masculine - feminine ) Group sort. Every single noun in Spanish has a gender: feminine or masculine. Suzys bottle is empty. La periodista es muy insistente. The adjective for Canad . Whether its a good idea to split the world into two genders is a subject for a different article, but for now well go through the various kinds of nouns that switch genders. man, dog, house). by Kcastonguay. But that is also the beauty of a language, and the fact that it is alive and evolving is one of the elements that I find personally interesting. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Normalmente, voy de vacaciones en diciembre. The same goes for some words that end in -o that are actually feminine: la mano, la radio, la foto, etc. Sometimes the word just breaks the rules, and we have to memorize that they are different, such as la mano (hand). The standard rules are here on the top of the page, but you shouldnt trust them fully. Unlike the masculine, theres no fun acronym for feminine nouns. As youll see in a moment, most words that end in -a are feminine, but there are exceptions. All rights reserved. This power point explains how Spanish nouns, articles and adjectives have gender and number. SpanishDict is the world's most popular Spanish-English dictionary, translation, and learning website. Fluenz Fluenz Blog Learn Spanish Basic Spanish El or La? Check these examples of sentences with colors in Spanish: El rosa es mi color preferido. noun uk / veke.n/ us / veke.n/ A1 [ C or U ] US (UK holiday) a time when someone does not go to work or school but is free to do what they want, such as travel or relax vacaciones We're taking a vacation in June. The adjective ending in Spanish always depends on the noun it modifies. In English, you use a form of the verb 'to be' (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) One ending with a final -a, -ista, can be used on words for male or female people, and is both masculine and feminine. Despite the many exceptions noted above, a great majority of Spanish words that end in-a are feminine. Well the answer is just because . The articles which accompany a masculine noun are el (definite) / uno (indefinite), while the feminine ones are la (definite) / una (indefinite) . Not knowing if a word is feminine or masculine in Spanish can lead to poor communication and, in some cases, misunderstandings. However, the word persona is always a feminine word. Given that this may be a new concept for new learners, many people wonder what grammatical gender in Spanish is. The adjective for Italia is italiano. Little by little, and loads of practice is the best remedy. Dijiste que the letters of the alphabet are masculine, pero son feminine, Muchas gracias, Ann! Take Note: When it comes to living things (people and animals), masculine nouns are always used when referring to a mixed group (no matter how many females or males are) or when talking about the group as a whole. Adjectives that end with an -e or a consonant cannot be modified to express the Spanish grammatical gender. El mecnico trabaja todos los das. Very often our students at Fluenz get genders mixed La mano (hand) is feminine, but el pie (foot) is masculine. Watch out! After all, how can you know if problema and mano are feminine or masculine? When they describe a NOUN, they must match its GENDER (masculine/feminine). You know that people and animals are masculine or feminine, but did you know that nouns in Spanish have gender? If the noun is masculine and singular, use the masculine, singular ending (usually - o ). Masculine forms. Sometimes, all we need is a quick and simple explanation to remove the obstacles, bringing the goal of being fluent in Spanish within grasping distance. As mentioned above, this rule comes into effect with amounts superior to two hundred. These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Do you want to practice your Spanish? Im going to list them one by one, and also I will teach you what the exceptions are if there are any. Un - unos. Unfortunately, there are not as many rules to know whether a noun in Spanish is masculine. You are too stressed out; you should go on holiday. Sofa es muy inteligente. But for example to most of us the word mdicAsounds wrong- we wouldnt use it. Other nouns that are always feminine are those words that end with -ad or -ed. And because it is an occupation, we said that those that end in -a, tend to stay the same. Shopping! La verdad puede ser dolorosa. Test yourself on the gender of Spanish nouns: Note: You must be logged into your Progress with Lawless Spanish account to take these tests. The mechanic works every day. * These words are shortened from words that do end in A: discoteca, fotografa, motocicleta, pornografa, and radiodifusin. The adjective for Brasil is brasileo. Both are fem. They went to Europe on vacation. This is why despite how difficult it is to learn Spanish, we are confident there is a realistic and achievable path to fluency. In this lesson, we'll look at the differences between masculine and feminine nouns and learn some tips to remember them. Because of this, he has really hard opinions about AP Style. Because the gender of the noun changes the article or adjective that you can use with the noun. Even though these endings can generally help you with the gender of a noun, there are some words that do not follow these rules. The letters of the alphabet are feminine: la a, la be, la ce, la de, etc. So how come it's "el problema" and not "la problema" since "el" should always modify a masculine noun and "la" a feminine noun. Dictionaries always indicate the grammatical gender of a noun! As you can see, most of them are nouns used to describe a persons profession or occupation: And here are some examples of what you can do to mark the gender of these words: [Masculine or feminine determiner] + [noun]+ (adjective). Irregular Masculine Nouns. Can vacaciones be singular? Access millions of accurate translations written by our team of experienced English-Spanish translators. Its the same for words ending with -a: el/la espa, el/la polica, el/la gua. Ese color es bonito. Days and months are masculine: el lunes, el mircoles, el sbado, este abril, ese enero, etc. But that has changed with time, and thus we end up with rules that are blurry which do not help when those starting to learn Spanish. Spanish speakers always like to have vacations in plural. Tu casa es grande y bonita. Let's look at the word persona (person) to help explain this idea. "Masculine and Feminine in Spanish (el & la): The Rules & Their Many Exceptions." vacacin ( bah - kah - syohn ) feminine noun 1. document.write(d); Te lo has pasado bien en las vacaciones? The journalist is very persistent. But, sometimes a word is a shorter forms of a longer word, like moto or radio. " El nio es bonito y gordo ". Masculine nouns are used with articles like el or un and have adjectives that end in -o, while female nouns use the articles la or una and have adjectives that end in -a. Privacy | Terms of Use. Passive Voice in Spanish: Examples & Practice, Psychological Research & Experimental Design, All Teacher Certification Test Prep Courses, What are Cognates in Spanish? Tell Me In Spanish (tellmeinspanish.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. List of colors in Spanish 1. Just like with nouns, Spanish masculine adjectives usually end in the vowel -O like "Bonito" and "Creativo", e.g. First of all, what is a noun? Here are some of the letters that we usually see at the end of masculine words. A noun is a word referring to a person, animal, place, thing, feeling or idea (e.g. Here are the exceptions to this rule. But as you already know, there is no such thing as neutral nouns in Spanish. Although its not really incorrect to use the feminine form, its less common. When using demonstrative pronouns (esta, esa, aquella) with these words, they stay feminine. Spanish Nouns That Can Be Both Masculine And Feminine While most nouns refer to objects and concepts that don't have gender, there are also the nouns that do. Some of the exceptions occur because of how the words were treated in other languages, such as Latin and Greek. Most adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. Here are some key points that you should keep in mind about masculine and feminine words in Spanish: Hola! This name is also derived from the Hebrew name Yitzhak which means ' one who rejoices.'. To do so, youll use Spanish articles, adjectives, or pronouns. Therefore, its correct to say: Tengo cien pesos. My students are already speaking Spanish and using it in their everyday lives.
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